Dare You To by Katie McGarry

A blurb from the author's webpage

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....
Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.
But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

My Take

Beth and Ryan definitely seem at odds in the beginning.  Those situations always make for the best stories though.  Beth is cast as an outsider from the beginning.  Interestingly though, she does have a friend there but it’s also Beth’s internal feelings of being an outsider that make her distance herself from everyone.  I liked the characters in this book.  They were a group of close-knit kids.  It was interesting to see how they differed from the inner city kids where Beth had come from.  They were all close-knit, all just kids, but with very striking differences in some ways.  I’m giving this one 4 daring kisses!

Family by Micol Ostow

Here’s a quick bit from the author’s website: It is a day like any other when seventeen-year-old Melinda Jensen hits the road for San Francisco, leaving behind her fractured home life and a constant assault on her self-esteem. Henry is the handsome, charismatic man who comes upon her, collapsed on a park bench, and offers love, a bright new consciousness, and—best of all—a family. One that will embrace her and give her love. Because family is what Mel has never really had. And this new family, Henry’s family, shares everything. They share the chores, their bodies, and their beliefs. And if Mel truly wants to belong, she will share in everything they do. No matter what the family does, or how far they go. Told in episodic verse, family is a fictionalized exploration of cult dynamics, loosely based on the Manson Family murders of 1969. It is an unflinching look at people who are born broken, and the lengths they’ll go to to make themselves “whole” again.

My Take

Wow, this book was...wow!  It definitely pulled me right back to the early 70’s.  Mel describes herself as broken and she has been through so very much.  It was at times disturbing to see the affect Henry had over his “family”.  Further and further down the rabbit hole they all seemed to fall.  How far will they all fall for the love and acceptance they crave so deeply?  The verse it was written in was interesting and while it did switch between past and present, it seemed easy enough to follow.  This is one of the books on the Contemps Challenge.  There are depictions of sex and drug use in this book, so be aware of that.  I would recommend this book especially as a look back into history.  Even though fictional, it's very realistic of that time period.  This book was a taut emotional ride through a very haunting time and experience in America.  I’m giving it four kisses!