DNF: Dare You To, Katie McGarry

Dare You To

Katie McGarry

Harlequin/MiraInk, 2013

[New release: 7th June, 2013]

Goodreads

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...

Quotes are from the ARC version and might be different in the final copy.

I made it to 14% before giving up with this book. I haven't given it a Goodreads rating, but be warned that this review will be in no way complimentary.

It's rare that I DNF a book. I requested this book after hearing lots of great things about Pushing the Limits. Before reading Dare You To, I read PTL to familiarise myself with the series, and I found I had a lot of issues with that book. Still, I decided to give DYT a fair go. And I will say this: Katie McGarry writes pretty good drama. There are a lot of issues that she's not afraid to tackle as a writer, and I think it's interesting (and perhaps necessary) to see characters who are damaged by genuinely harmful or shocking life events. From reading PTL, I also know she writes romance with hormones, which is nice to see (i.e., we're not dealing with perpetual virgins here).

So what's the problem?

I will say right now that my issue with Dare You To is character-based, and that I know I am in the minority here when I say I didn't enjoy, or finish, the book. I have debated with myself whether or not to post this review, but it's something I wanted to put out there as air my thoughts, as it were.

The opening chapter of Dare You To was almost enough to make me stop reading in itself. We're introduced to Ryan and his friends, Chris and Logan, in a taco place. They've dared each other to get as many girls' phone numbers as possible that evening. When successful, they dump the slips of paper on the table. Ooh, conquests! And remember guys - the girl needs to be "chosen carefully": "Attractive enough so she won't fall for you. Not a dog because she'll be excited someone gave her a bone." Not that they'll call, of course, it's just a fun game. Well, Chris might call... HAHA! Only joking. 'Cause he "loves his girl" too much. Way to demonstrate that one, Chris.

So then we have Ryan, narrator of half the book's chapters and the kind of guy who HATES TO LOSE in a you-won't-like-me-when-I'm-angry, let-me-punch-the-table-because-I-might-lose-the-dare kind of way (or, as I prefer, in a just-plain-dickish kind of way). He's dared to get the phone number of so-called 'Skater-Girl', who walks into the taco place to, you know, get a taco. Skater Girl, or Beth, is approached by Ryan and rightly tells him to fuck off when he tries to smarm his way around her. Of course, Ryan believes that secretly, Skater Girl wants his attention - "She might look different from the girls at home, but all girls want the same thing - a guy who shows interest." HOLY CRAP, RYAN. You just figured out women. HIGH FIVE.

Beth tells Ryan there's "nothing you can do" to get her to hand over her name or phone number. So what does Ryan do? Walk away? Forget about the whole thing? Realise he's acting like a knob? No, ladies and gentleman, he ramps up the knob act a little further:

"Purposely invading her space, I steal a step toward her and place a hand on the counter next to her body. It affects her. I can tell. [...] She's small. Smaller than I expected."

What the ever-loving fuck is this? A girl tells you she's not interested, and you proceed to pin her up against the counter, invade her personal space, and take some kind of delight in the fact that you harrassment "affects her"?

But it's okay, because Ryan knows women, remember. He also knows what they should and shouldn't be doing. When Beth swears, she asks if he's offended by her language. He says no. His inner reaction is this: "Yes. [...] Girls don't use fuck. Or they shouldn't."

Well, fuck you, Ryan. Fuck you and your ideas about what girls want, and what girls should look like, and what girls should do.

[Minor spoiler] Oh, but don't get me wrong. Ryan is all about choice, at least when it comes to his brother being gay. One of Ryan's friends begrudgingly states that he's "cool" with Ryan's brother's "life choices" (I read that part out loud to my housemate, who said at exactly the same time as me - "IT'S NOT A LIFE CHOICE!"). Ryan is mad at his brother, because he left the house after his dad basically made him choose between being gay, and his family. Way to go, Ryan's dad. Way to be a homophobic dick. But hey, Ryan, go ahead and be mad at your brother for not sacrificing his own happiness and identity for your knobcheese of a father.

But so what? Why does Ryan bother me so much? He's a character in a book. I read a lot of books, and I have encountered a lot of arsehole characters in my time. They don't stop me reading the book - books need villains, and books need people you love to hate, and books need characters you don't agree with. I don't dispute any of that. What bothers me about Ryan is he's the hero. He's the guy you're meant to think is hot and desirable and the kind of guy you wish you could find at your high school. In Dare You To, you're meant to be so taken with Ryan that you forget the relationship between Beth and Isaiah that was set up in Pushing the Limits. And I have a problem with being told that Ryan is that kind of guy.

And yes, I am 27, and maybe a little older than the target audience here. I don't think that makes it any better. I teach a class of teenage girls who at times have such problematic ideas about boys and sex and control and violence that I can't just let characters like Ryan go. (I teach a class in which I have had to say, on numerous occasions, that controlling behaviour is never acceptable, that domestic violence is never justified, that girls are never "asking for it", and it hurts a little every time I have to do it.) Equally, there are characters like Chris, who texts his girlfriend constantly at a party they're all at, because he might trust "his girl" (arrrrgh) but he sure as HELL doesn't trust other drunk guys around her. So drunk, predatory guys at parties are just a fact of life here, and the girl needs protecting. Thankfully, Chris's girlfriend has Chris around, or else she'd probably never be able to leave the house.

Beth's characterisation I found problematic too. I felt for her - she's is trapped in some pretty horrific situations by her mum and her mum's violent boyfriend, and is sent to live with a family member she hasn't seen in years. All of this had the makings of an interesting plot - what I found disturbing were the numerous references to why Beth was like she was, particularly with regards to her appearance. When stoned, she talks about loving dresses and pink when she was a kid, and babbles a bit about ribbons. Her step-aunt asks why she has black hair now, when she was once blond. I have a horrible, horrible feeling (and I really hope I'm wrong) that during the course of this book, Beth shuns her "hardcore" look in favour this traditionally feminine image that the book seems to be suggesting she would secretly love, if only she didn't have all these "issues" and maybe a boy would love her enough so she could become a proper girl. The girl-saved-by-boy trope seems to be alive and well. (Unless you're a bad, slutty, harridan of a girl. Then you deserve what you get.)

So, in summary, according to Ryan and his friends, women should probably shut up and stop swearing (and maybe wipe off that eyeliner while they're at it), and gay men should probably stop choosing to be gay. I'm sorry if I can't reconcile this with any attempt to make Ryan 'book boyfriend' material, but I really, really can't. I think there is an element of trying to make Ryan and his friends "real" in this book - all that peppering their speech with "damn" (as in "damn if she doesn't make me hot", like you're really in a Matchbox 20 song now) and refusing to sugarcoat sex and relationships and the way boys are together. I don't begrudge this attempt at authenticity, but I do refuse to validate it. I know "real-life boys" (of which I know plenty) are not the lovestruck, eloquent specimens of some YA novels, but they're not all like this, either, and I don't like the idea of this misogynistic, controlling, saving behaviour being portrayed as either normal, or desirable.

Of course, I put this book down quite early, so I am aware there is room for Ryan to develop and change. I suspect, from the clues early in the book, that he will fall out with his dad, reunite with his brother, forgo a career in baseball for a writing career (given a weird, WEIRD burst of eloquence about what baseball means to him that just happens to take place in front of his English teacher, who utters a version of those fateful words - "You're a writer, Ryan") and get the girl. Beth will realise that her uncle is just trying to help, her mum will get better and dump her hideous boyfriend (or else Beth will realise there's nothing she can do to help and write her off), and she's stop dressing like 'Skater Girl' and become perfect girlfriend material.

I just really, really don't have the patience or the stomach to find out.

Overall rating: DNF

Book source: ebook ARC received from review from Netgalley.

Showcase Sunday #19

Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea.

First of all: Bibliotekit now has its own Twitter account! Kind of like a first birthday present to the blog. :)

A few different books this week: first of all, Jojo Moyes' Me Before You, which I borrowed from my stepmum when I was visiting home last weekend.

I also downloaded a few things on the Kindle:

The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
ICEHOTEL by Hanna Allen

I was intrigued by the concept of ICEHOTEL - I always thought the idea of an ice hotel was pretty cool, and this purported to be a murder mystery/thriller set in exactly that location. In the end, though, it was a DNF at about 20% of the way through, mostly because I was 20% of the way through and nothing had happened. On top of that, there was some excruciating dialogue (warning a character after one day that "if you hurt her, I'll kill you") and a heavy reliance on broad-brush stereotyping in place of actual characterisation - so an Irishman who likes Guinness, talks about his "Mam and Da'", and ends half his sentences with "that it is", and the two Southern gentlemen who call everybody "ma'am" and always remember their manners, and a bunch of drunk Danish tourists (one of whom apologises for being drunk all the time by saying, basically, "but I am from Copenhagen, so..."). Not to mention the older gay man who makes nudge-nudge-wink-wink comments about young attractive men, but actually has to be happy just tagging along after two thirty-something women, who are the only ones who'll actually be allowed to get the guy at the end.

(Rant over.)

I also wrote an article for HelloGiggles a couple of weeks ago (eep!), which I never got chance to post here, so here's the link! - The Fear In Saying 'Yes'.

Reviews this week:
Speechless by Hannah Harrington (8/10) - definitely recommended!
The Voice of the Violin by Andrea Camilleri (4/10)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Being brave: the dreaded DNF

As an almost-rule, I am a compulsive finisher of books. I read so fast as a kid that I would read and re-read (and re-read again) most books in my collection, and a lot of books from the library, just to constantly have something with words and pages in my hand. This would include books that I wasn't really getting along with, because every book deserves a chance, right? Plus, great or not, it was a new story to plough through, and to a kid with limited pocket money and a library with a finite selection of kids and teen books, that was enough.

As a result, though, I've read some pretty terrible books in my time.

I finally DNF'ed something a couple of years ago, when I gave up Stephen King's Black House as a bad job, and moved on to something else. Over Christmas, I was reading Death Comes to Pemberley, the P.D. James crime novel set six years after the events of Pride & Prejudice. On paper, this was an exciting mixture of a brilliant crime writer and an intriguing look at some beloved characters, and yet by the time I was halfway through I just didn't care. The writing was unengaging, the plot was plodding and I cared neither about the character who was dead, or who might have done it. (My mum was, incidentally, reading it at the same time by coincidence, and although she finished it she was reasonably underwhelmed.)

So I gave it up and put it to one side, and today I finally marked some other stuff as DNF on Goodreads. Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth, fascinating as the idea is, failed to grab me in the first place and has been dragged from bookcase to shelf over the last three years as I've moved house again and again, only to remain largely untouched a couple of chapters in. The audiobook of Bill Bryson's Down Under was something of a chore - I was hoping for a more positive foray into audiobooks when I picked this up at the library, but the narrator is appalling. He reads in an affected American accent, presumably to mirror Bryson, and the frequent lapses into an Australian accent hurt my brain. I'm sure the book is great, and I'm a big fan of Bryson, but I've had to stop listening to this.

Although a little part of me feels bad about giving up on these books and casting them aside, I'm now free of them, and free to go and read something else that I might actually enjoy. My time is increasingly limited, and as a result I'm less inclined to carry on with a book that isn't holding my attention. It's taken a while, but I think I'm finally happy to DNF the duds!