“Thanks.” She glances at two guys exiting a Corvette. Those college boys belong here even less than she does. All three of them are easy prey.

The angel tucks her hair behind her ear. “Is this where I can drag race?”

I wince internally at her words. Asking for anything on the streets is a cardinal sin. Asking nicely is basically serving your soul to the devil. God didn’t send this angel to save me.

He sent her as a sacrifice….

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Playlist for Dare You To

Overall theme:

“Dirt Road Anthem” by Jason Aldean

“F**kin’ Perfect” by Pink

Taco Bell dare:

“Summertime” by Kenny Chesney

“U + Ur Hand” by Pink

Beth’s mother in the bar:

“Farmer’s Daughter” by Crystal Bowersox

Beth wakes in Scott’s house:

“Heart Like Mine” by Miranda Lambert

Ryan in town:

“Back Where I Come From” by Kenny

Chesney

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Isaiah offers to run away with Beth:

“Somewhere with You” by Kenny Chesney

Isaiah betrays Beth by taking her away from her mother:

“Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails

Ryan takes Beth to a field party:

“My Kinda Party” by Jason Aldean

Ryan dances with Beth:

“Just a Dream” by Nelly

Beth stays the night with Ryan:

“Don’t You Wanna Stay” by Jason Aldean

and Kelly Clarkson

Beth sings her mother to sleep:

“Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Beth tries to scare Ryan away with the truth:

“Don’t Let Me Get Me” by Pink

Ryan teaches Beth to float:

“Broken Arrow” by Rod Stewart

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Beth and Ryan are briefly happy:

“Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry

Beth’s final showdown with her mother:

“25 to Life” by Eminem

Songs written for Dare You To by Angela McGarry:

“Ribbons and Bows”

“We Weren’t Meant to Be”

Check out the songs at

www.reverbnation.com/AngelaMcGarryMusic

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Q & A with Katie McGarry

What inspired you to write Dare You To ?

In high school, my best friend and I would spend our evenings riding around in her car with the windows rolled down and music

turned up. At some point, we would always find ourselves at a late-night fast-food

restaurant.

Some of the most interesting things in my life happened between bites of greasy food.

Those memories pushed me to write the

opening scene of Dare You To and, from there, Beth and Ryan became full-fledged characters who demanded their story be told.

Your first book, Pushing the Limits , takes place in an urban/suburban setting. What HC TITLE-AUTHOR

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made you decide to set a majority of Dare

You To in a rural environment?

I grew up in a fringe neighborhood south of a large city. While we had a city zip code and all the conveniences of a larger population area, we would run into farmland if we

traveled a few miles south. Because of that, I grew up with a mixture of friends. I knew people who owned lowrider cars with

hydraulics along with guys whose tires on their four-wheel-drive trucks were almost as tall as me.

Beth was definitely a city girl and I liked the idea of shaking up her world by placing her somewhere different. Ryan was then born!

What type of research did you do while writing Dare You To ?

Ever since I’ve known my husband, I’ve

spent a good majority of my Friday nights during the summer up at the ballfield watching him play. It’s amazing to see how a group of guys work, and sometimes don’t work,

together on the field.

I knew immediately that Ryan would play

baseball and while I learned quite a bit from HC TITLE-AUTHOR

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my husband, I wanted to understand

baseball in the context of a teenager chasing a pro career and/or an athletic scholarship. I visited an indoor baseball training facility and was able to talk to trainers there. I also spoke with teens and parents of teens in similar circumstances as Ryan.

Everyone was extremely helpful and their

answers and experiences helped shape the

situations that Ryan faced.

Why did you choose not to have Isaiah and Beth end up together?

What if I told you that when I wrote Pushing the Limits, where they appear as secondary characters, I did see them together? I’m sure no one would be shocked by that answer.

When I began to examine Beth and Isaiah

closely, I realized that in order for them to find peace they needed to be challenged by

someone else. Beth and Isaiah are very similar and Isaiah completely enables Beth’s behavior.

The two of them had a lot to work through, and as I began plotting, I realized they couldn’t grow as individuals as long as they were

together.

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I love Beth and Isaiah as if they are real live people and I truly want them to be happy.

Unfortunately, I just didn’t think they could find true happiness as a romantic couple. Ryan, on the other hand, is Beth’s perfect match.

Beth doesn’t see who she really is and

because Ryan has no history with her, he’s able to see her very clearly. He falls hard for the wonderful person buried deep inside her. Beth holds on to a past she can’t change and Ryan helps her learn how to let the past go and look toward the future.

Now, one of the many wonderful chain

reactions that stemmed from writing Beth with Ryan was the joy of writing Isaiah’s story, Crash Into You. My heart broke several times for Isaiah while writing Dare You To and I can’t tell you how excited I am for my readers to see who Isaiah ends up with and how this will change his life forever.

I promise—you won’t be disappointed!

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