Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

August 28, 2012 Philippa General, Reviews 5 Stars, Contemporary, Debut Author, Katie McGarry, Romance, Young Adult

I gazed into her beautiful green eyes and her fear melted. A shy smile tugged at her lips and at my heart. Fuck me and the rest of the world, I was in love.

I don’t know where to begin with this review. I don’t often read contemporary novels they just aren’t my cup of tea but on a whim after reading the synopsis on Netgalley I decided to request this one. Wow I am so glad that I did this book was spectacular - I couldn’t put it down and instead of getting things done when my daughter was in daycare one day, I read this book from beginning to end in bed at many points crying as some parts were just heartbreaking. This is not your typical good girl/bad boy love affair, this is gritty and real with both the main characters beautifully flawed and complex.

Echo Emerson had it all until one day something horrific happened which she has blocked out completely. She woke up in hospital covered in injuries and lucky to be alive. Noah was on the straight and narrow until his parents tragically died in a house fire one night leaving him and his 2 younger brothers at the mercy of the foster care system. Both these two students have so much potential that with the help of a new school therapist they try to work through their issues before finishing their senior year.

Echo was a beautiful leading lady I couldn’t help but feel for her considering everything that had happened in her life. Beyond her blocked memories, she had also lost her brother in Afghanistan and her father was now married and expecting another child with her former baby sitter. Her relationships with her mother, father, best friends in high school plus both her ex boyfriend and Noah are all wonderfully handled really giving you a good insight into a strong young woman who has had too much to cope with for such a young age.

Noah and everything to do with his character is about his younger brothers and how to eventually rescue them from the foster care system that failed him miserably. At the beginning he comes across arrogant and insufferable but you quickly realise that this is purely a defence mechanism he’s used to cope with the unfair hand he’s been dealt in life. As he studies with Echo and slowly spends more time reevaluating his future he turns into the most kind hearted and wise teenage boy I think you could ever meet!

The chemistry between these two is just hot hot hot! The book is filled with witty banter and sparks are seriously flying off the page every time these two come into contact. Aside from the sexual tension which is just rife in this novel, these two without meaning too provide each other an outlet for healing, probably more so then any therapy could provide. Like so many things in this book this could have been handled poorly coming across unrealistic or awkward but it simply works and it’s an experience to go on the journey with these brave individuals.

It’s one of those wonderful books where every chapter you think you have a handle and opinion on each of the characters, only to have even more information revealed and it gives you a completely different take on their actions. You slowly peel away all the different layers and get behind the untruths and emotional blocks to finally see the whole story clearly and man what a great story it was. This is one of the best books I’ve read this year, I just loved it and can’t recommend it highly enough even if contemporary books aren’t normally your thing I urge you to give it a go!

Thank you Netgalley and HarlequinTEEN for providing me with a copy of this novel for review. Pushing the Limits was released on the 24th July 2012 and can be purchased via the links below.

Rating

Author	Katie McGarry
Book series
Genre	Contemporary / Romance / Young Adult
Publisher	Harlequin Teen
Published	July 2012
Source	Netgalley ARC
More	Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry at Goodreads Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry at Amazon Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry at The Book Depository

34 Comments:

August Review Copy Clean Up Challenge | Tea, Daydreams & Fairytales says:

August 28, 2012 at 1:41 pm Reply

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