Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Title: Pushing the Limits
Author: Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing the Limits #1
Published: July 31, 2012
Source: NetGalley eARC

* A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review. *

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

I had pretty high hopes for Pushing the Limits after all the hype.  I almost get a little nervous when hearing a book get such praise, wondering if I'm going to like it as much as everyone else, or be extremely disappointed in it.  But Pushing the Limits didn't disappoint one bit, and I'm happy that I gave it a shot.

The story flip-flops between Echo's and Noah's perspective.  I usually really enjoy seeing both perspectives in a book, but since this was an unformatted eARC it was a bit more difficult to decipher when viewpoints were changing.  The two characters were unique though, so after a sentence or two it was easy to bounce back to who was speaking.

Echo... oh, poor Echo.  She experiences a life-changing event that she has absolutely zero memory of.  (I can't even imagine!)  Then there's Noah, the bad boy that's easy on the eyes but goes through women like their candy.  He has lost his parents and is now fighting for custody of his two young brothers.  Both Echo and Noah have their issues.  Both have their problems.  Both need help.  The school social worker pairs them together, Echo being Noah's tutor, and from there their relationship begins.  They try to fight it... but oh, it's so hard!

I would recommend this book to others that enjoy YA Contemps.  It was a bit slow for me at times and seemed rather long, but I did overall really enjoy it and I look forward to reading Dare You To, Book 2 in the Pushing the Limits series.

(From Goodreads)

KATIE MCGARRY was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, and reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.



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