Author: Katie McGarry
Author Info: Website / Twitter / Goodreads
Pub Date: July 31, 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Format: ebook (netgalley)
Pages: 326
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes and Noble
Summary:
"I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.
So wrong for each other...and yet so right.
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.
Review:
This book was amazing. I do not usually read contemporary novels but every once in a while I will venture out and I’m glad I did. Katie McGarry did such a great job of sucking me into the world of Pushing the Limits.
This book deals with a spectrum of issues which we learn through the two different perspectives of the main characters. I often feel that switching back and forth like that can be difficult but this was done extremely well. The plot flowed at a perfect rate and I found myself unable to put it down at points. I was completely absorbed in their world. I actually have some personal experience with some of the issues that were addressed and I found that they were handled well. This book wasn’t trying to give anything a bad rap; it actually showed you that no situation is created equal.
Noah is a bad boy with a good heart. He has just been beaten down by a system that is supposed to work for him not against him. He ends up in situations that are not his own making and from that he ends up down a road where he becomes cynical and mistrusting. He no longer believes that there is good in anyone and people might genuinely want to help him. He’s fiercely loyal to the ones he cares about which makes him swoon worthy.
Echo was also an amazing character, she has had traumatic event happen to her but cannot remember it and do to that the once popular girl has shut down. Not only does she have to deal with her issues but she also has to deal with the social hierarchy at school. I liked the fact that the book didn’t just revolve around Echo’s problems with herself but also the chain effect of how it affected the environment around her.
When the two characters come together is when they really start to develop. Each of them is drowning in their own separate pain but as they get to know each other they start to realize they are not alone. They find out that not everyone is out to get them and they help each other grow. It was not an instant love scenario by any means which was what made their relationship so good. They both had reservations about it at first and they eventually find themselves knitting together naturally. By the end we found two stronger people, who manage to bring out the best in each other.
This is one of those books that I cannot praise enough; it reminds you that the world is full of different people, different choices and that in order to forgive others you have to love yourself.