Review + Giveaway: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Title: Pushing the Limits
Author: Katie McGarry
Series: Stand Alone, sort of.
Book #: 1
Pages: 384
Reading Level: YA
Book Rating:
Goodreads Rating: 4.30
T.B.Published: July 31st, 2012.
Katie McGarry's Website

"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.

 

 

Taschima's POV:


What's with contemporary lately? Has it always been this good? Or am I just turning in a new leaf?


I was skeptical when first going into Pushing the Limits because 1. It is contemporary, 2. It is fairly long for a contemporary story, 3. It wasn't high on my to-read-list. But at the end of the day once I made up my mind to pick it up and start reading it was game over; Pushing the Limits had me in it's grip and it wouldn't let me go.

 

 

Noah and Echo. Echo is the once popular girl who went through a traumatic experience in her life, which her mind blocked, and since then she has never been the same. She has the scars to prove it. Going along for Echo's journey was very interesting. Her story revolved around remembering the traumatic event that happened to her, one way or another. We learned about her traumatic experience through flash backs. I thought the flashbacks could have been set up a bit better, but then again this could change since I only read an ARC. She was at times a little whiny and a pushover but she grew and developed through the novel. I liked her overall.

Noah on the other hand was every girl's wet, bad boy dreams. The boy who hooks up with every other girl in the state but is too afraid to commit. The boy who is a prodigy in bed and always knows just how to turn you on. Yeah, well, he was kind of sexy in that way. But the best moments in my mind were the ones he let his feelings for his brothers show. He just broke my heart. I actually cried in some of Noah and his brother's scenes together. No kidding. But that kind of emotion... you just can't make that stuff up.

Echo and Noah. Together. They made sense. Not in a "they are the main characters so they are BOUND to be together" kind of way but in a "they are two parts of a whole" kind of way. Echo brings characteristics out in Noah, she helped him through a dark part of his life, and Noah gave Echo the security and love that she was lacking. They helped each other in so many ways. I loved them together, even when they made me want to smack them in the head in order for them to get their shit straight.


I loved that the story was told from both points of view, both Noah's and Echo's. Thank. Goodness. It adds so much. You get Noah's total male point of view (the things this boy said and thought could definitely make your grandmother blush) in contrast with Echo's not girly per se but dark perspective.

The setting of the story was familiar. High school as the hell mouth. Was high school this bad for everybody? Was gossip such an integral part? I mean, I don't remember my high school experience like that, I mostly ignored everybody... Anyways, yeah, there's high school, there's mean girls, there are back stabbing bitches pretending to be friends, boyfriends pretending to be star crossed lovers, etc. All the juicy stuff is in here but the generic stuff is only a background. The real story lies with the main characters and their screwed up pasts and how they handle their need for normal.

 

 

Pushing the Limits is a very heart warming story. It is great. I really enjoyed it. These days there is just something about a good contemporary that can get your boat rocking. Pushing the Limit can definitely be that novel for you.

Giveaway Rules:

1. Open to Bloody Bookaholic followers <3
2. US & Canada only.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/2314917/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway