Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Author: Katie McGarry
Title: Pushing the Limits
Publication: July 31, 2012
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Genre: Contemporary
Source: Publisher via Netgalley
Rating: 5 out 5

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 thathorrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smokinghot, 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.

Thoughts: Beautiful.Wow! I loved every part of this book. The ups the downs, everything is intricately crafted by the author. She has beautifully written a realistic story of love, hurt and loss. But it is also a story about two teenagers discovering themselves and what they want out of life. Echo struggles to remember the night that shattered her world. She blames her stepmother, Ashley, for destroying her family and taking her fathers' love. She feels that if it wasn't for her, her mother and brother would still be there. Echo finds herself in Mrs. Collins office, as she will be her new therapist and she claims to help her but Echo wants nothing of it. She's fine, she just needs to make until graduation and then she is ghost. 

Noah is a child of the system and has been bounced around from foster home to foster home. Now settled with his current foster family, he is determined to bide his time until graduation and then he plans to get custody of his brothers. He is afraid to love anyone else; he doesn't do well with attachments. Noah's one focus is his family and nothing else. Well that was before her met, Echo. Like her name she calls to him the sounds of his heart. Can they find love in the chaos of their world?

I liked how the author went about creating the heat between the two main characters without pushing it too far. Pushing the Limits is an emotional ride. Echo and Noah make a perfect match. The timing was just right, nothing felt forced. The characters are extremely well developed and easy to identify with. There are so many things in this book, the cliques, individuality, divorced parents and much more that any teen can find that relates to what they are going through.