Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Title: Pushing the Limits

Author: Katie McGarry

Reviewed by: Cassie

The Fairies Say: A sweet romance with a bite to it!

Summary (from BN.com)

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.

You can take one look at the cover and judge it, or you can take one look at the cover and hear me out. Heck, you might be judging it now and thinking, "wow I really like that." Or maybe, "Hmm I need a pick-me-up romance." Either way, I'd like to put out there that Pushing the Limits is not a light-hearted romance and while it is contemporary, it focuses a lot on very deep issues. The author wrote in the back that the main idea of the book is of two teenagers, both lost and broken, finding hope and traveling that road of redemption together.

The beginning of the book starts with how Noah and Echo meet- they both have a new counselor and chance upon each other. What do you know and Echo ends up being Noah's tutor. Somewhere along the lines of her trying to persuade him to accept the lessons, Noah sees Echo's disturbing scars. And then the idea of hope comes into play. Hope of normalcy, hope of love, hope of redemption. These hopes develop as the story goes on. In the beginning, we learn that Echo can't remember how she got her scars. We also learn Noah is trying to reunite his broken family.

Echo is a complicated character. At times she's a smart-aleck and feisty and interesting. Most of the time she's stubborn, thoughtful, and artistic. She's pretty deep- she has two real friends, an overbearing father, her mom is bipolar and possibly tried to kill her, her best friend and brother died, and tons of other issues. Not to mention those ugly, ugly scars on her arms. She's understandably frustrated with her situation and you will find yourself rooting for her the whole story. However, at times I was frustrated with her for being a bit spineless. She doesn't really speak up for herself and at times her usually deep character will become shallow/annoying.

Noah is also very deep. We get varying POVs from him and Echo, and at first I was kind of annoyed with him. In the beginning all he likes about Echo is: she's feisty, she makes him have a conscious, and she's hot. Quite a few times I was cringing, seeing descriptions about Echo (and her cleavage and butt and how she smells...) Did I really need to read that? But as the story goes on, you will root for him just as much as Echo. He's a deep, caring guy beneath it all and some of his thoughts made me want to cry they were so adorable. He's the kind of guy who never tells a girl he loves her and this was just a small one:

"My heart swelled, causing my chest to ache and breathing to become nearly impossible. Paralyzed by her beauty, I hovered over her. She was no nymph, but a goddess." (p. 285)

Seriously, he and Echo were meant to be together.

My main issue was that the pages seemed to lag a little towards the middle/end. The plot seemed pretty dragged out- I'm not into purely romance books. I wanted to get into the issues more, but hey- I am not complaining. The romance was great. If you're looking for a nice sick book, this will be a good one!

Okay I'm off to do stuff, but don't forget to put your email in that box to the right!! --->

Cassie :)