REVIEW: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Name: Pushing the Limits

Author: Katie McGarry

Publisher: Mira Ink

Release date: 3rd August 2012

Pages: 392

Source: From publisher for review

Rating: 5 stars

"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.

[summary taken from Goodreads]

Review

I wish I could just say: 'This book is A-MAZING!!! Stop what you're doing and pre-order it NOW.'  I'm guessing you wouldn't be entirely convinced? But seriously, the power with which this book grasps your heart and turns everything upside down is completely off the scales.

The premise of Pushing the Limits is so delicate, so fragile.  Yes, it's a heavy read but not many authors write about such tentative issues like the ones incorporated in this.  Katie McGarry addresses it superbly with the right balance of sensitivity and harsh realism, creating a perfect masterpiece I am unlikely to forget in a hurry.

Are you ready to ride the emotional rollercoaster?  Because Pushing the Limits will have you experiencing every feeling on the emotion spectrum.  It made me laugh, cry, gasp and boy, my heart was wrenched out, squeezed and then thrown back at me.  

Just as the events feel like more than words on paper, there is a strong cast of three-dimensional characters.  We meet Echo first, a broken girl, exhausted from chasing after the truth of what happened to her the night which was repressed from her memory.  I warmed to her instantly, sensing all of her innocence and pain and her desire to be loved.  Then comes Noah, a boy still torn from his parents' death.  He's completely crude yet undeniably hot and I frikkin' LOVED him to pieces (and so will you once you meet him).  He's labelled a 'bad boy' but there is so so much more underneath the tough exterior and barrage of swear words.  He's utterly caring and kind and fiercely loyal - everything you'd want in a guy.  And the love he has for his brothers is the CUTEST damn thing I've read about in a while!  My heart exploded with adoration for him when I saw just how protective he was of them and my heart hurt just as much as his at the fact that he was separated from them.  He is the first fictional guy to have made me cry :'(

The attraction between Echo and Noah was nothing like insta-love.  Their love for each other slowly built up, fuelled by Noah's intense physical urges.  And WOW, Katie McGarry sure knows how to create some seriously HOT intimate moments. *Fans self* Their romance just felt right - two emotionally and physically scarred people who come together with a mutual understanding and the ability to heal each other's wounds.  The way they helped each other emotionally just made my heart soar.  The way Noah helped Echo to overcome her scars and how Echo taught Noah to love again.  Watching their romance blossom was a beautiful experience and it was heartbreaking that obstacles were constantly thrown in their path.  They are the cutest couple in YA fiction ever.

Pushing the Limits is an emotional, raw, poignant, heart-wrenching novel.  Katie McGarry's convincing style of writing left me whole-heartedly caring and aching for the characters and she has weaved a smoking-hot romance among darker issues to create, what I believe, one of the best debuts of the year.  

5 teacups for Pushing the Limits!

*Thank you to Mira Ink for gracing me with a review copy!*