Pushing the LimitsPublisher: Harlequin Teen, 2012Genre: YA Contemporary
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.
Echo Emerson doesn’t remember the night her life turned upside down, the night she went from being Miss Popular to being the school’s freak, the night her mom attacked her. She wants to know what happened, wants things to go back to normal, but her controlling father won't tell her, and her new therapist agrees. Echo wants normal…. Noah Hutchins was Mr. Popular until his parents died, and he and his brothers entered the system. Jumping foster homes, getting into fights, and basically giving up on life, all that Noah wants is his brother’s back. But to do that he’ll have to strive to do better. When these two are pushed together, they resist it, but a common goal makes them work together, secrets shared bring understanding and care, and a sizzling attraction begins to build. How much are they willing to risk to find trust and love again?
Katie McGarry has certainly pushed the limits with her debut novel. Powerful and honest, Pushing the Limits will wring out every emotion out of you, and you’ll love every second of it!
To say that I loved this story is the biggest understatement of the year. Every page I turned took me deeper and deeper into the story and into the characters lives, until I was so absorbed I forgot that these weren’t real people and I didn’t need to cry so hard. But, oh, cry I did. With a commanding prose, that doesn’t pull any punches, McGarry digs deep into themes of drugs, alcohol, sex, family issues, love, and loss. And it’s not only the way she deals with these themes that it’s masterful; it’s the way the characters deal with it.
Echo has lost her brother, her mom, and her father and his new wife don’t seem to care much about her. She feels lost and out of place, but still doesn’t fight or stand up to anyone…until Noah. Now, his life is even more messed up than Echo’s, but he is determined to fight and get his life back. Noah’s love for his little brothers tore at my heart every single time. I always ended up teary eyed but smiling in those scenes. What makes Echo and Noah great is that they’re flawed. Seriously. These two are so flawed is not even funny, but they’re all the more beautiful and real because of it. They start out with a common goal, and end up finding themselves closer than they believed they could get to another person. Their chemistry is explosive and sweet and frustrating all rolled up into one. If there’s one thing made very clear, is that nothing in life is easy, especially not love. Echo and Noah need to figure out who they are and want to be first, before they can see who they can be together.
Another big lesson is that sometimes we do need help, and we do need to trust in other people to help us see clearly. Mrs. Collins was pretty awesome with her eccentric therapist ways and her mad driving skillz. Though maybe not as obvious, but Echo and Noah’s friends also help. Lila’s optimism and cheery attitude, Isaiah’s straightforward advice, and Beth…well she was kind of a nuisance but I still wanted to know more about her and what made her that way. Lucky me, book two Dare You To is about Beth!
The last third of Pushing The Limits would’ve had me on the edge of my seat, but it was 3-freaking-AM and all I could do was wiggle in bed and chant ‘omgomgomgomgomg.’ Just remembering those closing scenes, with Noah and his brothers, and Echo and her family, makes me tear up. This book isn’t just a YA Contemporary Romance. It is substance and emotion and so much more! This is one of those books that I’ll recommend to anyone and everyone who engages me in book talk.
*Arc copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley*
Favorite Quotes:
~A gentleman~
A cold wind swept across the patio, causing me to shiver. Noah shrugged off his black leather jacket and tossed it around my shoulders. “How are you going to tutor me if you get fucking pneumonia?”
I cocked an eyebrow. What an odd combination of romantic gesture and horribly crude wording.
~Sirens~
We’d read about sirens in English this fall; Greek mythology bullshit about women so beautiful, their voices so enchanting, that men did anything for them. Turned out that mythology crap was real because every time I saw her, I lost my mind.
~Mrs. Collins~
I followed, reluctantly. “You know, I never agreed to this.”
She laughed—actually laughed at me. “Oh, echo. You’re going to, if only on the principle that I’m asking you to do it. Your authority issues sure come in handy at times.”
I stood in the middle of the sickroom and shoved my hands into my pockets. “Doesn’t that break some sort of therapist code? You know, using my issues against me.”
“Possibly.”
