Pushing the Limits

Title: Pushing the Limits
Author: Katie McGarry
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Date Published: July 24, 2012
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

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 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.

I actually gave it a 5 right after reading it but then I read On the Jellicoe road right after.

I know its silly to compare the two books but you cannot help it. You will compare the book you just read to the book you read before it.

When I read this book I was so surprised by how it made me feel but when I read On the Jellicoe Road.. well I don’t even have words to say how I felt.

So I felt that if I am so much more impressed by On the Jellicoe Road then I am by Pushing the Limits how can the two of them have the same rating?
Anyways back to the book.

I was an emotional mess after reading this book and that rarely happens with me. No this book isn’t necessarily sad or anything but it gets to you. The power of what Noah feels for his little brothers or how much Echo loved her brother is so much that it overwhelms you.

Their romance has an insta-love type feel to it but I overlooked it because there is so MUCH going on besides that. Both the characters are dealing with many issues.

Noah wants to gain custody of his brothers who he was separated from when his parents died. I think it’s Noah’s story that really breaks me. It’s his pain and how much he misses his parents. He was only in 9th grade when they died and to him it seems like he should take care of his brothers. He promised his little brothers he wouldn’t let them separate yet that’s what happened. Noah NEEDS someone to be the adult but there is no one there for him. He never got the chance to be a silly kid. He had to grow up way too fast. Despite all this it took me a while to warm up to him, his character seemed a bit cliched. But there was this scene where he almost cried when his little brother called him his hero, that was it for me. I fell in love with Noah right there.

Our other character is Echo. The rich girl with daddy issues (okay that makes her sound pathetic but she isn’t). Her mother tried to kill her, so we can call Echo screwed. I sympathize with Echo but she isn’t the best female lead ever, she makes bad decisions.

This book isn’t close to perfect but I really do think it was amazing, hence the 4 and not the 5.

This book was definitely worth my time although I won’t read the sequel because it isn’t about Echo and Noah. I hate it when authors expect us to become attached to certain characters and don’t write the sequels about them. I miss the characters from the previous book too much and cannot enjoy the characters in the sequel.