Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Title: Pushing the Limits

Author: Katie McGarry

Series: Pushing the Limits #1

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Published: August 3^rd 2012

Format: eBook – NetGalley Preview Exclusive

Summary from Goodreads

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.

I saw this book on so many blog sites I just had to get it. It was obviously very popular and all of the teasers I read were witty and appealing. I thought it was just going to be a cute read about teenagers at school with minor issues. But never in my wildest dreams did I expect to open it and find it packed with so much turmoil and emotion!! Katie McGarry has written an astonishing novel that will tug on your heart strings right to the very end!!

Echo Emerson hasn’t had a normal teenage life after a few incidents have shattered her normal happy world. One of these incidents was so traumatic that her mind has suppressed the memories of what happened. Now she bears the scars on her skin and on her soul even though she cannot remember a thing. She now is quite withdrawn and has spent the last few years at school with limited contact with her friends.

Noah Hutchins also had a life changing experience which has split his family, but he is working hard to try and put things back to some sort of normality. He is currently in foster care and working at a burger place to make money. He is a very confident person and has always had a way with the ladies, but there is something about Echo that makes him want to be a better person.

The school’s new clinical social worker works with both Echo and Noah separately, and asks Echo to tutor Noah. They are both highly intelligent teens but Noah needs a little guidance to keep his grades up and his life on the right path.

Their initial meetings are a bit rocky, but you can see the chemistry beginning to spark. The more time they spend together the stronger their connection grows. Not only do they study together but they find that they have things in common and help each other deal with the demons of their pasts.

Pushing The Limits is like being on an emotional rollercoaster and Katie McGarry has written it to perfection. There were times that I laughed out loud at some of the witty things that Noah thought or said, but there were also times that I cried because of the issues that Echo and Noah had to face. It was a sensational novel and I loved every minute of reading it!!

Wrapping my arms around her, I walked her backward into the brick. “Tell me you chose me, Echo.”

She licked her lips. Those green eyes smouldered, calling me to her. “I chose you.”

For the first time in three years, the coil forever tightened in my gut relaxed. “You will never regret it. I promise.” Letting my hands skim the curve of her waist, I leaned into her soft body.

I wanted her. All of her, but Echo deserved more than a quick thrill and better than a guy like me. Everything needed to be slow and deliberate. I wanted to blow her mind with every touch and every kiss so her every thought would always come back to me. I would never touch anyone else again without thinking about her.

I’d promise she would be more and I needed to keep that promise!!

See, isn’t he just gorgeous!! They are so beautiful together!!

Naomi