Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits

By Katie McGarry

Also posted at:  Ms. Reality's Goodreads

5 Stars

GUT-TWISTING

Echo has suffered terribly, but cannot remember why or how.  All she has are the scars on her arms and a few memories of her mom to remind her of that lost time.  Going from Ms. Popular to the social outcast of her high school overnight has been emotionally trying for Echo.  Not to mention living with her father and his new wife, her ex-nanny and the haunting memories of her brother who died at war.

The one person, who seems to feel her pain, happens to be the high schools resident bad boy, Noah Hutchins.  Noah has his own demons he is battling and a forged responsibility that he wants to take on. 

Both Echo and Noah are thrown together by Mrs. Collins, the school counselor, who vows to help them both.  Noah and Echo share a common bond in that they don’t trust anyone, especially Mrs. Collins.  When they team up to help each other, they may find that they need each other more.

My Thoughts:

 Pushing the Limits is a gut twisting emotional rollercoaster ride that I’m so glad I hoped on!  This book was so much more than I bargained for.

First off…Echo…really???? After the explanation, I understood better, but at first I kept thinking what were her parents on??  I guess I found out!

The author did a phenomenal job at her descriptions of the characters and their emotions.  I felt Noah’s pain, Echo’s hurt, Noah’s anger, Echo’s confusion, Noah’s struggles, Echo’s smile, Noah’s smirk and all the other feelings these characters felt.  All of it encompassed me and pulled me in a thousand different feeling directions, which I loved every second of!

Some very serious issues were discussed and I liked how the author didn’t sugar coat them.  Such as Echo being the outcast at school after the ‘incident,’ her feelings expressed and all the crap from her ‘friends’ she had to deal with.  All of this was well laid out.  (Grace pissed me off.)

Echo was strong—she didn’t know it, but while reading I knew.  Her life was a blender of mixed emotions set on high and stirred up!  She had no one but herself and somehow managed to pull through.

Noah…Noah…Noah… I have a new book boyfriend (now that he’s 18 that is.)  His troubled past (and present) cut him so deep that I bled for him.  I just wanted to scoop him up and make everything better for him.  In my opinion, an author that can make me feel that from words on a page is worthy of a great review!  I loved the relationship between Noah, Isaiah and Beth!  Those strong bonds of friendship sucked me in and helped me to remembered closeness I felt during my high school years.

My favorite quote from Noah was, “You’re my world, so I’d say that evens things out.”  Swoon!!!!  If I didn’t like Noah at all, this quote alone would have me falling all over myself!

The only dislike I had of the book was the ending.  To me, it felt very abrupt.  There was so much build up and I expected a hard conclusion.  I have so many questions that I want answered!  I won’t add them here because I’ll give too much away, but I want answers damn it! 

I also know the second installment of this book is coming out called ‘Dare You To’ and its Beth’s story.  I am hoping my questions from book one will be answered in this book, but I have to wait till 2013 to read it!!! Yikes!  The one thing I hate about great books is having to wait for the next!

Overall, highly recommend reading this book. It is thought provoking and emotional.