Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Genre: Realistic Romance, Teen, Drama, Contemporary Romance

Format: Paperback

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Synopsis: 

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.

Review:

If I could count the books I’ve read that actually had realistic events, events about everyday life, and heartbreaking moments between family, friends, and lovers. They can be counted with both my hands. Yes, I tend to stay away from books that show you how life is for some people because well, I read to escape reality and to dive into fantasy and the supernatural. Because I know they’re not real and they rarely remind me of how hard life is for other people.

So, I took a chance and read Pushing the Limits, which is about Echo who almost lost her life to her mentally ill mother and Noah who is thrown into the foster system that separated him and his brothers when his parents past away in a fire.

Honestly, it’s refreshing to read something new once in a while, though this is still teen. But it's a book with depth and raw emotion. It’s not really teenage angst caused by petty things like a break-up with a week relationship. But real depression caused by memory loss, death, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

I loved the main characters, they were easy to like and form an attachment to. Then there are the antagonists they have in their normal lives, which were their parents, the foster system, teachers, etc.

The best thing about this book was that it was captivating. No matter how many times I had to put it down because of work or the need to sleep. I just couldn’t and the facts that held touchy topics like a bi-polar parent, death in the family, the foster system, mental illnesses and many other themes.

I absolutely loved the writing style; it was clean, crisp and had a perfect balance of detail and dialogue. The parts of the books that really touched me, was the scenes between Noah and his brothers. They were separated by the foster system and Noah wants nothing more than to take back his brothers from their foster parents before they force his brothers to forget about him. If I was separated from my younger and older sibling, I wouldn’t know what to do.

Overall, I loved the book. It was a Contemporary Romances that really stood out amongst hundreds that were released in 2012. It is heart-wrenching and beautiful.

4.5/5 stars