Book Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits

By Katie McGarry

Release Date: July 31, 2012

Source: Publisher

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 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: I've wanted to read this book for so long (even though it's still not even out yet...) so I was beyond excited to get an ARC! And once I read it, the story pushed way past any expectations I had held for it! 

I absolutely loved Echo's character because she wasn't your typical popular, annoying, snotty girl some books end up being about. Echo used to be popular until her mother tried to kill her (an event she still has not memory of) and left scars all up and down her arms. Echo became withdrawn and was pushed onto the outskirts of the high school hierarchy. Having to go to therapy sessions with the school therapist Mrs. Collins, Echo just wants to remember that night and have her old life back. But now her father is married to her babysitter, her brother died in Afghanistan, and she has no way of contacting her mother. Everything changes when Mrs. Collins has Echo tutor her other patient, Noah, to make money to fix up her brother's car. 

Mmmmm Noah. Now that's want I want to talk about! Noah is your typical bad boy, but he has a secret that makes him so different from anyone else. His parents had died in a fire to leave him and his brothers to live with foster parents. After ruining things at one home, Noah's younger brothers are taken to a different home where Noah is only allowed to visit two hours a week. He may look tough on the outside, but all Noah wants is his family back. And he can't seem to get that red-headed girl from Mrs. Collin's other session out of his head. And did I mention he's gorgeous? He may look all tough, but he's a total sweetheart inside. 

Noah has a reputation for getting around the school, but something's different about Echo. And as Noah and Echo get to know each other, they realize they can help each other more than anyone else can. The way their relationship builds and they learn to trust each other is so sweet! I could just read about their relationship forever because their characters were so great. And all of the other characters were great too! I loved Noah's best friends and Mrs. Collins always seemed to pop up when you least expected, and when they really didn't want her to. 

I'm so sad that I finished this one. Normally, I read the last fifty pages of a book pretty fast because I know I'm in the home stretch but with Pushing the Limits, I took my time because I wanted to savor each page! I definitely recommend this read to fans of Simone Elkeles and Jennifer Echols. And anyone who loves and YA contemporaries! Because this was a fantastic contemporary that you seriously won't want to put down!