Thursday, August 9, 2012

5 STAR BOOK REVIEW: PUSHING THE LIMITS by @KatieMcGarry


PUSHING THE LIMITS
by
KATIE MCGARRY

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 409 (ebook)
Acquired:  From publisher via NetGalley
Available: Now!


Marissa's Rating:
5 STARS!
STOP WHAT YOU ARE READING.....
YOU HAVE TO READ THIS!




Goodreads Description:
"I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.

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.


MARISSA'S REVIEW:
Katie McGarry pulls out all stops and delivers a powerful, emotionally charged teen romance that will appeal to readers of all ages. It packs punches from so many angles and yes......I CRIED! Not just a tear  escaping down my cheeks.....but a steady evacuation of my tear ducts and a silent sob or two.  

Echo Emerson and Noah Hutchins are our focus characters in this powerful tale. Both have had fairly comfortable lives in the past...only to be thrust into despair, heartache, violence and self emotional torture. 

Echo has been dealt heavy blows with the death of her beloved brother Aires, the demise of her parent's marriage and a horridly traumatic event involving her and her mum....only she can't remember what happened - and no-one is telling.  The only reminder she has are the horrible scars on her arms and the knowledge that her mum was responsible. Oh yeah...and being ostracised from the IT crowd at school kinda sucks as well!
 
All Echo wants is to repair Aires '65 Corvette - she might just feel whole again after losing him.  But she must break down brick wall barriers her father has built in order to accomplish this one small thing. Not to mention allow her mind to let her remember what happened that night her world came crashing down around her.

Noah exists in a welfare system that has created a safe haven for his brothers....but ripped him out of their lives and into the unfortunate downside of the foster system.  He is determined to claw his way back and reclaim his brothers - convinced that he is their best hope at a good life.

Noah and Echo are thrust together by their school counselor - a move that sparks some amazing feelings and creates a bond and love that will be tested, prodded and pulled in all directions. 

All characters involved in this story are great to read.  None are  plonked there for their word count  - they all play important roles in the lives of Echo and Noah.

We read in alternating views from Noah and Echo.  Katie has pulled this style off brilliantly.  I never felt like "oh, I want more Echo" or "oh, I want more Noah"..... Katie fed the story to us in the right amount of portions that made for a satisfied reader at the end!

To say I enjoyed this tale is an understatement...it not just entertained me....it captured me.  

I will leave you with a snippet of a clip that I found on You Tube. it is a ballad titled Can You (Echo's Song) by Angela McGarry and is now available on iTunes.  There's also an upbeat pop/country version too!

ENJOY!
MARISSA 





2 comments:

  1. Me too! I don't usually cry in books except for ones penned by Nicolas Sparks but this one broke me down. Noah and his brothers made me weep on several parts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree about the balance-although I liked Echo a teensy bit more, that's just because I tend to prefer female characters anyway. I'm really glad we got to see both points of view.

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