Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Title: Pushing the Limits 

Author: Katie McGarry
Publisher:  Harlequin Teen 
Publishing Date: July 31st 2012

Pages: 403
Genre:  YA Contemporary Romance/ Realistic Ficion

Series: Pushing the Limits #1
Source: Audio

  

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 was little late on the bandwagon for this book. I am not sure what took me so long, but I am glad I finally got to this book. It was just amazing! I loved the characters, the story, the mystery, the love story, I loved it all. I laughed and I cried. I didn't want the story to end....

Echo has had a traumatic experience in her past, involving her mother and a trip to the hospital, before that... her brother left her... before that, her parents divorced and her father married the babysitter. So Echo has had a very tough couple of years. The latest incident that almost took her life, Echo has no memory of, just scars that tell her something happened. She has gone from popular to freak. She tries to hide from the world. 

Noah is living in a foster home. His parents died and in the process of finding the right foster home, Noah and his younger brothers have been separated. Noah wants nothing more than to get his brothers a home when he turns 18. The problem is, Noah is on a fast track to nowhere. 

A new counselor is in the school and Echo and Noah both visit her which lead to their lives intertwining which in turn just may save them both. 

I don't even know where to start with my thoughts on this book. It really did just blow me away. Books like this one make me wonder why it took me so long to get into realistic fiction. I loved the brokeness of the characters, the way they attempted to deal with it themselves, their passion, their fears, their need to find a way out of the hole they feel they are in. I loved how they found each other and found that being together and saving the other person is in turn what saved themselves. Just wow! I am a fool for tear jerkers with happy endings, and this is what this book was all about. 

What makes a realistic fiction go from good to awesome is of course the characters. The characters in this book just rocked. Not just the main characters but all the characters. 

Echo was something else. She went through so much, it's amazing she had any sense left at all. How she found the strength to live through each and every day is beyond me. She felt so alone int he world, so lost, and she lived with the fear she would go crazy. She still found her way, barely, through school, home, and just a bit a of a social life. Of course what little social life she had was all due to her best friend, Lila. Lila is just AMAZING. No matter what she stood by Echo's side and never left her for popularity, boys, or any other crazy reason. She loved Echo and her loyalty was just the coolest. 

Noah, oh Noah, the swoon worthy bad boy that didn't really want to be a bad boy, but was so lost and hurt it came way to easily, because he just about gave up!  One of my favorite types of boys. He had a good heart, he wanted it to be in the right place so badly, he just didn't know how. I know the feeling. I understood him and related to him. I felt his pain  through the entire book. Even his pain was hindering him, he still found a way to make Echo one of the most important parts of his life, only second to his baby brothers. Noah's story was so sad. He came from such a loving and wonderful family to be put in hellish foster homes where things were just always bad. He continued to try... the love for his brothers led him day to day. 

There are more characters than those to love in the book, it would take me a while to get through them all. Just as there are characters to love there are characters to hate. More to love and some to hate, but all very vivid characters to connect to. 

The story was just amazing, the mystery of Echo's past mixed with the anticipated relationship between Noah and Echo which leads to a very sweet and passionate love... so worth reading over and over and over. The narrators did a great job with the book too. 

If you like Mature YA or New Adult and broken characters... this is the emotional ride you may be waiting for. I loved it and I can't wait to read more from this author. There is a novella and more books coming. I won't wait forever to get to next story.