Pushing the Limits

Title: Pushing the Limits

Author: Katie McGarry

Genre: YA/Romance

Release Date: July 31, 2012

My Rating:
♥♥♥♥♥

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.

~ Goodreads

Pushing the Limits is a read-until-3AM, forget-about-work, and completely-in-the-zone kind of book.  From the first thirty pages I was instantly hooked.  McGarry has a wonderful writing style that displays both the struggle of adolescence and the pain loved ones can cause in such an eloquent manner.  Even the cursing sounded sophisticated.

The Characters
The character development was phenomenal!  I grew to know each and every character, flaws and all.  Heck, I even empathized with Echo's dad at one point.
The well drawn out plot showcases their lives on a movie screen, timing each revelation of their lives with the utmost care.  In the beginning, I was reeling at Echo's mother, father, and stepmother.  In the end, I understood how much pain Echo and Noah had gone through in just a couple of months, all the while trying to adjust to their new status as a couple in a high school full of lions ready to rip them to shreds.
I loved Noah and Echo!  They were the two missing pieces of a puzzle.  Noah was the yin to Echo's yang.... okay, maybe not that, but you get my point!  They were made for each other.

The Plot-Line
I thought I had read books about characters with some jacked up pasts, but they don't even compare to Echo's past.  I can't say what happened to make her so traumatized, but I can say that it's horrific.  To have so many tragedies happen in such a short span of time is unimaginable.  And to top it all off her father makes one of the stupidest decisions of all time.  Yeah, I really couldn't stand Ashley and Echo's father.  I mean, who does that?
Noah.  Noah is a golden statue with some kinks in the base.  He had so much love for his brothers and such an urgency to remind them of the life they used to have when their family had been whole.

Why should you read Pushing the Limits?
Pushing the Limits is a whirlwind of tragedy, love, pain, and new beginnings coupled together with fantastic writing and broken characters that will leave you hungry for more.

Overall, I'm giving this book a 5/5 because it was absolutely flawless.