Pushing The Limits Review

"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.”

I was lucky enough to be invited to the very first UK Mira Ink blogger party earlier this year and when they talked about Pushing The Limits by debut author Katie McGarry, I actually put “!!!!!” by the title as I knew immediately that I would love this book.  A bad boy, a lost girl and a forbidden romance?  My name is written ALL OVER this (figuratively speaking, of course). 

Echo is hiding from everyone, including herself.  She’s retreated from her life in a big way.  Noah is known as the “bad boy”, he’s gone off the rails and stopped engaging at school.  They’re brought together against their will and BOOM, the chemistry sizzles right off the page but it’s certainly not instalove and they’re going to have to work just to get along with each other let alone anything else.   Their relationship is a slow build up and develops moment by moment which is delicious to watch.  Told through alternating viewpoints, Pushing The Limits has got to be one of the best character driven, contemporary and edgy romances I’ve read this year.  The whole bad boy romance thing sounds like a cliché but in this case, it isn’t and McGarry will have you believing it isn’t with her heartfelt writing which will take you on an emotional rollercoaster.  Echo and Noah aren’t bad kids, they used to be good kids but life dealt them a really crappy hand and they’re still reeling from it.  By coming together, they make each other want to be better and ultimately help each other to find themselves. 

I have to say that Noah makes for a swoonworthy romantic lead and I loved his fierce family loyalty and the fact that underneath his cool exterior, he’s really quite smart if he would engage again.  In fact, I connected with all the characters and they became very real to me, as if I were hanging out with friends which made it hard when the story ended.

I loved Pushing The Limits even though I don’t normally do “issue” books but the romance and excellent writing got me through.  It was delightfully unputdownable and I would have finished it in one sitting had it not gotten to 3am! There is a next book which is more like a companion novel featuring one of the other characters, Beth and I will definitely be picking that up.  Knowing that there isn’t going to be a Noah/Echo sequel makes me want to write fan fiction to continue their story and that’s saying something!   In the meantime, I’ve ordered a hardback for my collection.  Do yourself a favour and pick up this book.  You won’t be sorry.

Pushing The Limits is published on 31st July, 2012 in the US and 3rd August, 2012 in the UK.  To find out more about Katie McGarry and her books, please click here to visit her website.