ARC Review :Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Title: Pushing the Limits
Author: Katie McGarry
Publisher: Harlequin / MIRA Ink
Releases: 24th July,2012/ 3rd August,2012
My ratings: 4 out of 5 stars

Pushing the Limits is a story about two broken people who come together and heal other through their friendship and love. Echo just came to school after a period of being hospitalised, with scars running down both her arms. She know she cannot be the same again, the popular girl who everyone loved. Everyone has questions which even Echo has no answers for. She finds the unlikely friendship in Noah, the school stoner, to be helpful and soothing. Noah has had a troubled childhood. Since ‘the incident’ he has spent most of it shifting around foster homes. These two come together forming a friendship which helps them overcome their personal demons and face the world.

"The worst type of crying wasn't the kind everyone could see - the wailing on street corners,the tearing at clothes. No, the worth kind happened when your soul wept and no matter what you did, there was no way to comfort it. A section withers and becoame a scar ont he prt of your soul that survived."

This book has got two POV running through its entire length. The first one was Echo, whom I did not like very much. She was childish and kept on holding on to the past. I found her stubborn and unforgiving. I also disliked how she always wanted to please her fiends and wanted to be a part of the ‘happening’ kinds of the school. Honestly I could not blame her. It was she was before her ’accident’ and that is what she wanted to be. She was shallow but I realise she was real. As the story moved on I felt that she was afraid to see thing changing around her over which she had no control on.

Noah, on the other hand was a completely different story. I liked him more and more as I read on. He was so passionate and driven. I loved how he wanted and did everything he could to make a difference. It was touching how he felt for his brothers and his friends. He was faithful loyal and determined. No one messes with Noah’s loved ones. Male POV usually puts me off a book but I loved Noah. He made reading a male POV fun and new. He turned out to be someone I would love to know.

"I knew all bout girls that smells good. If I didn't know better, I would have thought Echo lived in a bakery."

However I would admit I am slightly disappointed by this book. Maybe I went it thinking it would be another Beautiful Disaster (which I loved btw). When I realised this I could not shake the feeling of disappointment. This book is something else and it does not involve passionate love affairs and back and forth drama. I would be lying if I said it doesn’t. It is a Young Adult book. It is bound to have teenage angst and rebellion but this was another pill altogether. It was about growing up and getting in grips with your emotions. It was about learning to let go and accept a few things, which however hard they are for the greater good. All in all it was a coming of age book and finally becoming adults.

ARC provided by NetGalley