Review: Take Me On (Pushing The Limits #4) by Katie McGarry

Another angst filled NA. Puh –leeze.

Title: Take Me On
Series: Pushing The Limits
Author: Katie McGarry
Publisher: Mira INK, UK
My ratings: 2 out of 5 stars
Released: 6th June, 2014
While I do enjoy a spot of Katie McGarry’s stories lately I have been feeling out of sorts. 
Haley’s family is in a bad situation, with her father being made redundant and their house has been repossessed, she and family are living with her Uncle, who is a chauvinistic arsehole to boot. Haley, due to the bad choices she made in the past, has given up her passion which is kick boxing. West on the other hand is a rich brat, who has decided that he has had enough and decides to leave his home in a bid to prove his worth. On the streets with no money or house and struggling to get by, he meets Haley and somehow in the midst of warring fighting clubs, over bearing family problems and making ends meet, Haley and West fall in love. .

I feel bad for writing this review but this ought to be done. I have enjoyed Katie’s work before. I truly have but this time it just didn’t work for me. It felt like it was the same tried and tested formula which was being regurgitated and fed back to me. Troubled teenagers, with family issues and a big obstacle they have to overcome. The threat of social services looming on them and the pressure to make something better of themselves and many more are such real issues faced by teenagers in today’s world. I think it is wonderful that Katie writes about these problems with such seriousness and addresses a problem which needs attention but somehow I don’t feel entertained by it. .

After reading three of her previous books and thoroughly enjoying them, I feel I can discern a pattern to her plotting and now it just feels repetitive. The characters now all blend together and each story is set around a new fad like car-racing, sport or kick boxing in this case. .

The amount of angst played into the story got too much for me this time. I just could not take the same type of angst and trouble over and over again. Plus this book was over 500 pages. I don’t even read Fantasy books that long which require extensive world building, let alone a New Adult book filled with angst and stupid parents makes idiotic choices for their kids. .

I really liked West in Crash Into You, as the flirty, handsome devil may care good guy but just like it has happened before when a side character gets his own book, all the factors that I loved about West were toned down and what was left was a husk of the real person which once may have had made for captivating reading. I know you’ll try to feed me the drivel about character growth but I realise I don’t care about ‘character growth’ if you mould and twist it into something that should conform every body’s choice for a good person. .

Enough of my ranting and more discussing the actual story and characters. While West and Haley were serviceable there was nothing remarkable or memorable about them. I character that I did I enjoyed reading about most was the crazy, over the top, drug dealing Abby. I hope when she gets her own book, she doesn’t get turned into another angst filled cookie cutter character with more family problems and poverty. Please keep some of the snark to save the book for me. .

My sole purpose in reading is to escape reality and experience something wonderful which I can’t in the real world. Take Me On failed to do that. I guess some readers enjoy a dose of real life in their books but 500 pages filled with angst and emotions, is too much for me. .

While Take Me On deals with a variety of serious issues like poverty, gang fighting, coming-of-age, proving your worth to your family and show how some something wonderful like love can bloom out in this filth and how it changes change you forever, this book did not take my fancy. I may or may not pick the next book, which only time will tell. Recommended to all Katie McGarry fans, New Adult fans and reader who like a bout of reality and real life to their reading. .

ARC received from Mira INK, UK