} -->

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

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



Rhonda's Review:

The worst type of crying wasn't the kind everyone could see-the wailing on street corners, the tearing at clothes. No, the worst kind happened when your soul wept and no matter what you did, there was no way to comfort it. A section withered and became a scar on the part of your soul that survived. For people like me and Echo, our souls contained more scar tissue than life. - Katie McGarry (Noah Hutchins)

It’s senior year, and graduation is within reach.  This should be a great time in high school, enjoying your friends, prom,  finally reaching adulthood, and carving out your future should be an exciting time.  For Noah Hutchins, and Echo Emerson they’re so uncertain of their future with the scars of their past still clinging to them. 

Echo Emerson was part of the “in” crowd in high school until the end of her sophomore year, Echo suffered physical and mental trauma at the hands of someone she should have been able to trust with her life.  She not only has  physical scars, but the mental and emotional ones as well.  Since returning to high school in her junior year, she turned into somewhat of a recluse.  Being afraid for people to see the scars, she’s always hiding them, and the trauma of the event has caused her to repress the memories of what happened.  You know how high school gossip mills go, and they didn’t spare Echo.  Between the rejection of her friends, the loss of her brother, her overbearing father trying to push her to excel academically, and not remembering the event that changed her life Echo doesn’t seem to have any control of her own life.  Now her “friends” are trying to pull her back into the “in” crowd, and as much as she wants “normal” she soon discovers that she can’t be that girl anymore. Echo thinks she is too scarred for anyone to love and accept her as she is.

A few years ago, Noah Hutchins was a great student, an athlete, and had a promising future ahead of him.  That is until his parents died and he and his two younger brothers became wards of the state.  Noah was bounced around several foster homes while his two younger brothers remained together in a different foster home. These events changed Noah, as he became part of the crowd with the bad reputations.  Because of Noah’s loss he is afraid of emotional attachments, and because of the things that have happened while in foster care, he’s untrusting of adults.  He has been denied access to his younger brothers whom he loves more than life.  His sights are set on graduation and gaining custody of his two younger brothers.  The last thing he needs or wants is a relationship!

Finally for these two help arrives in the form of a social worker / councilor, Mrs. Collins.  Mrs. Collins throws Echo and Noah together for tutoring, which neither want to be a part of.  But it seems like Mrs. Collins knows what she’s doing, whether they believe it or not. Mrs. Collins is at the school to help the most troubled students, and gaining their trust is a difficult task, but one she won’t give up on.  
I loved Mrs. Collins so much, she gave these kids her best, and never gave up on them.  She didn’t push them, but offered a gentle nudge in the right direction, and was there for them in all the right ways.

This book is not the ordinary teenage fluff, these kids have some serious baggage, and it’s  a really emotional story, and a great cast of characters!!  Noah is the drinking, pot smoking, foulmouthed, womanizing bad boy that I so love to read!!  And Echo is smart, and a little snarky when she wants to be, and much stronger than she sees herself. This was a great story of love, sacrifice, perseverance, acceptance, and trust.  I loved the secondary characters Isaiah and Beth as well!!  I’m wondering if there will be a continuation of this story.  There are a couple of secondary characters I’d love to see a story on.

WELL DONE Katie McGarry!!



2 comments:

Elena said...

Now this is a book I wanna get my sneaky paws on! Lol!!

As usually great review!

Ren said...

I love the cover! >_<
Hehehe, but usually I love to read based on cover alone.

Great review, Rhonda! :D

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...