Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Published: 3rd August 2012
By: Mira Ink

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've been on a bit of a paranormal kick for the last couple of years and have read very few contemporaries, but Pushing the Limits might just bring me back to them. Although, it's a book about a couple of troubled teens, it had some awesome swoonworthy moments and I actually cried, something I haven't done when reading a book for a long time. And not always because of sad reasons, but happy, emotional ones.

Echo and Noah both attend the school counsellor and this is how they come to really get to know each other. Echo used to be one of the popular kids, before the incident, and her friends and family are trying to get her back to that place. While Noah, whose parents died a couple of years ago in a house fire, is a loser stoner who is in the foster care system. Usually, they would be keeping their distance from each other.

Echo can't remember exactly what happened to her and the counsellor is trying to help her remember and deal with it. It was intriguing to fill in the gaps along with her, throughout the book. She is a really likable character and I loved seeing things work out for her. At the start of the book, she is a fairly weak character and gets walked on by everyone. By the end, her character has grown immensely and she is able to stand up for herself and take over her own life.

Noah is awesome, I loved him. He has been between a few different foster homes, and was separated from his two little brothers after the fire. His hope is to get custody of them when he reaches 18, but with the way things are at the moment, that's not going to happen, so he needs to make some changes.

When he starts falling for Echo, it is so sweet. With the tough exterior that he has built around himself, he hardly realises it and part of him doesn't want to accept it. And Echo can't believe that she is having feelings for Noah Hutchins "the stoner!" if she goes out with him, it will be social suicide. Seemingly, so wrong for each other, really, they are perfect together.

This was one of my favourite books this year. I loved the relationship between Noah and Echo and their scenes together were the best. It's fast paced and kept me glued to the pages. I can't recommend it enough.

Buy the book: Amazon/The Book Depository