Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

There are not enough words in the universe to describe how much I love this book!

I’ll admit I was skeptical at first. Contemporary books are normally not my thing. But Pushing the Limits got such rave reviews and I thought the plot sounded intriguing, so I figured I’d give it a whirl. I fell completely in love. I felt like I was Echo.. and Noah. Pushing the Limits yanked my heart out as I suffered through Echo and Noah’s pains, and then put it back together as they healed. I was living every moment with them, my emotions rising and falling with theirs.

I laughed, I cried, I giggled insanely.. god, I’m ready to read it all over again!

Okay, Ashley, focus.

Pushing the Limits is riddled with raw emotion. It deals with some really intense issues that you wouldn’t usually expect in a romance novel, but that’s what makes it feel so genuine and so powerful.

Throughout the entire book, it was so much fun watching Noah and Echo’s chemistry evolve. It’s the furthest you could get from insta-love. It starts out as sort of a “hate” relationship. Echo has this preconception of Noah as a troubled, bad boy, girl-using druggie. And Noah has a preconception of Echo being the pathetic, loner, possibly suicidal outcast. When their relationship evolves, you see both of these characters wondering why they’re falling for the other person. They don’t understand it; it’s weird; it doesn’t make sense. But somehow these two people are drawn together and attracted to each other because they manage to find common grounds in the darkest parts of their lives.

Even if you don’t have a dark and terrible past like Noah and Echo do, this book makes you sympathize; it makes you understand. Every word on every page is so genuine and filled with raw emotion that you feel like you’re living the story. Pushing the Limits deals with topics like abuse, foster care, psychological disorders, and divorce. But don’t worry, it’s not all heavy, intense subjects.

Echo and Noah both have ‘lesser’ problems as well — ones that most teenagers face and thus, might be easier to relate to for some people. They both just want to have normal lives. Echo struggles between two guys: the ex boyfriend who constantly tries to pressure her into having sex, and the bad boy who she thinks is probably no good for her. She worries about not having a date to the social dance, about never finding a guy who will love her, getting the courage to ask her parents for birth control, and so on. These are problems that most teenage girls think about at one time or another.

My one gripe? So much sexual tension and no climax! Katie, why must you taunt me so???

This is definitely one of the best books — if not the best — I have read this year! I’ve already preordered my own copy of this book and I’m recommending Pushing the Limits to every single person I know!

The Verdict