Tag: Pushing the Limits

Review: Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

Posted June 5, 2014 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Rowena’s review of Crash into You (Pushing the Limits #3) by Katie McGarry.

From acclaimed author Katie McGarry comes an explosive new tale of a good girl with a reckless streak, a street-smart guy with nothing to lose, and a romance forged in the fast lane…

The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life-that’s who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers…and she’s just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker-a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can’t get him out of her mind.

Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks-no matter how angelic she might look.

But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they’ll go to save each other.

I’ve been looking forward to reading this book since I read Beth’s book, Dare You To. The way that Beth broke Isaiah’s heart left me anxious for him to get his happy ending. I liked Beth in her book, even though she got on my hot damn nerves more than once in her book but I was looking forward to Isaiah moving on from Beth and finding his own happy. I’ve been seeing lots of people who have read this book, talk about how much they loved it so that fueled my desire to read it.

When I finally opened it up, I couldn’t wait to dig right in.

Isaiah’s mother has been out of his life since he was a young kid and thrown into the foster system. She went to prison and left him behind, so he carries a lot of resentment toward her because she’s been out of prison for over two years and she hasn’t made any effort in trying to see him…until now and Isaiah feels like it’s too little, too late. Isaiah has survived some pretty harsh things in his young life and he’s real street. Street smart, street strong and all of that.

When Rachel Young comes into his life, all Isaiah wanted was to make some quick money racing so that he can pay rent on his shitty apartment that he’s sharing with his best friend and foster brother, Noah. What he gets instead was a young girl around his age, in over her head with the street crew that runs the racing circuit and cops storming into break up the races. On the run because he cannot risk getting caught, Isaiah stops to help Rachel escape the cops too.

Little did he know that that one act of kindness will change his life forever.

The romance between Isaiah and Rachel was good. And it was very young. All of their firsts together were Rachel’s firsts and I thought McGarry did a great job of conveying Rachel’s feelings and actions. I felt that each interaction with Isaiah was authentic and even her interactions with her family. Coming from a large family, I could relate to Rachel’s feeling that she had to please them in order to keep everyone happy. It drove me up the wall each and every single time that her brothers and father put their needs and wants before her own, but it helped strengthen her as a person and I liked that.

Isaiah was just as great as I knew he was going to be. Everything he went through, everything he felt and everything he did, he was doing because he felt he had to do. He was so strong and at such a young age, my heart hurt for him. He didn’t have very many people to lean on and when Noah, Echo, Logan, Abby, Beth and the rest of the gang come together in the end for Isaiah and Rachel, my heart swelled because I loved the little family unit they formed amongst themselves. I loved that Isaiah finally realized that he wasn’t alone in the world and that he had people to share his burdens with. He had a lot of them.

But as much as I loved this book, there were a lot of things that bothered me. Things like how Rachel never told West about his stupid ass friends that got her in such trouble with Eric. I hated that West didn’t know what douchebags he hangs out with. I hated that Isaiah never once visited them in the hospital to find out what happened to the money and at least get a few knocks in himself for putting Rachel and him in the position that he found himself in. I hated Rachel’s family for most of the book and even in the end, I still wasn’t a fan of her parents or her brothers…except Ethan. And West.

But I am looking forward to reading West’s book. But I’m hoping for a book for Logan and Abby…hopefully together. Maybe. I think they both have great potential so I’ve got my fingers crossed that they’ll get their stories told.

This book was a good one, another great addition to Katie McGarry’s backlist and I’m looking forward to reading more from her.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

This book is available from Harlequin Teen. You can purchase it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Tagged: 4.5 Reviews, Contemporary, Harlequin Teen, Katie McGarry, Pushing the Limits, Rowena's Reviews, Young Adult

Review: Crossing the Line by Katie McGarry.

Posted October 10, 2013 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Rowena’s review of Crossing the Line (Pushing the Limits #1.5) by Katie McGarry.

Katie McGarry captivated readers with her “riveting, emotional”* Young Adult debut, Pushing the Limits. In this gripping novella, she tells the story of Lila and Lincoln, who discover that sometimes it’s worth crossing the line for love…

Lila McCormick, Echo’s best friend from Pushing the Limits, first met Lincoln Turner when tragedy struck both their lives. But she never expected their surprise encounter would lead to two years of exchanging letters—or that she’d fall for the boy she’s only seen once. Their relationship is a secret, but Lila feels closer to Lincoln than anyone else. Until she finds out that he lied to her about the one thing she depended on him for the most.

Hurting Lila is the last thing Lincoln wanted. For two years, her letters have been the only thing getting him through the day. Admitting his feelings would cross a line he’s never dared breach before. But Lincoln will do whatever it takes to fix his mistakes, earn Lila’s forgiveness—and finally win a chance to be with the girl he loves.

What a cute short story this turned out to be. If you’ve read Pushing the Limits, then you’ll remember Echo’s best friend Lila. She was the one that stood by her side when Echo needed her and she gets her story told in this book.

Lila and Lincoln have been writing letters to each other back and forth for the last two years. There isn’t a person who knows Lila, the way that Lincoln does and they fall in love with each other through their shared words and letters to each other. They make plans and when Lila finds out that Lincoln lied to her about something, everything she was preparing for comes crashing down on her and it pisses her off. She feels betrayed and she feels all alone again. Echo’s got Noah and Lila is happy for her but she misses her best friend. When Lincoln shows up at her place, wanting to explain and fix what’s broken between them…Lila doesn’t stand a chance.

I thought that McGarry did a fabulous job of bringing Lila and Lincoln’s relationship to life. Their shared letters, the talks they had when Lincoln gets to Lila’s house, getting Stephen and his friends back, all made for a wonderful story. The story may have been short but it didn’t feel rushed at all. I enjoyed seeing Lila again and getting to know her. I felt the same way for Lincoln. I thought he was a great hero and I also thought he was pretty much the perfect guy for Lila. They understood each other and they had chemistry.

I’ve enjoyed every book that I’ve read by McGarry and I’m looking forward to reading more. This book was another winner for me and I definitely recommend it.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

This book is available from Harlequin Teen. You can purchase it here and here in e-format.

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Tagged: 4.5 Reviews, Contemporary, Harlequin Teen, Katie McGarry, New Adult, Pushing the Limits, Rowena's Reviews

Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Posted June 7, 2013 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Rowena’s review of Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2) by Katie McGarry.

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. “Dance with me, Beth.”

“No.” I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again….

“I dare you…”

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk’s home life, they’d send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom’s freedom and her own happiness. That’s how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn’t want her and going to a school that doesn’t understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn’t get her, but does….

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can’t tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn’t be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won’t let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all…

I read and enjoyed Pushing the Limits so much last year that I was anxiously waiting for this one. I couldn’t wait to get it and when I finally opened this sucker to get down to some serious reading, I was fully prepared for the awesome that I was going to read…and McGarry didn’t disappoint.

If you read Pushing the Limits then you’ll remember Beth from Noah’s background. Beth, Noah and Isaiah are foster siblings who banded together and vowed to always be there for each other. Noah and Isaiah are in the foster program and they live with Beth’s Aunt. Beth’s family life isn’t the greatest and to stay out of the way of her mother’s abusive boyfriend’s way, Beth stays with her Aunt as well. Throughout this whole book, you’re left to guess why Beth sticks by her no-good, loser of a Mom and when you finally find out why…you understand. And it’s a good reason because it’s a believable one. One that caught me by surprise, though it shouldn’t have because it’s so obvious.

I really enjoyed getting to know Beth, even when it was hard to like her. She had her reasons for acting the way that she did and though her personality is gruff, she’s still a connectable character. You develop feelings for Beth over the course of the book and you really want things to work out for her. I thought McGarry did a wonderful job of fleshing her character out and making the reader sympathize and even empathize with her.

Ryan Stone has his own problems that he’s working through in this book and you really get into his story and into his character. I loved the hell out of Ryan and the way that he just kept right on coming back to Beth, even when she made it painfully obvious that she didn’t want to have anything to do with him. Seeing the two of them come together and really start to understand the other made for a great story.

There were things that bothered me about this book but none of those things ruined the book. The way that Beth’s uncle kind of bulldozed his way into Beth’s life left a bad taste in my mouth at first, especially his methods but as you continue to read, you start to realize that the way he handled things wasn’t perfect but it was probably the only way that Beth would have gone to him, willingly. At first, I wanted to punch Scott’s wife, Allison but even she grew on me as the story progressed.

Overall, this was a really good read. One that I really got into and one that I couldn’t get enough of. I was bummed when I finished it that I went back and re-read my favorite parts. These characters come alive for you and they really stick with you. I definitely recommend this book to lovers of Pushing the Limits and to lovers of contemporary YA or NA. This was worth the time it took me to read it.

Grade: 4.75 out of 5

This book is available from Harlequin Teen. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.