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erencich's review against another edition
5.0
Review originally posted at Doodle's Book Blog
No amount of words can express how in love I am with Noah and Echo's Story. Katie McGarry wrote a beautiful novel of two people from different ends of the spectrum. I was hooked after the first sentence. Amazing! Absolutely amazing!!
Echo is on a mission to remember how she received the scars that cover her arms. She's on a mission to understand so she can deal with the reminder that haunts her. Noah wants his brothers back. Full time, no supervised visits, just him and them. Sometimes you need to find another person, someone you barely know, to help you though some of the most difficult things in life.
There was so much hype and build up for Pushing the Limits and I hoped that reading it wouldn't shatter all the wonderful things I'd read about it. Thankfully, the hype was well deserved. It was masterfully written, real, and made me wish the characters were real people. Echo and Noah both hand huge issues they had to work through, and without the support they had in each other, they may not have been able to do it.
Pushing the Limits is going to be the first book I recommend to people from now on. I experienced emotions while reading. I cried, got excited, wanted to scream at stupidity, and I loved. I loved the characters. They were perfect even with all their flaws. No words can describe how big of an impact they had on me.
Overall, I would love to give Pushing the Limits more than 5 stars, but it would break my scale. If you haven't had a chance to pick it up, you need to do it as soon as possible. It is worth every penny!
No amount of words can express how in love I am with Noah and Echo's Story. Katie McGarry wrote a beautiful novel of two people from different ends of the spectrum. I was hooked after the first sentence. Amazing! Absolutely amazing!!
Echo is on a mission to remember how she received the scars that cover her arms. She's on a mission to understand so she can deal with the reminder that haunts her. Noah wants his brothers back. Full time, no supervised visits, just him and them. Sometimes you need to find another person, someone you barely know, to help you though some of the most difficult things in life.
There was so much hype and build up for Pushing the Limits and I hoped that reading it wouldn't shatter all the wonderful things I'd read about it. Thankfully, the hype was well deserved. It was masterfully written, real, and made me wish the characters were real people. Echo and Noah both hand huge issues they had to work through, and without the support they had in each other, they may not have been able to do it.
Pushing the Limits is going to be the first book I recommend to people from now on. I experienced emotions while reading. I cried, got excited, wanted to scream at stupidity, and I loved. I loved the characters. They were perfect even with all their flaws. No words can describe how big of an impact they had on me.
Overall, I would love to give Pushing the Limits more than 5 stars, but it would break my scale. If you haven't had a chance to pick it up, you need to do it as soon as possible. It is worth every penny!
fethiye's review against another edition
4.0
This book made me CRY . Like tears tears cry . And not just once .I love the characters and how they developed through the book . I love Noah and Echo's relationship . I love a lot of things about this book . I know that I will reread it sometime .
labriejames's review against another edition
5.0
I read this book when it first can out and I feel in love with it, the series, and the author.
Years again when I read this for the first all I could feel was inspired for my own writing. KM is seriously a gifted artist.
This in emotional, heartbreaking, and heart-warming all at the same time. When I read it the first time my young adult mind saw it in a angsty teenage POV but now as a married adult with child I could see and relate to the adult point of view better.
Not many books talk about being tested. You get books with people having a plethora or sexual partners and the characters always seem ok with that fact. Not worry at all about the mass amount of disease you can face. I really respect the fact that was included in one of the scenes.
I strongly dislike the need to be normal because there is no such thing. Echo’s friend are all a little stuck up and that drove me crazy. Not to mention the fact that Luke is a tool. But I think that was the point.
Seriously listen or read this book. It’s one of my all time favorites.
Years again when I read this for the first all I could feel was inspired for my own writing. KM is seriously a gifted artist.
This in emotional, heartbreaking, and heart-warming all at the same time. When I read it the first time my young adult mind saw it in a angsty teenage POV but now as a married adult with child I could see and relate to the adult point of view better.
Not many books talk about being tested. You get books with people having a plethora or sexual partners and the characters always seem ok with that fact. Not worry at all about the mass amount of disease you can face. I really respect the fact that was included in one of the scenes.
I strongly dislike the need to be normal because there is no such thing. Echo’s friend are all a little stuck up and that drove me crazy. Not to mention the fact that Luke is a tool. But I think that was the point.
Seriously listen or read this book. It’s one of my all time favorites.
melike_k's review against another edition
challenging
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I mostly enjoyed this book. It reads as very teen/YA but had an enjoyable storyline. I particularly appreciate that even with the dual narrative both main characters got equal depth within their individual stories. At times I found it a little too cliché or cringy but overall a book I'm glad I read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Infertility, Vomit, and Infidelity
daphx00's review against another edition
4.0
Books like this show me that I need to read more contemporary. Great book.
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Short version of this review: Pushing the Limits is one of the best contemporary novels I have ever had the pleasure to read.
As for the long version, I stick with what I said before. Pushing the Limits has everything I could ever ask for in a contemporary; great characters who have amazing chemistry, an intense storyline and a lot of tension. I devoured it.
Echo is troubled, yet determined to find out what happened to her in the night she got the horrible scars on her arms. Her memory is foggy, and she’s set on finding out what caused the scars and the memory loss. While she wasn’t as feisty as some of the other female main characters I’ve read about, she felt real. I could feel with her pain, and I understood why she had difficulty with some things like intimacy, even though I’ve never been through such a thing. McGarry really accomplished something there; because of the way it was written, I could identify with Echo even though she’s miles away from who I am as a person.
Noah had his own problems, being thrown from one foster family to another, and he has a mission of his own; get insight in where his brothers are. He’s the typical bad boy – dark, handsome, mysterious -, but he still managed to come across as vulnerable at times. I loved that underneath the hard shell, there was just a guy with his own insecurities. I loved his wit, his humour, his way of handling situations. Like Echo, he felt like a real person, very distinct and he really came alive off the pages.
This is McGarry’s debut novel, and boy did she come to the scene with a bang. The chemistry between Echo and Noah was off the charts and McGarry’s intense way of writing really sucked me into the story, unable to stop reading. If this is what her debut looks like, I cannot wait to see what she will bring on next.
Rating: 4.5/5
----
Short version of this review: Pushing the Limits is one of the best contemporary novels I have ever had the pleasure to read.
As for the long version, I stick with what I said before. Pushing the Limits has everything I could ever ask for in a contemporary; great characters who have amazing chemistry, an intense storyline and a lot of tension. I devoured it.
Echo is troubled, yet determined to find out what happened to her in the night she got the horrible scars on her arms. Her memory is foggy, and she’s set on finding out what caused the scars and the memory loss. While she wasn’t as feisty as some of the other female main characters I’ve read about, she felt real. I could feel with her pain, and I understood why she had difficulty with some things like intimacy, even though I’ve never been through such a thing. McGarry really accomplished something there; because of the way it was written, I could identify with Echo even though she’s miles away from who I am as a person.
Noah had his own problems, being thrown from one foster family to another, and he has a mission of his own; get insight in where his brothers are. He’s the typical bad boy – dark, handsome, mysterious -, but he still managed to come across as vulnerable at times. I loved that underneath the hard shell, there was just a guy with his own insecurities. I loved his wit, his humour, his way of handling situations. Like Echo, he felt like a real person, very distinct and he really came alive off the pages.
This is McGarry’s debut novel, and boy did she come to the scene with a bang. The chemistry between Echo and Noah was off the charts and McGarry’s intense way of writing really sucked me into the story, unable to stop reading. If this is what her debut looks like, I cannot wait to see what she will bring on next.
Rating: 4.5/5
blurrypetals's review against another edition
5.0
I think I've found my Colleen Hoover-type author for the year. I really liked this. If this series ends up getting as good as Nowhere But Here is, then this will be a good mourning period/palate cleanser series to have around.
sophieshelves's review against another edition
4.0
Okay, so I absolutely loved this book.
I went into the book thinking it would be another cliché contemporary romance, and it would just be light read, but my god was I wrong. I couldn't put it down.
This was a great debut from Katie McGarry, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes maybe some parts were a bit 'samey' and predictable, but the storyline was actually quite unique compared to other contemporaries I've read. I think what lets it down is the 'bad boy, lost girl' title it's been given because the characters were quite unique (I mean not everyday you read a book with the main character named Echo after a myth do you?)
I liked the writing style, the interchangeable points of view each chapter were a nice touch. I felt maybe this was why it was predictable at times, but that didn't really bother me. I can't think of any major negatives to be honest.
I really liked how Noah's love for Echo finally overcome the need for his family to be back together because he realised that would never happen. I loved how the bad boy image that he had at the beginning of the book was slowly starting to wear away and he showed his sensitive side not only to Echo, but Mrs Collins to.I also thought Echo's background was far more unique than most.Yes, maybe it was the usual - parents split up and some annoying new woman had come right in to her life, but I felt the background behind it made it different and an overall great read.
One thing I really liked about Echo's character was the need to do up her brother's car, it really brought out her sensitive side but also showed how much of a strong female character she was by being stubborn and determined to fix the car.
Overall, I really loved this book, it's kind of a misconception for me because I went into it not expecting much and loving it, so I definitely recommend.
I went into the book thinking it would be another cliché contemporary romance, and it would just be light read, but my god was I wrong. I couldn't put it down.
This was a great debut from Katie McGarry, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes maybe some parts were a bit 'samey' and predictable, but the storyline was actually quite unique compared to other contemporaries I've read. I think what lets it down is the 'bad boy, lost girl' title it's been given because the characters were quite unique (I mean not everyday you read a book with the main character named Echo after a myth do you?)
I liked the writing style, the interchangeable points of view each chapter were a nice touch. I felt maybe this was why it was predictable at times, but that didn't really bother me. I can't think of any major negatives to be honest.
I really liked how Noah's love for Echo finally overcome the need for his family to be back together because he realised that would never happen. I loved how the bad boy image that he had at the beginning of the book was slowly starting to wear away and he showed his sensitive side not only to Echo, but Mrs Collins to.I also thought Echo's background was far more unique than most.Yes, maybe it was the usual - parents split up and some annoying new woman had come right in to her life, but I felt the background behind it made it different and an overall great read.
One thing I really liked about Echo's character was the need to do up her brother's car, it really brought out her sensitive side but also showed how much of a strong female character she was by being stubborn and determined to fix the car.
Overall, I really loved this book, it's kind of a misconception for me because I went into it not expecting much and loving it, so I definitely recommend.