1.3k reviews for:

Pushing the Limits

Katie McGarry

3.95 AVERAGE


"Luke used to give me butterflies. Noah spawned mutant pterodactyls." -Echo

What an absolutely amazing book. I remember when both Donna and I received this from Mira Ink at their blogger party, we were so excited to read it. This book didn't disappoint one single bit. It was phenomenal, I honestly couldn't put it down I read it in one day and it was completely fantastic.

The story was very well done, the writing was brilliant and it just got better with each chapter. Both Noah and Echo are broken shells of their former selves and it was them coming together and learning from each other that they formed a bond where they were no longer alone, no longer outsiders because they had each other. They're relationship grew and grew, first from resent to friendship and then to a love that blossomed. With the narratives switching between Echo and Noah you really got a sense of their feelings about themselves, about each other, about their struggles and their obstacles then eventually their growing feelings toward each other.

Our secondary characters I loved. They all played a big part in the Echo and Noah story. Isaiah and Beth were just constant rocks to Noah and really helped him through his struggles with his younger brothers and his feelings towards Echo that eventually showed on the outside. Lila was there for Echo, doing exactly the same thing. I love it when two broken characters still manage to make it through their days because they have a sterong support system from friends.

The characters were developed and well written. The story was consistent and had you reeling from the end of ever chapter, I was just completely blown away. Katie McGarry has done a completely brilliant job and writing what will be timeless classic and what I believe will shape more authors wanting to write similar stories and turn those into classics of the 21st Century.

Pushing the Limits became one of my top reads of 2012, it's just so incredibly powerful and brilliantly written that it will be left with you for days to come. I plan on reading this again very soon and buying the book so that I have the beautiful cover.

If you haven't already picked this book up then you really really should, you won't regret it. Trust me.

There are just no words to describe my love for this book.
It is so realistic and lovely.
Noah and Echo make the most perfect, dysfunctional couple I've ever read.
Their story absolutely consumed me.
I would recommend this book to anyone.

If you would like to read my full review on this book, click the link below:
http://vivaciousfiction.blogspot.com/2013/06/pushing-limits-by-katie-mcgarry.html

Happy Reading!

VF, xoxo

I am constantly reading and I normally give five stars to every book I read. Mostly because I fall in love with characters, but this completely earned its stars, heck it really deserves 10 stars! I am in love with this book and I haven't a read book this good in a while! Its amazingly written and constructed to the point where you can't put it down! It will steal your breath away and have your heart racing all in one sentence! Irresistible!

3.5 Stars

Wow I loved this book!
I just love Noah he's so cute! The parts with his brothers were so sad! :( I was really glad he did that decision at the end
Echo (I love her name) I liked sometimes she irritated me because she had Noah but she went for Luke :/ I just hate her mother! She did what she did and doesn't apologize..what a bitch
I didn't like Beth that much..I'm not excited about her book but I hope I change my mind after I read it.
I'm really excited about Isaiah's book! I REALLY liked him!

I enjoyed this book so much! I stayed up until 3 AM last night and as soon as I woke up I started reading again. It's been so long since I became so absorbed and all I could think about was how much I wanted to know what happened next. -happy sigh-

http://nyx-shadow.blogspot.fr/2012/07/hors-limites-katie-mcgarry.html

In a seemingly former life, Echo Emerson reigned as the most popular girl in school. Now she is an outcast covering up scars from a horrific night even she can’t remember. Noah Hutchins, the epitome of social outcast, could care less about getting to know Echo. When they are forced together by their guidance councilor for tutoring, they start to come together to help each other work through their personal struggles and find love in the midst of it.
While the book was a little hard to get into, once the characters of Echo and Noah started to develop more I could not put the book down. McGarry does an excellent job of keeping the reader intrigued by leaving small clues along the way about what really happened to Echo the night she almost died and revealing why her brain suppressed the memories. Noah’s character held just as much mystery in his past, but on top of figuring out why he constantly throws up walls around the people trying to help him, readers find the heart that’s buried underneath. He is fighting to get his little brothers out of foster care, the little brothers that bring out the best side of him and show who Noah was before the night his parents died.
I think the best thing about the book is that it’s raw and real. Nothing is sugar coated—there’s swearing, teen drinking, drugs, etc. but in my opinion, that adds credibility to the story. Not that all teenagers partake in these activities, but McGarry showed every demographic of high school student from perfect popular kids to stoner rejects and gave them all a heart.
And, of course, the part that everyone looks forward to: the romance. It does not disappoint. The relationship between Echo and Noah isn’t corny or clichéd—it’s two people who have struggled, coming together to overcome their difficulties, accept the life they have, and have a possibility of a better future. I recommend this book to teen fiction lovers who enjoy romance with a complex story line and aren’t put off by the definite PG-13 material mixed in. And those who love a good bad boy.

I can't tell you why I'm giving this book three stars (which, for me, usually means that I liked it reasonably at least even if I had issues with it) when it really wasn't that good. I guess it's the trashy book effect--it is published by Harlequin, after all, though I can tell you that I've definitely read better-written bodice-rippers/borderline erotica. (Though, in true Harlequin fashion, Pushing the Limits is more about the "tension" versus the actual payoff. Which kind of pissed me off, because I really like the payoff.)


Why does this book have such a high rating? Here's why I really don't trust Goodreads as a mass site when it comes to books being rated. The fact is that this novel should NOT have an above five-star rating. I'm not saying this as a matter of personal taste, but as a matter of writing quality. (Which is not high.) It's a fun book, but it shouldn't have a higher rating than other YA Romances (it's not like I'm comparing it to Labor Day, which I also gave three stars; though I had the opposite problem with that one) that have a better prose quality. But hey, that's the problem with social media sites, and I'm not up in arms about it. Just a little, as usual, bemused.

It's true that I was sucked in to the trashy fun of Pushing the Limits. It doesn't reinvent the wheel. Bad boy meets good girl, both have Issues. Much younger stepmom/dead parents included on either side. Helpful adult whose quirky nature assists her in guiding these troubled teens to the path of righteousness. Girl is being pressured towards school. There were a couple of different things that kept it from being 100% formula--it's pretty obvious, for instance, that most of the adults are in the right where Noah and Echo are in the wrong, which can get annoying when you're reading from the teens' perspective but at least it's true. Also, there isn't a huge battle with Echo's uptight dad over her dating a boy like Noah. Which is nice. And hey, did I mention that they do actually date for a large portion of the book? Also, birth control is discussed? Yes. Good.

However, the dialogue has problems. Lots and lots of problems. It looks like Ms. McGarry is fairly young, so I don't know why she had such an issue with picking up modern-day teen lingo. Noah was the worst offender, because no boy (especially a foster kid whose life had been shit for the past couple years) would think like Noah. Unless he lived on a commune, perhaps. His thought processes are worse than his actual dialogue, admittedly; he thinks of Echo as his "goddess" and his "nymph" a billion times and refers to her body in worshipful tones. As someone with a brother about Noah's age--as a female only about a year older than Noah and Echo, and a friend of the Teenage Boy--I can tell you that no matter how head over heels, a boy would not be that gushy. It's so cheesy. I would have much rather heard Noah thinking about how much he'd like to do this and do that, but for someone so sexually experienced, he just seems to want to "press his body against hers". Okay, sure. What comes out of his mouth (in terms of romantic dialogue) ain't much better. "Baby" is used a lot. After they've been dating for 3 seconds. No.

Echo isn't much better when it comes to the corny dialogue, but I'm more concerned about the psychological aspects of her storyline. I don't know how well-researched her trauma symptoms were, but they came off as rather soapy a lot of the time. And I didn't buy that all of these psychiatrists would tell her parents for a year not to let her remember. Some, maybe. Not all. (And I say this as someone who has seen a good deal of shrinks.) Also, I get that there are a lot of differences between Bipolar I and Bipolar II and the other version I don't remember the name of off the tip of my tongue, but why is every murderously psychotic person in literature bipolar??? It's getting a little offensive, guys. I mean, it looked like Echo's mom suffered more from some psychosis than a manic episode but w h a t e v e r.

On a lesser note, I found Echo's friends references to the social scene a little inauthentic. More "Mean Girls" than real life. In theory, the high school world is like a jungle. But we don't actually refer to it in actual conversations. Or my social scene didn't. Back in the day.

Also, they said "making love" a lot. Nobody says making love. Or they shouldn't, because it's gross.

All in all, I can't say why I liked Pushing the Limits. It was just easy reading, I guess. Which every now and then we need.


I really liked the story. The writing style was a little overly descriptive for my taste.