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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
LIKE WOW. I THINK I'M DRAINED
This was a fantastic read. Yes, it had its ups and downs.. but its UPS felt like I was at the top of a Ferris wheel and I didn't wanna go down anymore.
Pushing Limits indeed pushed my limits. I have never read (or I don't remember reading) a book wherein the hero is a stoner..and now, I can just say that it's a whole new experience. The funny thing is, I didn't actually care about it. I mean, I totally forgive Noah since he was just down in the dumps at that point in time. At first he was very rude to Echo... and then he wasn't.. and when he wasn't rude anymore.. awwww man, he's just sweet.. still naughty but very very nice. Echo on the other hand, had to battle her past first. She had a dark past which she keeps on trying to remember.. or KNOW. At first I thought her friends were bitchy and shallow... I was relieved to see that they're not. I'm happy because Noah stayed with her no matter what. They were really tight even when they sort of broke up.
Although I still feel bad about what happened to Echo and her family, I wanted her to build a life with Noah and Noah only.. maybe for just a brief period of time.. and then she can let her father, stepbrother and her stepmom in again. I think that their family dynamics is still weird and hard to accept. It doesn't just go away in one click. Anyhooo.. I'm just saying that I would've wanted this to be a little bit longer. ;p
This is one of those novels which makes you feel and believe that there are others who want to help. It creates a notion that in a not-so-perfect world, there are still GOOD PEOPLE and there's still GOOD IN PEOPLE who're not so perfect.
I seem to be on a roll with this kind of novels.. hmm.
Fans of Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles and Going Under by Georgia Cates will be delighted with this since it seems to be a mixture of both. :)
This was a fantastic read. Yes, it had its ups and downs.. but its UPS felt like I was at the top of a Ferris wheel and I didn't wanna go down anymore.
Pushing Limits indeed pushed my limits. I have never read (or I don't remember reading) a book wherein the hero is a stoner..and now, I can just say that it's a whole new experience. The funny thing is, I didn't actually care about it. I mean, I totally forgive Noah since he was just down in the dumps at that point in time. At first he was very rude to Echo... and then he wasn't.. and when he wasn't rude anymore.. awwww man, he's just sweet.. still naughty but very very nice. Echo on the other hand, had to battle her past first. She had a dark past which she keeps on trying to remember.. or KNOW. At first I thought her friends were bitchy and shallow... I was relieved to see that they're not. I'm happy because Noah stayed with her no matter what. They were really tight even when they sort of broke up.
Although I still feel bad about what happened to Echo and her family, I wanted her to build a life with Noah and Noah only.. maybe for just a brief period of time.. and then she can let her father, stepbrother and her stepmom in again. I think that their family dynamics is still weird and hard to accept. It doesn't just go away in one click. Anyhooo.. I'm just saying that I would've wanted this to be a little bit longer. ;p
This is one of those novels which makes you feel and believe that there are others who want to help. It creates a notion that in a not-so-perfect world, there are still GOOD PEOPLE and there's still GOOD IN PEOPLE who're not so perfect.
I seem to be on a roll with this kind of novels.. hmm.
Fans of Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles and Going Under by Georgia Cates will be delighted with this since it seems to be a mixture of both. :)
Okay, the synopsis sounds hokey. Maybe you don’t think so, but I do. Bad boy reaches out to the popular girl so that she can learn to love again? Um, no. Truth be told, I’m not exactly sure why I requested this book, because I think the synopsis sounds hokey. But I’m glad I overcame that (for whatever reason), because it is not hokey.
From the first page, a counseling session between Echo, her father and stepmother, and her therapist, Mrs. Collins (who I LOVE, by the way), I was completely engrossed in this story. Echo is a complex and well-developed character, and we find out right from the beginning that she suffers from traumatic memory loss, that she deals with tremendous grief over the death of her brother, that she has all sorts of authority issues and trust issues, and that she’s smart. And unlike a lot of books that claim the main character is smart but the character never actually talks or thinks or acts like a smart person, Echo actually thinks intelligently. She’s logical. She’s quick. She’s witty. She made me like her, despite her myriad of issues and struggles.
Then you meet Noah, another case of Mrs. Collins. Noah has been in the foster system ever since his parents died in a fire after his freshman year of high school. Since then, he’s been labeled a “bad influence” and cut off from his young brothers. And while Noah is also a smart cookie, he reacts understandably — he decides to become the bad influence everyone thinks him to be, without really thinking through the consequences. As a reader, I could see that he wasn’t really doing himself any favors there, but Katie McGarry does a fantastic job getting inside Noah’s head so you can really understand how he became the way he is.
Partially through the interference of Mrs. Collins, Echo and Noah wind up thrown together, and although they aren’t each others’ biggest fans at first, they slowly grow to see all that they have in common, and ultimately get together (which I don’t consider a spoiler, since it’s on the cover).
However, unlike many other contemporary teen romances, the romance in Pushing the Limits is not the central focus of the book (Echo and Noah actually get together around the 50% point). Although my emotions were pulled every which way by the romance, the main focus is trying to get Echo and Noah to both cope with the trauma in their lives and move past it. Echo needs to remember what happened on that night two years ago when her mother senselessly attacked her. Noah has to come to terms with how he fits into the lives of his brothers, who he is only allowed to see rarely, and how to determine what is best for them. Both stories tackle difficult subject matter admirably (Noah’s scenes with his brothers made me cry on more than one occasion), and both resolved in a satisfying and realistic manner.
There’s a lot of secondary characters in the book, and while none are developed as thoroughly as Echo and Noah, they all had their own voices and personalities, and I loved reading about how the different relationships worked. My favorites were Noah’s foster brother Isaiah, and the aforementioned Mrs. Collins, who Katie McGarry somehow made me love even while viewing her through the eyes of Echo and Noah, neither of whom really liked her.
The narrative uses the alternating POVs of both Echo and Noah, and each had their own distinct voice. They thought completely differently, and even if their names were never mentioned in the narrative, I would have been able to follow who was speaking when. I thought it was a great use of dual POV, and I was fully invested in both characters.
There were times when some of the dialogue felt a bit forced, or some of the descriptions were a bit unrealistic. For example, according to Noah, Echo smells like hot cinnamon rolls all the time, and tastes like warm sugar. I get that maybe she’s really into the “Warm Vanilla Sugar” scent at Bath & Body Works (because seriously, it smells so good), but unless she’s constantly licking frosting (which she isn’t), I’m not sure how that scent is translating to taste for him.
And then there was Noah constantly referring to Echo as “my siren.” I get that he thought she was irresistible, but I kind of doubt a tattooed, stoner “bad boy” would actually think the words “my siren” every time he sees this girl. They’re minor things, but they took me out of the story just a tad.
That aside, I still really enjoyed this book. I didn’t intend to devour it the way I did, but I couldn’t stop reading. I only got 4 hours of sleep the night I finished it because my bedtime came and went and I couldn’t put the book down. If you’re a fan of contemporary romances that tackle some serious issues, I highly recommend Pushing the Limits.
From the first page, a counseling session between Echo, her father and stepmother, and her therapist, Mrs. Collins (who I LOVE, by the way), I was completely engrossed in this story. Echo is a complex and well-developed character, and we find out right from the beginning that she suffers from traumatic memory loss, that she deals with tremendous grief over the death of her brother, that she has all sorts of authority issues and trust issues, and that she’s smart. And unlike a lot of books that claim the main character is smart but the character never actually talks or thinks or acts like a smart person, Echo actually thinks intelligently. She’s logical. She’s quick. She’s witty. She made me like her, despite her myriad of issues and struggles.
Then you meet Noah, another case of Mrs. Collins. Noah has been in the foster system ever since his parents died in a fire after his freshman year of high school. Since then, he’s been labeled a “bad influence” and cut off from his young brothers. And while Noah is also a smart cookie, he reacts understandably — he decides to become the bad influence everyone thinks him to be, without really thinking through the consequences. As a reader, I could see that he wasn’t really doing himself any favors there, but Katie McGarry does a fantastic job getting inside Noah’s head so you can really understand how he became the way he is.
Partially through the interference of Mrs. Collins, Echo and Noah wind up thrown together, and although they aren’t each others’ biggest fans at first, they slowly grow to see all that they have in common, and ultimately get together (which I don’t consider a spoiler, since it’s on the cover).
However, unlike many other contemporary teen romances, the romance in Pushing the Limits is not the central focus of the book (Echo and Noah actually get together around the 50% point). Although my emotions were pulled every which way by the romance, the main focus is trying to get Echo and Noah to both cope with the trauma in their lives and move past it. Echo needs to remember what happened on that night two years ago when her mother senselessly attacked her. Noah has to come to terms with how he fits into the lives of his brothers, who he is only allowed to see rarely, and how to determine what is best for them. Both stories tackle difficult subject matter admirably (Noah’s scenes with his brothers made me cry on more than one occasion), and both resolved in a satisfying and realistic manner.
There’s a lot of secondary characters in the book, and while none are developed as thoroughly as Echo and Noah, they all had their own voices and personalities, and I loved reading about how the different relationships worked. My favorites were Noah’s foster brother Isaiah, and the aforementioned Mrs. Collins, who Katie McGarry somehow made me love even while viewing her through the eyes of Echo and Noah, neither of whom really liked her.
The narrative uses the alternating POVs of both Echo and Noah, and each had their own distinct voice. They thought completely differently, and even if their names were never mentioned in the narrative, I would have been able to follow who was speaking when. I thought it was a great use of dual POV, and I was fully invested in both characters.
There were times when some of the dialogue felt a bit forced, or some of the descriptions were a bit unrealistic. For example, according to Noah, Echo smells like hot cinnamon rolls all the time, and tastes like warm sugar. I get that maybe she’s really into the “Warm Vanilla Sugar” scent at Bath & Body Works (because seriously, it smells so good), but unless she’s constantly licking frosting (which she isn’t), I’m not sure how that scent is translating to taste for him.
And then there was Noah constantly referring to Echo as “my siren.” I get that he thought she was irresistible, but I kind of doubt a tattooed, stoner “bad boy” would actually think the words “my siren” every time he sees this girl. They’re minor things, but they took me out of the story just a tad.
That aside, I still really enjoyed this book. I didn’t intend to devour it the way I did, but I couldn’t stop reading. I only got 4 hours of sleep the night I finished it because my bedtime came and went and I couldn’t put the book down. If you’re a fan of contemporary romances that tackle some serious issues, I highly recommend Pushing the Limits.
Echo Emerson and Noah Hutchins couldn't be more opposite. Echo is a smart, pretty, popular girl and Noah is a tattooed bad boy. Except, they have both recently gone through terrible tragedies. By court order, Echo and Noah are both required to see their high school counselor, Mrs. Collins. Mrs. Collins is the Dead Poets Society/Good Will Hunting counselor with the open mind and actual desire to help. Both of the characters have been resistant to counseling and opening up in the past and Mrs. Collins swoops in as the answer to both of their problems. The theme of characters having issues with social workers plays a big part in this novel. It's a little cliche for me, but it's also not the main focus and the rest of the story is so good it doesn't matter.
Echo needs a job and Noah is failing school so bing-bang-boom, tutoring sessions are mandatory, Echo and Noah fall in love. Everyone heading in to this book knows it, but we love to read it and McGarry does a really good job with this one.
It's a little darker, a little more seedy. Noah Hutchins was the boy next door until his parents were killed in a house fire. Noah was separated from his brothers in the foster care system. Everything you think you know about Noah is wrong, of course. McGarry does a great job with the reveal of it all. Noah's circle involved uncaring foster parents and sleeping in a basement with another foster, Isaiah, and Beth, their niece. They all smoke pot and fight and fix cars, etc.
Echo Emerson is sheltered. To say her father is overprotective is understating it. Echo's character is a mystery, to the reader and herself. Something happened 2 years ago that she can't remember, but what ever it was left her physically scarred and a restraining order against her mother. The story is as much about Echo's unraveling of the events of that night as it is about the romance.
Echo's journey was what propelled me forward in the beginning, but it's Noah's interaction with his brothers that broke my heart. McGarry can write a scene that will rip your heart out. No lie. (I did read The Fault in Our Stars very recently though so I might be a little more open to the emotions.)
Overall, fans of YA/contemporary romance will really enjoy this book and want more from the author. If you read as quickly as I do, it's an excellent way to pass a couple of nights, or a night if you're devoted. I couldn't put it down.
Echo needs a job and Noah is failing school so bing-bang-boom, tutoring sessions are mandatory, Echo and Noah fall in love. Everyone heading in to this book knows it, but we love to read it and McGarry does a really good job with this one.
It's a little darker, a little more seedy. Noah Hutchins was the boy next door until his parents were killed in a house fire. Noah was separated from his brothers in the foster care system. Everything you think you know about Noah is wrong, of course. McGarry does a great job with the reveal of it all. Noah's circle involved uncaring foster parents and sleeping in a basement with another foster, Isaiah, and Beth, their niece. They all smoke pot and fight and fix cars, etc.
Echo Emerson is sheltered. To say her father is overprotective is understating it. Echo's character is a mystery, to the reader and herself. Something happened 2 years ago that she can't remember, but what ever it was left her physically scarred and a restraining order against her mother. The story is as much about Echo's unraveling of the events of that night as it is about the romance.
Echo's journey was what propelled me forward in the beginning, but it's Noah's interaction with his brothers that broke my heart. McGarry can write a scene that will rip your heart out. No lie. (I did read The Fault in Our Stars very recently though so I might be a little more open to the emotions.)
Overall, fans of YA/contemporary romance will really enjoy this book and want more from the author. If you read as quickly as I do, it's an excellent way to pass a couple of nights, or a night if you're devoted. I couldn't put it down.
4.5 stars. I don't think the book was perfect, but I also can't justify putting it at 4 stars. Like everyone else who has read this book has said, it is fantastic.
The characters are very mulitdimensional and well written.
The story sucks you in.
I finished this book in little more than 24 hours. I don't know the last time I read a book that quickly. I just haven't had the time. But this book is such a good read, it was easy to do.
The characters are very mulitdimensional and well written.
The story sucks you in.
I finished this book in little more than 24 hours. I don't know the last time I read a book that quickly. I just haven't had the time. But this book is such a good read, it was easy to do.
This was a fantastic YA romance, not your typical story at all. I couldn't stop reading it. There were moments that made me smile, made me tear-up, and made my heart pound.
Can't wait to read more of Katie McGarry! I plan on putting Beth's story on my "to-read" shelf!
Can't wait to read more of Katie McGarry! I plan on putting Beth's story on my "to-read" shelf!
why does everyone love this book so much I honestly don't get it can someone please enlighten me because honestly when I was reading it all I got was meh. Everything just felt subpar from the characters to the romance to the tragedy. I don't know I could be wrong because everyone else seemed to really like it.
Wow that was much better then I thought it was, a great story. Kept me hanging after very chapter
4.5 stars
This was even better than I expected! I'm glad I finally started Katie McGarry's other series.
This was even better than I expected! I'm glad I finally started Katie McGarry's other series.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
*3.75*
Ahhhh Im not sure how I feel. all in all this book was pretty good but personally I'm just not a huge fan of bad boy characters so that kinda turns me off to it. Would still recommend.
Ahhhh Im not sure how I feel. all in all this book was pretty good but personally I'm just not a huge fan of bad boy characters so that kinda turns me off to it. Would still recommend.