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difficultwomanreads 's review for:
Pushing the Limits
by Katie McGarry
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.
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.