REVIEW Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits
by Katie McGarry
Hardcover
July 31, 2012
Harlequin Teen

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

Hello book world!  I'm back from my summer hiatus and I'd like to introduce you to my new fave contemp!

Seriously.  All other contemps of the world...sit up, take note.  THIS is what I'd like you to be.

I started pining for this book the moment I saw the cover.  I drooled.  Look at it.  It's HOT.  But I've got a bad habit of building books up in my mind just based off of the covers alone, so I was a little hesitant when I started reading this.  Readers, don't you worry.  This time I wasn't let down.  In fact, I was kind of floored by how good this book is.

I LOOOOVED it.  (Not joking about the "new fave contemp" thing).

This book has such great characters, and it's told in alternating points of view between Noah (our hero) and Echo (our heroine) as they encounter each other for the first time and are forced to interact.  Echo is trying to muddle through living up to her father's expectations, living with the death of her older brother, and trying to figure out what happened that forgotten night that caused her mother to be locked out of Echo's life, and for Echo's arms to be covered in scars.  Noah, on the other hand, is trying to bring his family back together the best he can.  Marked as a "dangerous" foster child, and fostered separately from his younger brothers, Noah is trying to get his life together so that he can get custody of them once he turns eighteen.  But, as Noah is a bit of a rebel, things aren't going well, so he's forced to play by his new social worker's rules...and that means getting tutored by Echo.

Seriously, I read this book in like one sitting.  The way these two characters bond and fall for each other was amazing.  I loved it.  They're both so flawed, but they see hope in each other, and they start to help one another and rely on one another to survive their unhappy lives.

SUCH a good read.

If you enjoy contemporaries (no vampires or sci-fi here!) I highly recommend this book.

I'm already pining for more from this author.

Happy Reading!

-geekgirl