Review #5: Pushing the Limits

Title: Pushing the Limits
Author: Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing the Limits 
Released Date: July 21, 2012
Type: Young Adult, Contemporary Romance

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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.

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At first the initial synopsis drew me in. I think its a bit near a reality thing because it dealt the typical teenage dillemas like smoking pot, boy problems, peer pressure and the usual things you associate with a typical teen in high school. Here, it showed that there are deeper meanings to what's in the surface, and how people would easily discriminate and make assumptions about people. 

Anyway, I love Echo(nice name, its unique and snappy) and Noah who by the way is a total bad boy and trouble maker. The total opposite of Echo. Well, opposites do attract, that's what I think. Its sweet that they found support in each other while also finding themselves and closure to problems really close to their hearts. 

And also, it showed that everyone--even the anti-social, troubled kids, abused foster kids, etc--needed someone to lift them out of the darkness. They need someone who can show them that not all adults are untrustworthy and that not everyone is out there to get you or have ulterior motives or anything. Some people just needs a friend to shoulder the burden with you, someone who has your back in good and f*cked up times. 

Its great that their story is in one book and not divided into a series. That'd be a series downer. Their story is so good, so close to the heart and simple and complex at the same time. So nice to be able to read a novel as well written as this since I don't usually read this type of book. So a first for me, and it turned out to be time well spent. 

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Now, I have a bone to pick with those b*itchy girls and the popular kids who made fun of Echo and the other "freaks" in the story. 

People should keep their nasty opinions to themselves if all they want is to hurt or make that person look pathetic in the public's eyes. Some people are just downright cruel to those who just want to fit in and have friends. Kids who want to go through high school according to their plans; on whether to be popular and be remembered or just quietly spending time the best possible way they can. Bullying people labeled as "freaks", "stoners", "wannabes" and whatever terms kids put on other people they consider don't fit with the student body, is just them seeking out attention, peer pressure and any other reason to wreck a person's life so humiliatingly public. 

People like that should have a wider perspective about people and realize that the world doesn't freakin revolve around them and the world is not so perfect outside their circle of self-important-ness. They're just full of themselves and need a smack or two.

*****
With that I rate this book: 5/5