Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Harlequin Teen (July 31, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0373210493
ISBN-13: 978-0373210497
416 pages
Ages 16 +
Buy Here for $11.74
My Rating: 4/5
Summary from GoodReads: "I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.
So wrong for each other...and yet so right.
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.

The Verdict: A moving terrific story that sucks you in and keeps you turning pages. This was such a wonderfully unique story. It offered the dark mother/daughter relationship of White Oleander and tormented love story of Slow Dancing in a Burning Room.
Noah and Echo were fantastic characters whose flaws made them more real and relatable. I couldn't help rooting for them and hoping they would discover what each needed to grow as adults.
Ms. McGarry did a fantastic job writing enough detail without bogging down the story. She painted vibrant word pictures of Echo's paintings that I only wish I could see them with my own eyes.
While the subject matter of this book is definitely for older readers, I recommend it to those who can handle the thematic and relationship themes it does touch on. For me it was the perfect book for my age range which is rare to find in modern YA.
My one complaint is the format. It may just be that the ARC Kindle version I received wasn't fine tuned yet but it made it hard to transition from POVs. This of course didn't keep me from enjoying the story but I hope to see that revision in the published copy.

I received a free review copy of this book from the publishers but the opinions expressed her are my own.