Review: Crash Into You (Pushing the Limits #3), by Katie McGarry

Title: Crash Into You (Pushing the Limits #3)
Author: Katie McGarry
Format: ebook
Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "From acclaimed author Katie McGarry comes an explosive new tale of a romance forged in the fast lane 

The girl with straight A's and the perfect life—that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy family…and she's just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker—a guy she has no business even talking to. But after the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind. 

The last thing Isaiah needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks. But when their shared love of street racing puts their lives in jeopardy, Isaiah and Rachel will have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other."

My Opinion: I received a copy of this book free of charge through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I read the first two books in this series and loved the character of Isaiah, and couldn't wait for him to get his own story, so you can imagine how excited I was to find out that he was the main male character in Crash Into You! He is totally my kind of guy in the real world: tattoos, bad boy, misunderstood - you know the type. I couldn't imagine anyone being good enough for him (yes, I get freakishly attached to and protective of the characters that I love!), but lo and behold, along comes Rachel Young, and I was sold. She isn't your stereotypical poor little rich girl from the right side of the tracks - she loves cars and decides to live dangerously and try her hand at street racing. Things don't go quite according to plan, and she ends up running with the help of a very attractive, dangerous, tattooed racer by the name of Isaiah Walker. They don't know if they care very much for each other at first but they're forced to work together to solve a problem, and if their chemistry has anything to say about it, it's just a matter of time before they can't fight it anymore and they get together.

I really liked the characters in this installment of Katie McGarry's very popular series Pushing the Limits. I already loved Isaiah and came to love Rachel's feisty self as well.

The pacing of the story was perfection as usual and I loved watching the characters change and grow as the story went along. I recommend this book to all lovers of YA and new adult contemporary romantic fiction and give it a very happy 5 stars :D

Review: Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2), by Katie McGarry

Title: Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2)
Author: Katie McGarry
Format: ebook
Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all...."

My Opinion: If I was worried when I began reading the second installment of Katie McGarry's Pushing the Limits series that it wouldn't be able to measure up to the first book, which I absolutely adored and couldn't rave about enough, then my mind was set at ease very quickly because yes, I loved this book as well!! Dare You To tells the story of Beth Risk, who was introduced to us in Pushing the Limits as one of Noah's friends, and if Noah's story tore at your heart, then get ready to be emotionally pummeled again by Beth's. Beth had a really horrific home life with an absentee father and a mother who might as well have been gone for all the good she did Beth. Instead of her mother taking care of her, it was Beth who made sure the bills were paid and there was food on the table, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep her mom off the booze and pills and away from Trent, her abusive boyfriend. One night she makes the decision to cover for her mother yet again and is sent to jail for her troubles. Her uncle Scott, her father's younger brother, bails her out and tells her that either she goes to live with him and his wife, or he will make sure her mother goes to jail for good this time. This may sound harsh, but Scott's really a good guy who regrets not being there for Beth growing up and who only wants Beth to have a life of her own as a teenager should without constantly worrying about her mother. Unfortunately, Beth can't just walk away, which causes lots of trouble in her home life. 

Beth has spent so much of her life putting up walls to protect herself emotionally that when she meets a good guy who wants to get to know her (albeit on a dare!) she won't let herself get involved with him. But Ryan is nothing if not determined, and as he repeatedly puts it, he doesn't give up until he's won whatever challenge is in front of him, and Beth proves to be his biggest challenge yet!

As with Katie's first book, I am totally in awe of her writing ability! She seamlessly weaves stories full of dark and light, push and pull, and tragedy and triumph. She completely draws you into her character's lives until you feel like you are living right alongside them!

As with Pushing the Limits, Dare You To is told in two POVs: Beth's and Ryan's. The characters have very distinctive voices so it is easy to switch between them, and this way of writing gives you much more insight into the characters than you would have gotten otherwise.

One of my favorite parts of the book tells you so much about Beth in just a few paragraphs:

Ryan's name is read and he answers with a deep, soothing, "Here."  Taking a chance, I peek in his direction and find him staring at me again. No smile. No anger. No cockiness. Just a thoughtful expression mixed with confusion. He scratches the back of his head and I'm drawn to his biceps. My traitorous stomach flutters. God, the boy may be an ass, but he sure is built.

And guys like him don't go for girls like me. They only use me.

I force my eyes to the front of class, pull my knees to my chest, and wrap my arms around them. Lacy invades my space and whispers to me, "I'm glad you're back, Beth." A sliver of hope sneaks past my walls and I slam every opening shut. Emotion is evil. People who make me feel are worse. 

I take comfort in the stone inside of me. If I don't feel, I don't hurt.

Damn!! I get chills just typing it! What an awesome writer Katie is! You can feel Beth's pain plain as day, in just a few paragraphs, which is why it's so sweet to watch Ryan move slowly to gain Beth's trust and not scare her away. It's not easy for him, but it's awesome for us readers! I'm really psyched to read about Isaiah's story in the third book of this series, Crash Into You, and I am giving Dare You To 5 very enthusiastic stars :D

Review: Pushing the Limits (Pushing the Limits #1), by Katie McGarry

Title: Pushing the Limits (Pushing the Limits #1)
Author: Katie McGarry
Format: ebook
Source: NetGalley

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."

My Opinion: Wow!! What an amazing debut from Katie McGarry! I had heard so many good things about this book and was really looking forward to reading it, and I have to say, the things I heard didn't do this story justice! I was drawn first to the mystery of how Echo got the "freaky" scars on her arms, since she had blocked it out I figured it must be something pretty bad, and it was, but what had me reading obsessively and flipping pages as fast as I could was the love story between Echo and Noah! These were two extremely emotionally damaged teens who you would never think would be able to begin to heal each other, but they end up working so well together that by the end of the book you can't imagine them NOT being there for each other.

The story is told from two POVs: Echo's and Noah's. I love it when alternating POVs work this well because you really get to know the characters on an intimate basis since you are in essence in their minds and thinking their thoughts along with them (I don't know if this makes much sense, but if you've read a book where it works, then you'll know exactly what I mean!).  Both Noah and Echo come from dysfunctional families and at the beginning of the book they are both distrustful and almost selfish in their desire to keep their problems to themselves, but as the story unfolds, they both grow and change so much, and it was such a joy to watch! 

Katie McGarry is exceptional at keeping the big reveal a secret until she hits you with it at the end. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Pushing the Limits and really look forward to reading Beth's story in Pushing the Limits #2, Dare You To. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good, emotional contemporary YA romance :D