Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Published: July 31st, 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Website: Author
Info: Goodreads

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…(goodreads.com)

 
So a couple of months back, this book was all over the blog-o-verse. Nearly every blog I follow featured it at some point, in one way shape or form, and the reviews seemed to be pretty much 50-50. I was intrigued simply due to the massive blog marketing alone (I want you to understand that, this book CONSTANTLY APPEARING ON BOOK BLOGS PROMPTED ME TO GET IT). It sounded kinda trashy in a good way and that’s how I like my books.

 
And we’re off! We’ve got it all: teenage angst, mental disorders, body image issues, an overbearing father that is SO INSTANTLY HATE-ABLE, a good-boy gone bad, mean girls, and some oddly unrealistic school counseling that I was apparently either too well adjusted to know about its existence or I’m just completely ignorant as to how involved a school counselor gets. We have some seriously screwed up physical and emotional abuse happening here and I keep reading because just like most people, I like to watch a good hot mess play out.
 

 
Unfortunately not as much as I would have liked. We had a good, clean storyline here, with all the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed. There’s a clear picture of what is currently going on in Echo’s world and we’re given decent insight into her family life and a goodly slice of the social mess that is her school life. I love it when an author goes ahead and fills in the gaps so that I can concentrate on what is happening now without feeling the need to piece together missing details. So we have a good, solid story that is nicely fleshed out with enough drama to keep you shocked and emotionally invested. The reader gets to discover Echo’s repressed memories just as Echo herself is coming to remember them and, yes yes, the buildup and mystery was all so very adequate. So if we have this seemingly ideal formula for a story in place, why didn’t it work?
 

 
Stock characters. Little tiny, run-of-the-mill stereotypes. Cookie cutter people. Echo was, Hurt and Helpless and In Need of Saving. Noah was, The Guy Your Parents Warned You About. The Dad was, Anal Retentive, Strict and Repressive. The Stepmother was, The One That Dad Broke Up the Family For. The Mother was, The Woman Scorned (and admittedly, seriously FUCKED UP). The Brother was, The Great Fallen Hero of the Family and Perfect. Seriously. There wasn’t one person to root for or form an attachment to. The chemistry between Noah and Echo was woefully nonexistent, even though they were soooo in lurve, with Noah being the author of some seriously bad poetry in the form of an inner monologue.

A ghost of that siren smile graced her lips as she tilted her head closer to mine, creating the undeniable pull of the sailor lost at sea to the beautiful goddess calling him home.

Seriously. No. Modern Day Dude. Talks. Like. That. Not even gay ones.
 
Not that I needed any help distancing myself from Noah, who I felt nothing but contempt for, but then he throws a ridiculous, stupid curve ball that puts me off him for good. I don’t want to spoil it but he asks a random, out of the blue, UN-GUY-LIKE question. Way to totally alienate Noah. Now I just want to smack him. He’s been rather two-dimensional and hasn’t had a lot to recommend him other than being all bad boy with his confrontations and button pushing. I was hoping we’d move beyond his “for a good time call” persona to one with something to bring to the table, but no. I was just really expecting A CONNECTION.

 
It was mediocre with a cover that implies more chemistry than the relationship actually had. All the psychosocial, psychological whatnot was very interesting and I grew to rather like the school counselor but I’m taking away little more than that. Honestly, I read this book over two weeks ago and it’s already completely out of my mind.