Pushing the Limits, A Series by Katie McGarry

Quick Take: This emotionally charged series delves into the lives of interconnected young adults as they grapple with high school’s tumultuous highs and lows. Through the lens of the “wrong side of the tracks” trope, the characters confront challenging life events, evoking a powerful sense of angst and vulnerability.

About the Series

Katie McGarry’s books follow a similar pattern in this series: there’s the person from the “wrong side of the tracks” (Noah, Beth, Isaiah and Haley), and then there’s the “popular person/golden/rich, etc.” (Echo, Ryan, Rachel and West). However, both sides of each couple have many problems they need to work through.

The characters in Echo’s situation are similar in the sense that they are preconceived to have everything a person could want, yet underneath all this perfection, their lives are the definition of chaos.

The review of the series includes reviews on each of the following books (listed in order of release):

• Pushing the Limits (Echo & Noah)
• Dare You To (Beth & Ryan)
• Crash Into You (Rachel & Isaiah)
• Take Me On (Haley & West)

Note: Each book in the series is Standalone (except for the novella Breaking the Rules).

Pushing the Limits (Pushing the Limits, #1)

Release Date: June 1st, 2012

Rating: 4/5 stars

If you’re scared, tell me. If you need to cry and scream, then do it. And you sure as hell don’t walk away from us because you think it would be better for me. Here’s the reality, Echo: I want to be by your side. If you want to go to the mall stark naked so you can show the world your scars, then let me hold your hand. If you want to see your mom, then tell me that too. I may not always understand, but damn, baby, I’ll try.

Noah in Pushing the Limits

So, it’s quite obvious that Noah is completely swoon-worthy!

The worst type of crying wasn’t the kind everyone could see–the wailing on street corners, the tearing at clothes. No, the worst kind happened when your soul wept and no matter what you did, there was no way to comfort it. A section withered and became a scar on the part of your soul that survived. For people like me and Echo, our souls contained more scar tissue than life.

Noah in Pushing the Limits

So that’s a little piece of the tone Pushing the Limits. I have to say that this was an excellent debut to this series, and I love how, in the next books, both Noah and Echo pop up again!

When I first heard about Pushing the Limits, I have to say that I was a little hesitant about reading it. A girl with cuts on her arms? The hero’s a loner? But, I have to say that I’m so happy I gave this book a chance. The book is narrated from a dual point of view, from the two main characters, Echo and Noah. The reader gets to experience them both trying to overcome their personal problems. Echo is trying to remember how she got all the freaky scares that mare her body, and Noah is trying to gain custody of his little brothers.

But, surprisingly, throughout Pushing the Limits is a constant theme of trust and acceptance. Trust that Noah’s brothers will be okay without him, trust that Echo knows what she wants and that the authority figures in her life won’t usurp her. Pushing the Limits is an emotionally tiring experience that leaves you feeling both raw mentally and physically. It’s a story of two teenagers finding love in each other that many people never find.

Dare You To (Pushing the Limits, #2)

Release Date: May 22nd, 2013

Rating: 4/5 stars

You’re a lot like that bird in the barn. You’re so scared that you’re going to be caged in forever you can’t see the way out. You smack yourself against the wall again and again and again. The door is open, Beth. Stop running in circles and walk out.

The above quote perfectly characterizes the heroine, Beth, during (almost) the entirety of Dare You To. Beth, at her roots, is terrified. However, when Beth meets the hero, Ryan, she’s given the opportunity to lean on someone as she works through her issues. Ryan kind of plays the Prince coming to Beth’s rescue. But, Ryan has his own issues to work through, and the developing relationship between Beth and Ryan fosters a love where they lean on each other as they navigate their trauma. Love abounds in Dare You To. Beth and Ryan’s friendship–then their relationship is reminiscent of them against the world. When everything else in the world could implode and you wouldn’t care as long as you had that one person standing beside you. Love is a huge theme in the book!

How many more of us are faking the façade? How many more of us are pretending to be something we’re not? Even better, how many of us will have the courage to be ourselves regardless of what others think?

Courage to be your true self is the theme that drives the main plot in Dare You To. How everyone has secrets and even though you have people who love you, there’s always that doubt that it might not be enough.

Dare You To was a book that I was really hesitant to read for two reasons:

1. I seriously fell for Isaiah in Pushing the Limits and
2. I didn’t really feel anything for Beth except maybe exasperation.

Seriously, I didn’t want to give Beth a chance so quickly after Pushing the Limits. Also, the fact that Isaiah and Beth were a thing in Pushing the Limits and in Dare You To the Hero wasn’t Isaiah put me off for a bit. But I pushed on… like a year later, but still.

At the beginning of the novel, I found it really difficult to feel sympathetic towards Beth, especially when she would start trash-talking Echo. That got me mad. But I absolutely adored Ryan… when he wasn’t being an inconsiderate ass.

And then there was the fact that Isaiah wanted Beth, Beth wanted Isaiah but not in that way (just as a friend) and then there was, of course, Ryan, who was always there for Beth.

So we have a love triangle, but not really.

So, obviously, the main theme in Dare You To was love and not settling. For Beth, she was never loved unconditionally and accepted. She always needed to take care of her mother, to make sure their lives didn’t fall down around them, and to act like an adult. Ryan was taught that love was given and received with conditions. This was a journey to find love and acceptance for both of them.

Crash Into You (Pushing the Limits, #3)

Release Date: November 26th, 2013

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

“When I’m with you, even my past seems like a bad dream,” he says. “I’ve sat on this hill a hundred times, and all I used to see were lights that represented places where I wasn’t wanted, where I never belonged. Now, when you aren’t with me, I look east and know one of those lights represents you, and I don’t feel alone anymore.”

Isaiah, I have to say, is the best guy in the whole series. I honestly thought that no one could top Noah or even Ryan, but god, Isaiah, is swoon-worthy!

The way she curls in my arms makes me feel like I’m the hero. I like being her hero. I like the way her eyes shine at me, the way her body melts when I touch her, her soft lips on mine. I love her warmth and every curve. I love her.

In the books before Crash Into You, you get to understand that Isaiah needs to be needed. In his past, he was always cast aside. And where Isaiah wants to be needed, Rachel wants to be seen as strong.

“Fuck me. God does exist and he sent an angel in a white Mustang to prove it.”

Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

Crash Into You, I think, was my favourite book out of the series so far. What I loved about the book was the heroine, Rachel. She’s been coasting through life, imitating the perfect princess for her parents and four older brothers who treat her as such. But her whole life, she’s been thought of as weak because her older sister died of cancer. And it’s because of that her mother insisted they have more kids, which resulted in her third oldest brother, West, and her twin, Ethan. So, her whole life revolved around making her mother happy by playing the princess role, whereas Rachel preferred to be elbow-deep in car grease.

And then there’s Isaiah, who’s now in his senior year. He was still pissed at Beth, resenting life and hating his mother. And the only thing that keeps him calm is the garage, where he can work on cars to his heart’s content. When Isaiah first meets Rachel, he judges her based on her appearance, much like how he’s judged for his tattoos and piercings, which he hates. But when he discovers that this blonde girl knows a lot about cars, his brain is basically short circuits.

And that’s the best part of Crash Into You, I think, is that Rachel knows how to do and likes a “male” hobby. It’s crazy to think that being a mechanic is gendered, but it made Rachel’s characterization so much more impressive. Rachel is this pretty, delicate and straightlaced rich-girl, which is pretty contradictory to her hobby of tinkering with cars. I love it when characters defy stereotypes; it shows that no person can be slotted into a box.

I have to say that I was a little iffy about the overall plot, but it did win me over in the end. Also, the ending? God, that was scary!

Take Me On (Pushing the Limits, #4)

Release Date: May 27th, 2014

Rating: 4/5 stars

The next book in the Pushing the Limits series is live and now reviewed! It took me a while to work up to read Take Me On, mainly because there are no other books in this series set out to be released … yet. Hopefully, the series doesn’t end now! I still want Abby’s story, and now I also want a story for Jax!

Take Me On was well written, which wasn’t a surprise for McGarry’s books. This book wasn’t as edgy as either Dare You To and Crash Into Me have been. Take Me On was mainly about fighting, both physically and mentally, for what you want most. It’s about control but also about standing up for yourself and trying to protect your loved ones. Even though you work so hard to do the right thing, everyone else can still perceive it as wrong.

Take Me On was about standing up for yourself when no one could or would and trying to stay standing when everything around you was falling to bits and pieces.

The central theme that I adore about McGarry’s books is the strong female leads and how, in the past two books in this series, both heroines have hobbies that are stereotyped as for men. LOVED IT! It was empowering to read as a girl, but what I found the most touching was the idea that even though Haley was a trained national titled kickboxer, she still felt fear, and she still felt like fighting wasn’t an option sometimes. Her story was particularly heartbreaking, but sometimes I just wanted to shake her! She was so used to doing it alone that it got borderline annoying!

I saw West as a quick-tempered and way too overprotective (and unfair) brother in Crash Into Me, but I adored him in this book. Once in his perspective, you quickly realize that there’s more to him than his fights, the girls and the partying. He was so sweet on Hayley, and it was horrible seeing that no matter how hard he tried, he still saw himself as a “failure.” And even though West states many times how perfect his family is–they’re a bunch of assholes! In the last book, I got so exasperated with how they treated Rachel like a baby, but I think it was even worse for West because they only saw him and judged him on the surface. They didn’t bother to look deeper and think, hey, there might be something wrong here. And their father! Three words: parent gone wrong! That dude knows nothing of parenting; he’s either checking out, fussing over his wife (who seems more like a kid who can’t deal than a mom) or working. And the guy has the balls to judge West? Like, what? 

Crash Into Me also addressed homelessness. I couldn’t understand what West’s parents put him through (see Spoiler below).

And yet the parents say they wouldn’t do anything to put their children’s lives at risk since they already lost one child?

When people think about homelessness, they think of people living on the street, but this presentation of homelessness just brought the actual definition to my attention. Homelessness is not having a place to call home, a place that is warm and makes you feel safe, a place you can call yours. So, by this definition, Hayley and her family were also homeless because they lived under her tyrant of an uncle.

Although I understand why, one thing that continued to piss me off was the lack of respect that Hayley got from her male family members, her dad, her older brother, Kaden and her cousin, Jax. I didn’t understand how Hayley could take so many hits for her family, yet they never returned the favour. It was seriously frustrating.

Crash Into Me had many factors and themes, but in the end, the romance between Hayley and West was amazing! They were so cute, especially since they were both so against getting into a relationship for different reasons.

Overall, another excellent book by Katie McGarry! Crossing my fingers, she decides to continue the series!

Preview the Books I Haven’t Reviewed in the Pushing the Limits Series