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Book Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

May 17, 2014

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 392 (hardcover)
Publish date: July 31st 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
ISBN: 0373210493
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

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.

Pushing the Limits:

Okay, so if you don’t follow me on twitter, you don’t see me spaz a lot of the time about Kaite McGarry, I adore her. Butyou know what? I have only read Pushing the Limits. The only reason I haven’t read the others in the Pushing the Limits series is simply because I own the US paperback edition so I have to wait quite a while for them to be published.

I loved Pushing the Limits there is no doubt about it. Firstly the storyline is very intriguing, it really pulled me in from the start. We as readers are going on the journey with Noah and Echo, as they reveal their past, and find out about it, so do we. Pushing the Limits is confronting and real, it is not some snappy romance.

I really enjoyed Echo, she is different to any other female character I have read before. She doesn’t remember what happen to her or how she got the scars. She is confused about what is really going on, Echo is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and doesn’t understand why people keep her shadowed, which is interesting to see her journey. I felt after finding what really happened, why people didn’t tell her? I also felt that she was too sheltered which made finding out a rough experience. I felt that Echo was a very ‘real’ character.

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.

Some might say that Echo is a weak character but I think she is quite the opposite. She is strong enough for staying alive and for not losing herself in the process. She not only has to deal with the not so perfect home life but has to deal with all the kids at school, staring at her, spreading rumours about her and not having any friends anymore. Her feelings are just so raw and painful that they pierced my heart.

Noah, Noah, Noah. When you say bad boy, I think of Noah. Noah has had his own heartache but he hides it within this hard exterior. He’s a rough boy but deep down, you cannot find someone as caring as Noah. He shifts not only his world but Echo’s as well. They are so adorable together, they have become one of my OTP’s. You can understand why he is so distant, such the ‘bad boy.’

I love you enough to never make you choose.

Katie McGarry is so talented when it comes to writing characters that have their walls up and are really fractured on the inside. She knows how to write characters that help break down these walls. That is what she did exactly with Noah and Echo, they are both broken but with the help of each other they start to break down each other’s wall’s. She is also really talented at making the reader cry and the emotions that she makes you feel through both Echo and Noah.

Pushing the Limits is told in dual perspectives both from Echo and Noah and unlike most authors Katie McGarry does it perfectly. You can tell one character from another, their feelings don’t get mixed up and she is able to write from both a girl’s and boy’s perspective.

Overall Pushing the Limits takes you on a journey, and it makes you feel all emotions. You’ll want to laugh, and you’ll want to cry.

Have you read Pushing the Limits? What did you think of it?

Favourite Protagonist Battle Round 3 Winners

May 16, 2014

Welcome to the favourite protagonist battle round 3 Winners announcement. Thank you so much to everyone that voted, I cannot believe how amazing all of you are. Round 3 was a battle and it was epic. I cannot believe that the protagnoist battle is nearly over. Round 4 is the final battle and it will determine our winner! Round 4 voting will open at midnight Saturday AEST. So get ready to vote.

This is how voting weeks will commence;

3rd Week – 1st Round – 16 Contestants

4th Week- 2nd round – 8 Contestants

5th week – 3rd round; SEMI-FINAL – 4 Contestants

6th week – 4th round; FINAL – 2 Contestants

I really hope that you are enjoying this feature, I am really excited to be hosting it. There will also be a giveaway, that will last the whole feature. So get excited.

And the winners of Round 2 are…

Battle 1:

Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead Vs. Noah from Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

The Winner is… Rose Hathaway

Battle 2:

Hazel Grace from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green Vs. Clary from The Mortal Instrument Series by Cassandra Clare

The Winner is… Hazel Grace

That is it for Round 3. Thank you all again for voting, you are just all amazing. Remember come back here Saturday midnight for voting for the Final round to open and to enter the giveaway.

Don’t forget to follow my Facebook page and on bloglovin for more from me. You can also subscribe to through email. Check it out in the sidebar. You can also catch me on twitter @angel_reads.

Book Review: Winning the Player by Leesa Bow

May 15, 2014

Winning the Player by Lessa Bow

Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Pages: 273 (ebook)
Publish date: April 14th 2014
Publisher: Destiny Romance (Penguin Australia)
ASIN: B00JEUKI5E
Purchase: Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

When injury destroyed her dream of playing college basketball, Aubree Taylor fled overseas. Now she’s finally home again and ready to move on with her life. Until she runs into Hunter Stone on her first night out, the only guy who’s ever meant anything to her – and the last person she wants to see.

Since she ran out on him two years ago, Hunter hasn’t been able to get Aubree off his mind. The sexy football star has had girls all over him for years, but Aubree is the only one to have ever seen behind the cocky persona he puts on for the crowd.

Despite her attempts to keep her distance, Aubree is unable to resist the strong attraction between them and it isn’t long before they fall into a passionate relationship. She has never been afraid of a challenge, but Hunter’s arrogance and inablity to trust are testing her to her limits. Aubree must decide whether to follow her heart and lower her guard…or risk losing the best thing that’s ever happened to her.

Winning the Player:

I received an e-arc of Winning the Player from NetGalley in exchange for a review from Destiny Romance. This in no way has influenced my review.

For the first time ever, I read a book and understood the sport that it was centred around or included. I love footy, the AFL (Australian Football League) I have been going to and watching the footy since I was 2 years old. I have grown up watching it. So it was really different reading a book not only set in Australia but which also includes a home grown sport.

I felt sorry for Aubree. I understood what it is like, even though it wasn’t what I wanted it to be, how an injury can ruin what you love. I use to dance all the time but then I dislocated my knee, tore my ligament and had a few other things happen that now prevent me from dancing. So I understand her heartbreak, to an extent, of how an injury can stop you doing something that you planned to do forever.

I also really enjoyed Aubree, yes she did have quite a few negative thoughts, but like I said before I understand why she was so negative, she had trained and worked hard her whole life for something, which then came crashing down on her. I don’t like that she ran away from her problems and does a few more times, but I guess that is how she deals with them. I felt that Aubree was a really ‘real’ character. She wasn’t fake.

Life is what you make of it. You take the good with the bad. Turn a negative into a positive.

Hunter. Hunter is a name that I always refer to as those hot bad boys. He may not be a bad boy but he is definitely hot. He is the footy boy, but he is also the Alpha male. Meaning that I wanted to hit the hell of him for 80% of the book. He was arrogant, rude and so immature. He has slept with pretty much all the girls of the South Australian population and he doesn’t hide it. Then there was the other 20% where I loved him the death, and he treated Aubree just perfectly.
Both Aubree and Hunter made mistakes, Hunter making the biggest mistake out of the both of them. But hey, we all make mistakes.

I loved that Winning the Player was set in Australia, even though it’s set in South Australia and I live in Melbourne, it still has the essence of the ‘Australia life.’ Not the one that everyone expects that we all say ‘shrimps on the barbie.’ It was nice seeing what it is really like.

“You can’t win something after the siren sounds.” My hand cupped his beautiful face. “The game ended long ago. You had already won.”

I really enjoyed Leesa Bow’s writing in Winning the Player. It was easy to read and understand. I also like that it was pretty clean and only had mild sexual scene. It still isn’t for anyone under the age of at least 17. Lessa Bow is able to invoke the characters emotions to the readers.

Overall I really enjoyed Winning the Player. It was entertaining and emotional, it took me on a ride. I loved that it was set in Australia and had a lot of AFL, it just made me so excited.

Have you read Winning the Player yet? If you have what did you think of it, if you haven’t will you read it?

Don’t forget to follow my Facebook page and on bloglovin for more from me. You can also subscribe to through email. Check it out in the sidebar. You can also catch me on twitter @angel_reads.