Re-Read Review: Pushing the Limits (Pushing the Limits #1) by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits (Pushing the Limits #1) by Katie McGarry

"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.

Publishes in US: July 31st 2012 by Harlequin Teen
Genre: ya contemporary
Source: library
Series? Pushing the Limits #1
My review the first time reading
Other series reviews:
Crash into You
Crossing the Line
Dare You To
Red at Night
Take Me On

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    I wanted to re-read Pushing the Limits because I bought Breaking the Rules that features Noah and Echo again, and I wanted to refresh my memory on their powerful story. I know that it was a 5 star first time around, so I was a little nervous that it wouldn't live up to my memory but once I started reading, all doubts were gone. 

   They had smoking hot chemistry for one. Noah and Echo complimented each other, and where one was weak, the other could step in and help them. I also respected though that Noah was fighting for his brothers. He was worried that they would have the same foster care experience that he did: read horrible. He wanted to get custody and be there and love them. I admired this so much about him, and when I got to see him with them it melted my heart even more. 

    This book is more than a romance though. Both Noah and Echo have troubled pasts, and they carry their scars, some mental, others physical with them. They are in counseling with one of the best adults written in ya literature that I have read- Mrs. Collins, a clinical social worker who was in a special program to look after the emotional health of a select few students. She knew when to push, when to listen, when to be conventional, and when it was time to venture outside the box. She cared so much for them, and she kept her promises, and always worked for their best interest, whether they could see it or not. 

   I love how bad boy Noah falls so in love with Echo, and how gentle, sweet and caring he is. He doesn't mind her scars, and he just wants for her to be happy. Echo fights her attraction to him for a long time because she had fallen from popular girl, on the dance team, smart, cute boyfriend to social pariah after she missed weeks of junior year and came back scarred. Rumors flew around her, and she can't even remember the truth of her past. 

    The ending was perfect and although I wasn't ready to let the characters go the first time, this time I know that I got updates through the other character's stories and I am about to read more about them. 

Bottom Line: Deeply emotional. 5 stars again even with me being a tougher reviewer.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Did your guidance counselor do much besides college apps?