I went a little ghost, I know, but school just caught up to me and you know it gets- BUSY! With a lot of my tests out of the way though I hope to catch up on my reading and be able to read more this month! I am especially making it a goal to read more fantasy-based books since I have a pile on my TBR full of the genre, I need to make a dent on it. Since yesterday there was no school, because of Veteran's Day, I took the day to relax and catch up on things around the house, and of course to read ;) I picked up Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry on a whim, and I finished it the same day. It was so good, I highly recommend it if you're looking for a contemporary/romance book that just melts you and pulls at your heartstrings in all the right places. I cried, I laughed, I cry-laughed, it was amazing!



Told in dual narrators, Echo and Noah, are both seniors in high school with distinct personalities and lives. Echo the all-around popular girl involved in the dance team, a real artist at painting, and with the perfect boyfriend comes back to school completely changed. Now she barely says a words to her friends, isolates herself in her studies and room and takes to wearing long-sleeved shirts to hide the jagged white scars that run through her arms. Everyone speculates that she tried to cut herself, but what no one knows is that not even Echo is aware of what happened. All she's told when she wakes up in the hospital is that her mother tried to kill her, yet they give her no other details, telling her that she has to remember for herself. But trying to open up pieces of your brain that can permanently scar you and test your sanity, is not as easy as it may seem. Noah the once star basketball player who had a promising future ahead of himself, is now the self-proclaimed "bad boy" of school; known for smoking pot and rotating between girls, his smoldering good looks can help him get anyone he wants but not the one thing he desperately craves. Having lost both his parents in a fire his freshman year, he and his two younger bothers are put in foster care; for Noah the constant placement in different families is hard, not just because of the change but because of the abuse and hardship he gets. Labeled as "emotional unstable" he loses the rights to his brothers and to be able to see them. Two characters who have lost it all find that in each other they might be able to piece one another and save themselves.

If this summary doesn't get you to read this book ASAP, I can try to make a video...I'm just kidding, but I cried- CRIED- while reading because even though this is full of romance, it's also about mending family relationships and discovering that you are strong enough to keep going even after your heart breaks. I liked how the story wasn't just two hormonal teenagers who found any chance to make-out, but that it had understatement, compassion and sacrifice. When you're turning 18 you legally become an adult, and in certain situations that can make a huge difference. The two plot lines surrounding each character are very real and emotion packed, it spanned from mental illness to domestic violence. If you can't guess already, I gave this book a 5/5 on Goodreads!

I already have Dare You To, the second book in the Pushing the Limits Series, and I can't wait to delve into it! Let me know if you've read these books or any of the series, or maybe if you plan on getting around to them soon? I had a minor issues with Pushing the Limits but all in all, it was fantastic!

-Alex