(ARC) Book Review (108). Pushing The Limits - Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits

by Katie McGarry

Publication: 25th July 2012

Publisher: Harlequin Teen Australia

Pages: 376

Genre: Contemporary 

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

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. 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.

My Thoughts.

One of the best author debuts I've ever read, Katie McGarry is sure to be the next big thing in YA!

It's hard to describe just how much I loved this book, I was constantly thinking about it whilst I wasn't reading it, and when I was I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

It's the sign of an amazing writer when all you want to do is eat, breathe and sleep in this story which was both heartbreaking and intense, I loved the chemistry between Echo and Noah, they were perfect for each other and their struggle to find themselves and to fight for their love for each other just makes them one of my all time favourite YA couples.

The build up we get with Echo trying to regain her memories of that day that she has blocked from her mind, was a great suspense and I loved trying to figure out what had happened, and I never could have guessed what it was in a million years it was tragic, and I can understand why she didn't want to remember and why her brain shut down such a traumatic memory.

As for Noah well besides the fact that he's hot, the way that he cares for his two brothers was so sweet and he too had a tragic story which gave both of them a lot in common, these two damaged souls found solace in each other, and each found someone who could understand what had happened to the other.

What also made this book amazing was the alternating chapters, I loved that we could know what each other was thinking and could find out back stories to them both, the memories they both had of happier times back before their world's got torn apart.

The supporting characters in this book were really great Isaiah and Beth who were also battling their own demons and Mrs Collins, Echo and Noah's counselor and the reason for them officially meeting, if only all counselor's were as sweet and helpful as she was.

There was absolutely nothing I could find fault with in this book, I strongly urge everybody to pick this book up, clear some time because you'll definitely never want to put this book down.

I give this a huge 5/5.

A Big Thanks To Harlequin Teen And Morey Media.

Cover Reveal: Wolf Pact - Melissa De La Cruz

Wolf Pact (Wolf Pact #1)

by Melissa de la Cruz 

From the bestselling author of Blue Bloods, comes a series that will reinvent the myth of the werewolf in the same way that Blue Bloods did with vampires—with style and NYC flair!

Lawson and his brothers escaped from the underworld and now lead desperate, dangerous lives. They’re pursued by the Hounds of Hell from one town to the next, never calling any place home. But when the hounds finally catch up with them and capture the girl Lawson loves, the hunters become the hunted. Lawson will stop at nothing to track down the hounds, even if the chances of saving Tala are slim...

The only hope he has lies in Bliss Llewellyn. Bliss, too, has lost someone to the beasts and will do anything to get them back—even if it means joining forces with the insolent, dangerously good-looking boy with a wolf’s soul.

Expected publication: September 25th 2012 by ATOM

Waiting On Wednesday.

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine where you can spotlight an upcoming release that you're eagerly anticipating.

This week I'm waiting on....

Dance of Shadows

by Yelena Black

Expected publication: December 24th 2012 by Bloomsbury/Walker Books for Young Readers

Curtains up on a deliciously dark new YA trilogy from the creators of Lauren Kate’s Fallen.

Vanessa Adler isn’t so sure she really belongs at the School of American Ballet. But dance runs in her family. It’s been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. Her grandmother and mother were prima ballerinas, and her older sister Margaret was, too. That is, until Margaret mysteriously disappeared from school three years ago. Vanessa is heir to the family’s gift and the only person who can fulfill her sister’s destiny. She has no choice.

But she never could have guessed how dangerous the school is. The infamous choreographer, Josef, isn’t just ruthless with his pupils, he guards a sinister secret, one in which the school’s dancers—prized for their beauty, grace, and discipline—become pawns in a world of dark, deadly demons.

Pretty Girl-13

by Liz Coley 

Expected publication: March 19th 2013 by Katherine Tegen Books 

Angie Chapman was thirteen years old when she ventured into the woods alone on a Girl Scout camping trip.

Now she’s returned home…only to find that it’s three years later and she’s sixteen—or at least that’s what everyone tells her.

What happened to the last three years of her life? 

Angie herself doesn’t know.

But there are people who do—people who could tell Angie every detail of her forgotten time, if only they weren’t locked inside her mind.

With a tremendous amount of courage and support from unexpected friends, Angie embarks on a journey into the darkest corners of her mind. As she unearths more and more about her past, she discovers a terrifying secret and must decide: when you remember things you wish you could forget, do you destroy the people responsible, or is there another way to feel whole again?

Liz Coley’s alarming and fascinating psychological mystery is a disturbing—and ultimately empowering—page turner about accepting our whole selves, and the healing power of courage, hope, and love.

The Murmurings

by Carly Anne West

Expected publication: March 5th 2013 by Simon Pulse

After her older sister dies from an apparent suicide and her body is found hanging upside down by one toe from a tree, sixteen-year-old Sophie starts to hear the same voices that drove her sister to a psychotic break.

Revolution 19

by Gregg Rosenblum

Expected publication: January 8th 2013 by Harper Teen

Twenty years ago, the robots designed to fight our wars abandoned the battlefields. Then they turned their weapons on us.

Nick, Kevin, and Cass have spent their whole lives in a community in the wilderness, hiding out from the robots that have enslaved mankind. But when the bots discover their location, they barely make it out alive — only to discover that their home has been destroyed and everyone killed or captured. Now, the siblings must risk everything to save the only people they have left in the world.

Hysteria

by Megan Miranda

Expected publication: February 5th 2013 by Walker Childrens 

Mallory's life is falling apart. Her boyfriend was stabbed. He bled to death in her kitchen. Mallory was the one who stabbed him. But she can't remember what happened that night. She only remembers the fear . . . 

When Mallory's parents send her away to a boarding school, she thinks she can escape the gossip and the threats. But someone, or something, has followed her. There's the hand that touches her shoulder when she's drifting off to sleep. A voice whispering her name. And everyone knows what happened. So when a pupil is found dead, Mallory's name is on their lips. Her past can be forgotten but it's never gone. Can Mallory live with that?

Cover Reveal: Vortex - Julie Cross

Vortex (Tempest #2)

by Julie Cross

Expected publication: January 8th 2013 by St. Martin's Griffin

Cover Reveal: The Stone Demon - Karen Mahoney

The Stone Demon (The Iron Witch #3)

by Karen Mahoney

Expected publication: February 2013 by Flux 

Cover Reveal: Clockwork Princess - Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3)

by Cassandra Clare 

In Clockwork Princess, Tessa and her companions travel all over the world as they race to stop the clockwork army before it’s too late. As Jem’s health worsens alarmingly and his friends search desperately for a cure, can Tessa choose between the two boys she loves—even if it means never seeing the other one again?

Expected publication: March 19th 2013 by Margaret K. McElderry Books

(ARC) Book Review (107). Black Heart Blue - Louisa Reid

Black Heart Blue

by Louisa Reid 

Publication: 25th July 2012

Publisher: Penguin Books Australia

Pages: 266

Genre: Contemporary/ Thriller

Age Appropriate: Young Adult

Price: $16.99

Hephzibah: You've no idea what it's like having a freak for a sister. 

Rebecca: Born first, prettier, Hephzi's always been the popular one.

The Father: When he was busy with his bottle we were usually safe. Usually. 

The Mother: Her specialist subject was misery and lessons of painful silence ...

Hepzibah and Rebecca are twins. One beautiful, one disfigured. Trapped with their loveless parents, they dream of a normal life. But when one twin tragically dies, the other must find a way to escape.  Because if she doesn't, she'll end up like her sister.

My Thoughts.

This was such a gut-wrenching and chilling book, that will send a shiver down your spine and have you still thinking about it hours after you've turned the last page!

This is a courageous story of a seventeen year old girl, who manages to overcome the adversity that tragically killed her twin sister.

This was a hard book to read in the sense of the abuse that these two sisters endured at the hands of their father - the local vicar - and the complete indifference that the mother showed to his treatment of them.

What I loved was the alternating chapters, Rebecca' s took place after the funeral of Hephzibah ' Hephzi', and Hephzi's chapters detail what happened to her leading up to her death.

I never would have picked this up myself it's only because I received this book for review that I gave it a go and I'm so glad that I did.

Although you know that Hephzi's story is never going to end well you still read along hoping that there will be some kind of a miracle and Rebecca and her could escape their miserable life, but ultimately it's not to be and you really feel the urge to get to that last page and make sure that Rebecca makes it out alive and happy and away from her sorry excuse for parents whom have never shown her or her sister love of any kind.

What makes it worse for Rebecca is her facial deformity Treacher Collins Syndrome, which unfortunately makes her the victim of their father's beatings more often than not, after reading the name of her deformity I immediately researched it on the internet to get a clearer idea of what it was so I could understand it more, and I loved that not only do we get a fantastic story but also the chance to learn about a facial deformity that I'd never previously heard of, but it also brought to light the mean comments people say about others suffering from any kind of deformity, I loved that towards the end Rebecca was able to feel more comfortable in her own skin and to be able to look people in the eye and not the ground that she was so used to doing.

The ending did bring me to tears when you realise the full extent of what these two girls went through and the people who turned a blind eye and just let it continue on which sadly resulted in the death of Hephzi.

Unfortunately this happens in real life all around the world every day, and if we only helped instead of ignoring the signs things like this wouldn't happen.

I highly recommend everybody pick this up.

I give this 4.5/5.

A Big Thanks To Penguin Australia.