ARC Review: Crash Into You by Katie McGarry. PERFECTION!

Title: Crash Into You (Pushing the Limits #3)
Author: Katie McGarry
Publication: November 26th 2013 by Harlequin Teen
Genre: YA Contemporary
Source: Provided by the kind publisher...
Goodreads

From acclaimed author Katie McGarry comes an explosive new tale of a good girl with a reckless streak, a street-smart guy with nothing to lose, and a romance forged in the fast lane 

The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life-that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers...and she's just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker-a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind. 

Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks-no matter how angelic she might look. 

But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other.

-- My Rating --

5/5 Oscars: LOVED it

-- My Thoughts --

Here are my reviews of Katie's books

     I am a huge fan Katie McGarry's. I fell in love with her characters in Pushing the Limits, then more in Crossing the Line, then even more in Dare You To. But I NEVER thought I would love fictional characters as much as I loved the ones in Crash Into You!
      Rachel is a good girl in a rich private school with an intense love of cars and 4 brothers to spare. When she decides to drag race for one night, she meets Isaiah, and they get themselves into a whole bunch of problems. Isaiah is not one to fall for love. In fact, he doesn't even believe it exists, after most of the women in his life broke his heart. But when he finds the blond, delicate angel in a Mustang GT trying to drag race, everything flies out the window.

A lock of her long golden bangs falls forward and highlights the sexy curve of her chin and her thick eye-lashes. I'll do anything to keep her talking as the sound of her voice creates a contact high. Rachel's this brilliant flame blazing in the darkness. I don't know what the hell is going on, but I've always been the kind of guy that likes fire.

     This is the kind of review that I find the hardest to write. Because no matter how much I gush and try to explain its perfection, I feel like i'm still not giving the book it's fair share! I met Noah and Echo in Pushing the Limits, and i thought they were the perfect broken couple. Then I met Beth and Ryan in Dare You To, and i thought they were the perfect couple. But right now, I think Isaiah and Rachel made EVERY couple in YA seem like amateurs next to them! I fell in love head over heels with both of them, and although it's been days since I've finished this, i can't get them out of my head.
     Okay, Rachel is a good girl with the innocent vibe. I LOVED her innocence and her courage. She hated being seen weak, but she never really understood that asking for help is the strongest she'll ever be. Isaiah is just amazing. He's a tough, tattooed guy, with earrings and a don't-mess-with-me attitude but he has a golden heart. I fell in love with him so damn much! These two make the perfect couple and Katie McGarry has crafted the most  believable love story, starring these two. I loved that she also contributed the foster care part, and how hard it is for kids to grow out of the foster care. It felt raw and believable.
      As always, our characters from the previous two books, appear in this one too. And this time,it was an amazing experience. Like, there are 6 people in the room. You're reading the POV of two of them, and you feel like you already know the other four. In this book, there are even more new characters. I fell in love with Abby, Isaiah's friend. She is such a cool, but broken girl and i am HOPING that she'll get her book! Then, I also loved Rachel's family. Her brothers care so much for her that it hurts, and although they were not perfect, I liked Ethan and West a lot. 

If someone told me the dad I never knew croaked, I could guarantee there wouldn't be any tears. If Rachel's an awful person then I must be related to Satan.

     This book is pure perfection. It's an amazing mix of love and family. Katie McGarry writes real, unique romances with characters that'll haunt you with their broken selves. This is my favorite series so far, in every genre possible. So, you can't imagine how happy I was that it wasn't OVER! We still have West's story coming from the author, probably next year, but i KNOW it's worth the wait. For you people, who have started this series, I know you LOVED it as much as I did, and for the ones who haven't started it yet, you are missing out on the most AMAZING and RADIANT gem in the whole YA genre! Go grab a copy NOW!

 ---

"I feel like a mouse with you," I whisper. "The one that's already been caught by the cat."

That's when he touches me. Isaiah runs his hand through my hair, and every cell in my body vibrates with the gentle pull. "Rachel."

"Yes." It's hard to breath.

"Kiss me."

Her breathing hitches as my lips come close to hers. I'm going to kiss her. "Tell me I'm who you want." So I know there are no mistakes.

Her nose slides against mine as she slowly nods. "I don't want anyone else."

God help us both for her allowing the devil permission.

ARC Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Name of book: Dare You To (Pushing The Limits #2)
Author: Katie McGarry
Publication: May 28th 2013 by Harlequin Teen
Genre: YA Contemporary
Source: Provided by the kind publisher...
Goodreads

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

-- My Rating --

4.5 Oscars: Really liked it...

-- My Thoughts --

      When I read the first book in this series, Pushing the Limits (my review here). I fell in love with Katie's absolutely enchanting characters and I couldn't let them go. I knew this book would be about a different set of characters but I was equally enchanted.

     Beth is not a bad girl. No. She has just had a bad life and that is the only way to let go. But when she gets moved back to her old town and reunited with her only relative besides her mother, she is not happy. And when she meets the captivating jock boy, Ryan, she knows that she should not let down her guard. Ryan's had a complicated life, too, but in a different way. And he knows well not to let Beth ruin his future. Sparks fly. But will a love built on pain survive the challenges it will face?

---

Winning feels great. Awesome. Drives me higher than anything else in the world. The twisting and pressure that I so often feel - gone. Winning leaves my muscles loose, makes me lift my head higher, and damn if it doesn't bring on a smile. "You may not want it, but you need it." - Ryan

---

     Again, I absolutely fell in love with Katie's characters. There is something different about them. They are broken, but they still hold so much hope that it's refreshing. I knew reading from Beth's perspective would be unique and it was. I don't have anything in common with Beth, but I felt WITH her and FOR her. Ryan is an amazing guy. Almost too perfect to be true, as Beth says, and she is right. But he is real to Beth and to watch them grow so much as characters was exhilarating to witness.

     I loved the little scenes we got of Noah and Echo (the main characters in Pushing The Limits). I missed them so much, and I gotta say that I prefer Beth over Echo, and Noah over Ryan.  But I KNOW that Beth and Noah, or Ryan and Echo, or Beth and Isaiah would have never worked out. It's so strange but Katie knows exactly how to pair off her characters so that they are perfect for each other. Two faces of a coin, they say.

     Even before I finished this book, I knew who the third book would be about. It seemed like the most obvious choice, since Isaiah still has to tell his story. CRASH INTO YOU looks amazing and I cannot wait for Miss Katie to write it! I know I won't be disappointed from one of my favorite authors of all time!

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A silver of hope sneaks past my walls and I slam every opening shut. Emotion is evil. People who make me feel are worse. I take comfort in the stone inside of me, If I don't feel. I don't hurt. - Beth

---

It's an innocent kiss at first. Soft lips meeting; a gentle pressure that creates a slow burn. The type of kiss you give to someone that means something. This isn't the type of kiss to be wasted on me. - Beth

---

Review: Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry

Name of book: Pushing The Limits
Author: Katie McGarry
Publication: July 31st, 2012 - Harlequin Teen
Genre: YA Contemporary
Source: ARC, provided by publisher...

"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.

"An edgy romance that pulls you in and never lets go. I was hooked!"-Gena Showalter,  New York Times bestselling author of the Intertwined series.

-- My Rating --

(Not just Five cupcakes, I would give it 10 if I could... :P)

-- My Thoughts --

     I just found one of my most favorite books of 2012!  When you read all of  these positive reviews, and when you adore the cover, you will put some expectations on the book. And how wonderful is it when those expectations are met? I put some very hard expectations on this book and fortunately , the author went way past them.

     Echo Emerson remembers nothing of that day, but since that day she changed from Miss.Popularity into the outsider with the "freaky" scars on her arms. Always wearing long-sleeved sweatshirts, Echo covers her heart the same way she covers her arms. The fence she has put around her heart was always there. Well, up until she gets to know Noah Hutchins.

     Noah Hutchins is known as a girl-using loner, but that's not all he is. As if losing his parents wasn't enough, he has lost his brothers to foster care, too. Noah hates long lasting relationships, and he wants nothing to do with attachments. Well, up until he  gets to know the pretty Echo Emerson.

     Echo and Noah's lives collide when they are both having their therapy sessions. Because of all they have both been through, they have both put up walls around their hearts. And it will take a lot from them to be able to break down those walls.

     Will Echo ever remember what happened that night? Will they ever be able to be normal again? And how much will  Echo and Noah push the limits?  A ride on a roller coaster of  happiness and grief, love and hate, heartbreak and betrayal, in this breath-taking standalone, Pushing The Limits.

     I love this book! I had to wait a day to write this review, just to collect and organize my thoughts, or my review would have consisted of only three words (I love this!) It was the book that I have been waiting to read for so long. I can't say how grateful I am to receive a copy from the publisher, thank you!

     The pace is really quick, and the setting is wonderfully described. Oh, the characters! I fell in love with all of them, well, except the bad ones. Echo is the screwed -up heroine, but she is determinant and stubborn, I would love to have Echo as a friend. I loved Echo's voice.

    Noah is heart-breaking protective, loving, and sexy! The definite dream guy! And Lila, Echo's best friend is so loyal and girly, just a copy of me! What I liked is the characters were not stereotypes, they were distinctive and independent.

     OK, enough babbling. No matter how much I write, I will never be able to express this. I am still recovering from how much I devoured this book! All I want to say is grab a box of tissues and read this! Believe me, if you haven't already read it, then you are missing out a HUGE masterpiece!

     

Here are my favorite teasers:

     "Forgetting every rule I'd created for this moment, my hands wandered up her back, twining in her hair, bringing her closer to me. I wanted Echo. I needed Echo." - Noah

     "My insides had melted when Noah produced his wicked grin and gazed at me like I was naked. Luke used to give me butterflies. Noah spawned mutant pterodactyls." - Echo

     "Her shoulders never shook. No tears streamed down her face. 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