Author:Katie McGarry
Pages:416
Publisher:Harlequin Teen (July 31, 2012)
Source:Received for review
Reading Level:Young Adult
Rating:4 Paws-
Pawtastic!
Summary:
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.
Review:
Amazing. Totally amazing.
I received this book from the publisher a while ago but sort of just left it on my shelf. I read the synopses and I thought it was probably a darker read and I wasn't interested at the time. One day I picked up up, and never put it back down. What a great roller coaster of a book. I love books that come in two perspectives, I think it tells the story from more than one POV and it's always great to hear from the boy. Boys tends to be more mysterious when it comes to their emotions and it's always fun to see what they're thinking without them necessarily saying it out loud.
Echo Emerson is a definite fighter. In one weekend she dropped from the gorgeous, artistic redhead to the freak with scars on her arms. While almost everyone at her school dropped her socially, there are only a few that stuck with her, but that doesn't even help. Echo lost her brother in the war, has a restraining order on her mom, disagrees with her dad, and hates her stepmom. The only thing that ever really seems right to Echo is Noah. Which is wrong. Twisted, hu?
Noah has a lot of problems of his own. He was once the jock popular kid too but once his parents died and he and his brother were split amongst foster parents, his life took a nose dive and now he's in a somewhat similar situation as Echo. Though completely different, they confide in each other and plan to break into their sharing councilors files and hep each other out. Only, they end up helping each other out more than they had planned. While Noah's problems are known, Echo's memories of the night that ruined her life are repressed and being with Noah is the only thing that helps.
Echo and Noah's story is beautifully written and has the reader sympathizing with both characters. There were times I wanted to cry, laughed, and felt my heart pinch for them both. Though considered more of a "dark" kind of romance, it was just as heartwarming as one with sunshines and flowers. Maybe even better because there was character growth for really all of the characters, not only Echo and Noah.
I'm definitely looking forward to the next books in the serious that covers friends of Noah and Echo. If you haven't read Pushing the Limits, the paper back version is now out and I say go get it now.