I can think of only three books that have ever made me cry, one of which is Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry. If you haven’t gotten this one on pre-order yet, go ye forth and do so. This is a 2012 must read.

Since I write paranormal, I don’t often get a chance to pick up YA contemporary. But obviously I’m missing out. Especially if the other titles out there right now are half as engrossing as Katie McGarry’s debut.

After finishing this novel, I wanted to start it again. Because I missed the characters. They were THAT real to me. The relationships in this book are so tangible and heartrending and gut wrenchingly spot on.

There are several threads running through this book at once, which is just one of the reasons that I loved this story so much. It’s told from alternating points of view. So our two main characters, Echo and Noah, begin with their own agendas in mind, their own separate problems and struggles. Then, against their wills, they are brought together by their circumstances.
As the story progresses, the lives of these two young people (and consequently their struggles) begin to intertwine. They become enmeshed with one another and I became enmeshed with them, snared by the aestheticism of their voices and their world and their all-too-real dilemmas.

And I haven’t even gotten to the romance in this novel, which is one of the major themes.

Echo and Noah = HELLO CHEMISTRY.

The sexual tension between the two is just about unbearable—and that’s delicious when that happens in a novel, isn’t it? Sweet torture is what I’ll call it.

More than the tension, though, there is also a gradual build to the relationship between them. And I’m a sucker for a romance that is layered by one moment or encounter at a time, and then another.
I know I started this review by saying that this novel made me cry, but it also made me laugh. A lot. Ms. McGarry had a true gift for voice, and many of Echo’s internal moments sent me over the edge with giggles. At one point, I had to put the book down because I was laughing so hard. And as for Noah, I can say that the male voice feels startlingly accurate--I think I gained many insights to the male brain!

So I have a “favorites” shelf in my house. And this one has a special place there, because I’m going to be reading it again, and then again.