Book Review: Lengths

Summary:
Nineteen-year-old Whit Conrad leaves her conservative Pennsylvania home for sunny California, looking for independence, a fresh start, and a place to stash her grief. She promptly finds a job at a tattoo parlor, a craptastic first apartment, and one friend—Ryan—who is a little less friend, a little more benefits. 

Deo Beckett is a soulful surfer with a passion for tattoos and beautiful women. On the eve of his twenty-second birthday, he finds himself living with his grandfather, recently unemployed, and seriously adrift. He doesn’t know much about what he wants out of life, but he does know his current situation isn't cutting it. 

When Deo meets Whit, she’s all sexy makeup and fierce, smart-ass fun. It doesn’t take him long to see past her tough shell. And when he gets a good look at what's under all the superficial stuff that usually gets his attention, it leaves Deo wondering if there might be more to life than living fast and free. 

Too bad Whit has a past she doesn't plan on sharing—no matter how hot Deo is. She might want him, but she knows better than to let her guard down. 

Deo falls for Whit, and falls hard. But everything about her, down to that mysterious tattoo and the way she thrashes in her sleep, tells him that the girl he loves is hiding something. And the more he pushes for answers, the more Whit pulls away. 

Having your guard up is one thing, but are the lengths Whit goes to to protect her secret worth throwing away the second chance she has at happiness with Deo? 

Review: 3/5

Yes. I’m going to sink into what I feel for you. I’m going to sink into the good times and the scary shit. I’m going to sink with you, because I’m tired of drifting and treading, never committing to anything. I want to sink with you. 

I love these lines just as much as I love this book. No needs for the usual words for love - which is highly overused for some YA novels. Lengths is my second Steph Campbell book, and way better than Grounding Quinn. 

What I like about this novel:
1. Deo . He's a charmer, cool, swoon-worthy and a bum. He just turned 22 when he met Whit in a tattoo parlor. He knew he wanted her at first sight. Although, Whit is not ready for a guy like him who likes to meddle when he's not wanted. But that's the way he love, he likes to take care of them, like the way he takes care of his mother when his father left them and how he takes care of his grandfather since his grams died. But it was not easy loving him because I hated characters who seemed to be a lost cause no matter how good looking he or she is. But good thing people change, and change he did. Finally, he found a direction for his life - not only for Whit but it was also for himself. Yes, the character development was pretty amazing. 

2. The supporting cast: Marigold (his mom), his grandfather, Roco and his best friend Cohen . Everybody has their own time to shine. They have helped (in their own ways) both characters (Whit & Deo) with their relationship as well as with their personal struggle. I was glad that these people had done their share and weren't just some bystanders in the book. I love his mother's sexual euphemisms - it was kinda cute.

3. The Setting: The smell of the ocean? Priceless. I can almost feel the waves crashing beneath my feet. I also like Marigold's shack - the aroma of different herbs just floating in the air, it has a weird knock into it but somehow the author presented it to be homey. 

4. Plot. This was one of the best moving-on-and-letting-go plots I have ever read. I like how Step Campbell build up my curiosity and then dropped the bomb somewhere in the middle of the novel. I knew Whit lost someone, it was subtly implied, but why she was driving herself to oblivion with guilt was a surprise that I didn't see coming.

5. Cover - HOT!

What I didn't like about his novel 

1. Whit Everyone deals with his/her own grief differently, I just didn't like how she dealt with hers. After the death of her brother, she escaped her hometown, ignored her parents and was someone's booty call. She wanted control and she drives people away, she didn't want to care and was afraid to invest her emotion and take the risk. She has secrets she isn't willing to share - and when Deo found out from other sources she went berserk and sent him packing. 

2. Curses - I haven't found a page lacking of it. I'm not a picky reader and I have some shares of novels with these words imprinted on every chapter, but this novel topped them all. 

But if you ask me if it is worth the read: of course, but not for super young adults because this book has mature contents. 

I'd recommend it for people who have lost someone and has difficulty in moving on.

Favorite Quotes

• “I inhale, and the two best smells in my world get trapped in my lungs: the salty, cool sting of the ocean in the morning and sweet, morning-sweaty smell of Whit.” 
• “I don’t sleep with broken-hearted guys. It’s too pathetic.” 
• “Isn’t ‘I need space’ the universal couples equivalent of ‘I need you to pack your shit and get out of my life’?” 
• “Life is too short to waste on bullshit.” 
• “We all die, sweetheart. You’ve just got to live your life with enough meaning while you’re still here to make it all worthwhile.” 
• “Yes. I’m going to sink into what I feel for you. I’m going to sink into the good times and the scary shit. I’m going to sink with you, because I’m tired of drifting and treading, never committing to anything. I want to sink with you.” 

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Book Review: Crash

by Nicole Williams

Book Description:

Southpointe High is the last place Lucy wanted to wind up her senior year of school. Right up until she stumbles into Jude Ryder, a guy whose name has become its own verb, and synonymous with trouble. He's got a rap sheet that runs longer than a senior thesis, has had his name sighed, shouted, and cursed by more women than Lucy dares to ask, and lives at the local boys home where disturbed seems to be the status quo for the residents. 

Lucy had a stable at best, quirky at worst, upbringing. She lives for wearing the satin down on her ballet shoes, has her sights set on Juilliard, and has been careful to keep trouble out of her life. Up until now. 

Jude's everything she knows she needs to stay away from if she wants to separate her past from her future. Staying away, she's about to find, is the only thing she's incapable of. 

For Lucy Larson and Jude Ryder, love's about to become the thing that tears them apart.

Book Review: 5/5

“You can’t be friends with the person you were meant to spent your life with” 

I can summarize Crash in these three short wordsL Crazy. Passionate. Intense.

At first I was like: How did this amazing girl who tries to save the world end up with this guy? Love works in mysterious ways, that's for sure. Because Luce - a normal teen age with a bright future fell in love with Jude - a not-so-normal teenager with a bleak future. 

Lucy wanted to save the world - after she failed to save someone important to her. She loves to dance and wished to go to Julliard. Her family was never the same again after the incident, her dad shut the world, and only came to life in his chef uniform and she can no longer talk to her mom without starting an argument. Everything was just the way it is until she met Jude - then her life went topsy-turvy. Nothing was the same again. Her reputation was always questioned in school and she was even labeled as a slut. It didn't help that a juvie was her boyfriend. BUT: I love that she gives everyone a benefit of a doubt and that she gave her trust to Jude - until insecurities ate it all up. Lucy is a strong person and fiercely loyal - she stood up for someone she greatly cared for despite of what everyone around her tells her. I love the fact she believed in him when he didn't.

But can the ultimate bad boy stick to one girl? Can he ever change? The million dollar question is: Can he stay out of trouble? 

Yes, Jude's rap sheet is indeed long and is continuously growing. It didn't help that he grew up in a boy's home and was abandoned by his father who was put to jail. The first time he saw Lucy, he already warned her off: but to no avail. Soon, he found himself attracted to her as well. And when a bad boy who had his shares of woman finally found THE ONE there's no stopping him. Or he thought so, until the both of them uncovered something that can change both their lives. 

The road to happiness for these two seemed to be a long way, because just as the time Lucy and Jude become happy: something will turn out to be wrong. Jude wanted what is best for Lucy and he didn't think its him. The latter however, tries to make him realize that he is enough for her. 

My favorite scene: the father-daughter scene in the near end. Because this is where I finally see some emotion from her father: that her father actually care for her and somehow he explained all his actions in the past. It sounded like both like an apology and an assurance that everything will turn out right in the end. I guess a father knows when he's needed and knew the right (or ratherperfect) words to say.

The ending: *sigh* I think the ending was subtle compare to the rest of the book which makes it more perfect - because my heart could no longer take another jolt from these two love birds. The whole scene will make you think: it was really meant to be .

Favorite Quotes

• “You can’t be friends with the person you were meant to spent your life with” 
• “This man was the pope, president, and god of dodging the topic. Too bad for him he was dealing with the queen, holy mother, and empress of seeing through a man’s stream of shit.” 
• “You’ve got all my firsts,” he said. “All the ones that matter.” 
• “It’s not hard to recognise something special when life’s thrown a lotta shit your way” 
• “I’ll be here, each day and every day on, as long as you want me to be”
• “It was silent, but a silent that was so loud I wanted to cover my ears.” 
• “I’d found boys were fairly simple creatures to figure out, at least on a primal level—on a mind, heart, and soul matter they were about as confounding to me as thermal dynamics—and since primal was just a nice term for raging hormones, I decided to use their overabundance of teenage boy ones to my advantage.” 
• “I’m cancer, Luce. And not the kind that you can kill off with radiation. The kind that kills you in the end.” 
• “Our reputations weren’t who we really were, they were who people told us we were. Some of us fell into that trap, while others fought their entire lives to break free of them. Jude was no more the bad boy with a dead end future than I was the skanky slut everyone said I was.” 
• “It always amazes me how when we’re sure we’ve lost something for good, it winds up finding us.” 
• “How does a guy like you promise someone forever at eighteen?”
  “Easy,” he said, pressing a soft kiss into the corner of my mouth. “He finds a girl like you.” 

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Thoughts of Moi

I found this quote via tumblr and fell in love with it immediately. It reminded me that there's a rainbow after the rain and no matter how life sucks - in every sense of the world, it is still beautiful.

Optimism is never a sin, it is a blessing. Opting to see the goodness in the world decreases worry and stress. Therefore lessening the chances of diseases - making you live your life longer.

This doesn't mean that you have to live a totally worry-free life (I think this is more unhealthy). Just learn to move on, let go and live life the way you wanted it. 

Book Review: While It Lasts

by Abbi Glines

Book Description

Maybe driving home after a few (or more) shots of tequila had been a bad idea, but hell, he did it all the time. The cops had to have been freaking bored to have pulled him over. He wasn’t even swerving! That’s Cage York’s story and he’s sticking to it.

Unfortunately, his baseball coach isn’t buying it. Cage has a free ride to the local junior college for baseball -- or he did, until he’d gotten a DUI. Now, Cage has to decide: does he drop out and give up his dream of getting noticed by a college in the SEC, and possibly making it into the Major Leagues -- or does he give in to his coach’s demands and spend his summer baling hay?

Eva Brooks planned out her life step by step when she was eight years old. Not once over the years had she lost sight of her goals. Josh Beasley, her next door neighbor, had been the center of those goals. He’d been her first boyfriend at seven, her first kiss at ten, her first date at fifteen, and her first tragedy at eighteen. The moment she’d received the phone call from Josh’s mother saying he’d been killed along with four other soldiers just north of Baghdad, Eva’s carefully planned life imploded in the worst way possible.

Cage isn’t real happy with his closet-sized bedroom in the back of a foul smelling barn, or his daily interactions with cows, but he knows that if he doesn’t make his coach happy then he can kiss his scholarship goodbye. Only a sick and twisted man would decide his punishment was to be working on a farm all summer. No hot babes in bikinis waiting to meet a Southern boy to make her vacation complete. Just him and the damned cows.

Oh -- and an uptight, snarky brunette with the biggest blue eyes he’s every seen. But she doesn’t count, because as hard as he’s tried to charm her out of her panties - he’s pretty sure she’d rather see him hung from the rafters than let him get a taste of her pretty little lips.

Book Review

Review Grade: 5/5

I was taking the bad boy off the market for good. 

One of my favorite series: Sea Breeze and one of my favorite characters in the series - the uber bad boy Cage . I am so falling in love with him all over again.

We met him in the book 2: Because of Low where I fervently wished he will have his very own happy ending - and here it is!!! Yay! 

The story started with a heavy heart - we met Eva Brooks whose heart was crushed by the news of her fiance's death in Baghdad along with other soldiers. Losing someone whose been with you whole your life, and whom you made your plans with is heartbreaking, and indeed, it would be hard for a person to go on from there. I don't think it is impossible - but the idea where to start, or how to start from scratch is just tasking. 

This is what I love about this book by Abbi Glines - because it shows how you can find another love - when you lost what you have thought your true love . The other love may not be the same - but it can be different: something new, something fresh, something different, something that you never thought can make you happy, something that you will never compare your past love to. 

It's a little bit crazy - gahd! Cage is crazy - in a good way. We have all been introduced to him in the previous book: Cage is the ultimate man-whore - and any girl would just adore him: his bad boy image and the alpha-male personality he exudes is the ultimate kill that an unsuspecting girl would get in trouble for. His smile can melt your heart and he's sigh just amazing. *starry-eyed*. But he gets himself into trouble when he gets a DUI and is forced to work for the summer taking care of cows. He will stick to this and stay out of trouble because he needs his scholarship. 

Only that - trouble struts in front of him: Eva. She has the most beautiful, sad eyes he had ever seen. He was warned that she was off limits. Now Eva - her heart was broken, her engagement ring is still on her finger, her jeep is parked in the garage for eighteen months and her guitar is kept inside her closet. Her life stopped, and everyone around her tiptoed, scared that they might mention Josh' name and she'd be in pieces. 

I like Eva - I love how Abbi Glines tried to make her character more realistic by allowing her to move on little by little rather than in haste. How her character doubted her feelings, and how other people at the same time her past affected what she and Cage had. 

There were sexy and steamy scenes: just as what I expected of Cage. I adore his control and his respect for Eva, it's really cute when a player falls in love. They tend to be overprotective studs and turns into one-woman.

The ending: it's sweet, but not too cheesy. I love how Cage got his happy ending - I think he deserves it for being a good friend to Low and experiencing such a difficult childhood. I also think Eva deserves this type of love story - mind blowing and exciting after all the aches she'd been through. 

And yes, by the time I was done reading the last pages, I could not help but look forward for the next book in this series!

Book Review: Going Under

Book Description

Jessie Boone is a self proclaimed bad boy and doesn’t march to the beat of anyone’s drum, but his own. Growing up in less than desirable circumstances has made him no stranger to the hard knock life and his determination to leave it behind is fierce. When he finds himself transferred to East Franklin High School, he sees his opportunity to use his athletic ability to snag a college football scholarship, but Forbes Henderson, the player Jessie means to replace isn’t giving up his spot willingly. In fact, Forbes is willing to go to extreme measures to retain his place as first string quarterback. When Forbes’ malicious plan to injure his replacement fails, Jessie is furious and determined to show him he messed with the wrong person; not only is he going to take the position of first string quarterback, he’s going to take his girl, too.

Claire Deveraux is perfection at it’s best. She is beautiful, intelligent and unaware she just became Jessie Boone’s conquest as revenge against her boyfriend, Forbes Henderson. Like her flawless performance as the perfect daughter and student, Claire’s production of being the perfect girlfriend has everyone fooled, except Jessie Boone, and she fears this tattooed bad boy will see her secret desire to explore his crude threats and promises to rock her perfect world. If she decides to give in to one uninhibited moment with Jessie, will she learn too late that it was all an act of vengeance or will Jessie learn the taste of first love is sweeter than that of revenge

Book Review: 3/5

Am I crazy for thinking I could have a chance with her? 

One look at the cover, and I'd guess it was more of a paranormal genre rather than young adult. I was guessing it has something to do with the sea - but I was wrong. Again, never judge the book by its cover because this pretty book doesn't have any paranormal 'blood' in it - something I'm quite thankful for. 

Bad-boy-meets-good-girl 

Jessie, a new face in school seems to be out of place parking his battered jeep beside cars that are more expensive than the place that he lives in. He knew he didn't belong here - but he didn't care. He needed to be here, he needed to be in the football team and he needed the scholarship. He plays really well, he can throw a ball with both arms (yep, ambidextrous, quite impressive). He's also smart - but he's does not brag about it. Honestly, I am ambivalent about what to feel about Jessie. I like him because he cares a lot for his family (his two brothers) and he cares a lot for Claire enough to let her go. However , I could not understand why he is selling himself short for the person who somehow really cares for him AND why in the world is he staying with his grandmother who obviously doesn't give a damn about him? It would clearly bring him into trouble - with all the things that his grandmother is making him do. 

Claire is the running valedictorian, she's a cheerleader and the girlfriend of the quarterback and she's rich. Its a BIG cliche` - but I love her. She's sweet and she doesn't give up on what she wants. At first, she did things that had my brows met, but she completely had me when the tables were turned. She finally had the courage to fight for what she wants and try to weave her happy ending. 

Claire's parents. Claire's mother - It will always be a mother's instinct to hope and want what is best for their children. This is why I understand why Claire's mother is not really into Jessie. But I was glad that she was also into Claire's happiness and made decisions that have saved a couple of lives. On the other hand, Claire's father is the best. He didn't judge, he offers reminders and advice to Claire but that was it. They are a perfect pair for a parent that a growing teenager needs. 

There's Dane who was honest and a real friend to both Jessie and Claire. He didn't mind that Jessie was out of their league and wasn't afraid to point out his friend's flaws when the situation calls for it. He helped both Jessie and Claire when he was needed most.

This is my first Georgia Cates' book and it went well. Not super great that had me at my wits - just plain okay. There were some questions needed answers, and there were characters who just vanished out of the scene. I needed to know what happened to the other characters: Earl, the grandmother, the ex boyfriend and the best friend. The ending was a bit abrupt (in my point of view) and suddenly, I was already reading the epilogue sometime in the future. 

Nevertheless, Going Under deals with topics that are common nowadays: teenage sex, drugs, cliques, social classes, family and of course, romance. It is filled with witty quotes and banters that would keep you entertained. Going Under proves that people change. It also reminds us to see the good in people- no matter what their past is and the length of their rap sheet. Last but not the least, it teaches its reader that there's hope in the bleakest of times and that love knows no boundaries and recognizes no social classes.

Book Review: The Thing About The Truth

by Lauren Barnholdt

Book Description:

In this humorous love story from the author of Two-Way Street, an unlikely romance is the best sort of surprise—but the wrong secret can ruin everything. Kelsey’s not going to let one mistake ruin her life. Sure, she got kicked out of prep school and all her old friends are shutting her out. But Kelsey’s focused on her future, and she’s determined to get back on track at Concordia High.

Isaac’s been kicked out of more schools than he can count. Since his father’s a state senator, Isaac’s life is under constant scrutiny—but Concordia High’s his last stop before boarding school, so Isaac’s hoping to fly under the radar and try to stay put for a change.

When Kelsey and Isaac meet, it’s anything but love at first sight. She thinks he’s an entitled brat, and he thinks she’s a stuck-up snob. So it surprises them both when they start to fall for each other. Kelsey’s happy for the first time in months, and Isaac’s never felt this way about anyone before...But nothing’s ever completely perfect. Everyone has secrets, and Isaac and Kelsey are no exceptions. These two may have fallen hard, but there’s one thing that can ruin it all: the truth.

Book Review:

Review Grade: 3.5/5

“And that's when I realize the thing about the truth. It always comes out, no matter what you do.” 

I can't believe I finished two books in one sitting - Jennifer Echols' Such a Rushand this one. This one is shorter, and with more humor compare to the former - and this book made me cry. Argh!

I love Lauren Barnholdt because she can write a short novel that can shake her readers. You can finish The Thing About The Truth in one sitting, and reach for the next one, but her novel can stick inside your brain with nagging questions you'd want to know the answers. 

What happens when a prep-school drop out and a senator son's who has been kicked out of every private school he's ever been enrolled in, meet?Fireworks! 

Kesley - she's someone you'd love to hate in your local high school. She has been kicked out of the prep school because of the scandal she made when someone broke her heart. Her life was not the same afterwards - her relationship with her parents were strained and she's losing her best friend. After being enrolled in a public school, Kesley was willing to do anything to be back in her family's good graces at the same time be back on track with her college applications. She was planning to apply in Ivy League Schools and a scandal in her records is detrimental to her future, she needs something to overshadow it, thus she organized a club with Isaac.

Kesley has a type A personality, and a little bit of a control freak. She is the perfect example of how an intelligent person drops her IQ when in love. She hated being lied to, that's why I didn't understand (at first) why she lied to Isaac. 

Isaac - another bad boy being add to my list. He's the senator's son - so he's used to being treated nicely by most people (because of who his father is: The Senator). He was surprised when Kesley gave him a cold shoulder on their first meeting. This made him curious about her. He like her so much, that in impulse he made up an idea about an activity: Face It Down . This activity made them closer to each other. 

He and his father didn't have the best father-son relationship because his father was more interested in public opinion and the votes he will receive rather than his very son. He describes himself as mischievous rather than bad or naughty, but what I love about him is that he tells Kesley the truth - even if it hurts. Even if Kesley wouldn't like it. 

This book is alternating the voice of both Kesley and Isaac - the before and the aftermath of the big activity that both of them were planning. We see a budding relationship of two great people that was destroyed by a lie. Kesley didn't tell him the truth because she was scared, she wished it didn't happen and she broke his heart because it was the first time Isaac fell in love, and he gets lied to. So, I do understand why he's very angry with Kesley and why forgiveness is just far from reach. This chapter that belonged to the Before had me in tears. I hated Kesley for lying, but I can feel the panic and desperation when she new she'd be busted any minute from now (my heartbeat accelerated and my breathing got heavier #panicmode). Her secret was out, and Isaac was very mad at her for lying. And of course, Isaac fed the press its nightly news. The whole activity became a circus and they found themselves being called to the principal's office once again.

I like how Lauren Barnholdt emphasize the importance of telling the truth, of not keeping important secrets from the people that are important to you. Yes, the fact may not put you in the best light, but honesty will help you save your relationship, honesty builds trust. 

However... 

The BIG PROBLEM about this novel: the conflicts that I was dying to know the resolutions to were left open. 
1. The relationship with both their fathers: did they make up or it was still strained?
2. Kesley-Rielle friendship: what happens now?
3. The consequence of their actions during the Face It Down activity

The ending was a bit abrupt, and of course, I wanted more, more, more. I wish Ms. Barnholdt would extend another chapter to close all the conflicts that she opened which will help me get over this novel! 

That's why I couldn't give it a 5 even if I wanted to.

Favorite Quotes:

• “I hate that about guys. At least girls have the decency to be fake and pretend everything’s okay when shit gets weird. Whenever guys get upset, they get all angry and scary” 
• “Parents don’t get that, though. They don’t understand about the fragility of teen friendships. They don’t understand how easy it is for things to break apart, how someone you thought would be by your side forever can just disappear, or turn on you, or decide she likes someone more than she likes you. Parents always talk about romantic relationships being so ephemeral and fleeting in high school. What they don’t get is that friendships can be the same way.” 
• “But now I’m thinking that wanting to end up with a great storyteller might have been a bad idea. Because girls who can tell great stories are also great liars.” 
• “Because sometimes when someone is telling you something really important, it’s best to just let there be silence, to really think about what they’re saying. A lot of times people think they have to say something all insightful or wise or something to try and make the person feel better. But really, sometimes silence is best.” 
• “And that's when I realize the thing about the truth. It always comes out, no matter what you do.” 
• “Because the truth is, I wouldn’t care if she lied to me, except for the fact that I love her. And once you love someone, you can’t really put up with them lying to you. It just doesn’t work. It makes things into a big mess.” 

Book Review: Pushing the Limits

by Katie McGarry

Book Trailer 

Book Description

"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.

Book Review: 5/5

"Fuck me and the rest of the world, I was in love." 

I fell in love with two scarred teenagers who at a young age, has already a lot on their plates. 

Echo, her name is unique, which I really like. It makes her different from the rest of the heroines I have encountered in the YA-world. She's an artist, and gets good grades. She used to be Ms Popularity, dated the hottest boy in school but she disappeared for a month. She returned a different person - recluse and a loner. She is scarred - literally and figuratively. After losing her brother in the war, everything changed. Her family fell apart - she could no longer see her mom, her father was busy with his new wife who was her former babysitter and she was just lost. Especially when she couldn't remember something important. She had a memory lapse, and she wanted to regain that memory no matter how painful it is. 

Noah lost both his parents at a young age, and was passed from one foster home to the other. He lost hope in the system, and only wants one thing: his brothers. He'd do anything for the both of them. I love that about him, the importance he gave to his family, but sometimes too much love can blind a person. It's a good thing that he saw the light before he made a bad decision he'd regret for life. 

Mrs Collins she had my heart. My sister is a social worker and I am amaze how these people can change and touch lives. Both of her 'wards' are strong-willed and really hard-headed. But she still stayed with the both of them and tried her best in dealing with their issues. She didn't give up and saw some results that paid off her hard work. Social work and helping these kids were more than just a work that pays off her bills for her - Mrs. Collins really cared. You can feel her sincerity at the same time her concern for both Noah and Echo. If people in the social welfare office are like her, then kids inside the foster homes and those who needs a lot of help because of trauma/abuse are in good hands. 

Pushing the limits has its share of protagonist and antagonist that will have you confused as you go along - but I like that every character has its own roles to play. Everyone is important and their own time to shine in one point in the novel. 

Katie McGarry had me hooked, I can't stop reading this book for the whole day. Yep, I finished Pushing the Limits in one sitting. I was so into it because it's more than just an ordinary love story - it revolves around sensitive topic that was delivered with tact. It was discussed carefully, yet extensively. Hot topics such as family dynamics, abuse, foster homes, drugs, sex, social welfare, and mental health. A lot to digest, right? But everything went flawlessly. No doors were left unopened and putting down the book didn't made me crave for more of the characters, instead I was looking forward for more Katie McGarry books. 

Favorite Quotes

• “I love you enough to never make you choose.” 
• “Luke used to give me butterflies. Noah spawned mutant pterodactyls.” 
• “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.” 
• “We’d read about sirens in English this fall; Greek mythology bullshit about women so beautiful, their voices so enchanting, that men did anything for them. Turned out that mythology crap was real because every time I saw her, I lost my mind.” 
• “I gazed into her beautiful green eyes and her fear melted. A shy smile tugged at her lips and at my heart. Fuck me and the rest of the world, I was in love.” 
• “I've already lost a piece of my mind. I can't trust you with what's left.” 
• “Because growing up means making tough choices, and doing the right thing doesn’t necessarily mean doing the thing that feels good.”