The Kooky Bookworm: Katie McGarry

Crash into You by Katie McGarry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Date Published: November 26th 2013
Genre: Young Adult Romance

I am at an utter loss for words. I'm completely mind-blown. I thought the other books in the Pushing the Limits series were great; I had no freaking clue.

We all know Isaiah; tattooed badass, unrequited lover of Beth, and druggie extraordinaire. Do we actually know him, though? I thought I knew him from the other books but I really didn't. He is a tattooed badass. He did do drugs, but not as much as we were led to believe. He loves control yet he lets loose with his love of cars and speeding. He is so sweet and caring when it comes to Rachel I want to cry at his tenderness. He is without a doubt my favorite guy from the series so far.

Rachel has a lot of crap going on in her life. She's only alive because her mother wanted a replacement for her other daughter who died of leukemia. And Rachel pretends to be her sister to keep her family happy. She pretends to like dresses, the mall, spa days, even the color purple. She pretends she doesn't have panic attacks. But she hates all of that. She hates dresses and speeches and the mall and the color purple. She loves cars. More than anyone except maybe Isaiah.

The are the most perfect couple. They both love cars like nobody's business. They both wear images to keep others at bay. For Rachel, she wants to keep her family happy, especially her mom. For Isaiah, he just wants to keep trouble away. So he acts like trouble, even though he's really not that bad of a guy.

My thoughts on this book? I loved it. Freaking loved it. It's my favorite book so far in this series. Everything was so amazing. And oddly enough, I liked Abby. She was cool in a weird way. Rachel's brothers were a little overprotective, but they were good too. And I actually didn't mind not having Noah and Echo in the book that much. I liked the story being about Isaiah and Rachel.

I suppose the only problems I had were that they didn't go all the way. I liked Rachel and Isaiah a lot so I would've loved for them to go all the way. It's not the end of the world, but it would've been nice. I also didn't like how my emotions were dragged all over the place. That was cruel. Though I suppose that means the author is doing a really good job at writing.

I really can't wait for West's story that's coming next. And I hope Ethan has a story too. I didn't get to learn enough about Jack and Gavin to really care if they have stories, but Ethan and West are musts. You can count on me reading those!

Overall, a great book, it was a fabulous read that I have no doubt that I'll be re-reading as soon as I'm done writing my review. I will definitely recommend this. So why don't you guys have at it?

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Synopsis:

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.

Kacii

Dare You To by Katie McGarry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Date Published: May 28th 2013
Genre: Young Adult Romance

Beth has one effed up life. Maybe not as effed up as Echo's and Noah's, but still effed up. She has a mother who is, for lack of a better word, insane in the mothering department. And not insane in a good way. Not to mention her bastard of a boyfriend who hits them both. So when she gets sent to her Uncle Scott's house I can tell it's a good thing for her.

And Ryan. Perfect boy has some issues of his own. His brother is gay and his family can' deal with it because their homophobes. I would give his family the middle finger and walk out, just like his brother did.

I can't say I feel sorry for Ryan about how he acts towards his brother and how he lets his parents control his world. He needs to grow a pair. I do feel a twinge of sympathy for him when his parents reject his writing abilities. But he has to stand up for himself, and in the end, he does.

When I first started reading this I resented the author for not putting Beth and Isaiah together as a couple. But I am appeased now by knowing that Isaiah will have his own love story next. I definitely liked Noah and Echo's story better, because they had actual problems, not just inner demons in their minds, though they did have some of that too.

Ryan kind of feels like a whiny baby to me. That being said, not everyone knows how to stand up to the people who should matter most in the world. Whether it makes Ryan weak for at first not standing up to his parents or just scared and confused, I don't really know. I'm biased, so it's really fair to judge him like that.

Beth... I liked her and I didn't. I didn't like her because she clung to her mother who would throw her away in a heartbeat if it meant her father would come back to her. At the same time, she's her mother, and how can you give up on the one person that is supposed to be everything? It would be extremely hard to let your mother go, but in the end she did and I like her for realizing that.

Overall, not as good as Pushing the Limits, but not totally bad either. I have an inkling that the next one will blow the first two to pieces. Isaiah was always one of my favorite characters, and I love a story with a girl who loves cars. So I am looking forward to reading Crashing into You.

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Synopsis:

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....