Tag Archive | Pushing the Limits series

Freshly Published: May

Oh my goodness what a month for new YA books!

Ok, I’m going to do something a bit different this month. A new format! It’s going to go like this: First I’ll cover stand alone books, then series debut’s and last, continued series without summaries (don’t want to spoil anything!). Let me know how you find this format!

Stand Alone

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

(don’t you just wish that was a G?)

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Series Debut’s

Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

From the world of Beautiful Creatures–a dangerous new tale of love and magic.

Ridley Duchannes is nobody’s heroine. She’s a Dark Caster, a Siren. She can make you do things. Anything. You can’t trust her, or yourself when she’s around. And she’ll be the first to tell you to stay away-especially if you’re going to do something as stupid as fall in love with her.

Lucky for Ridley, her wannabe rocker boyfriend, Wesley “Link” Lincoln, never listens to anyone. Link doesn’t care if Rid’s no good for him, and he takes her along when he leaves small-town Gatlin to follow his rock-star dream. He teams up with a ragtag group of Dark Casters, and when the band scores a gig at a hot Underground club, it looks like all of Link’s dreams are about to come true.

But New York City is a dangerous place for both Casters and Mortals, and soon Ridley realizes that Link’s bandmates are keeping secrets. With bad-boy club owner Lennox Gates on her heels, Rid is determined to find out the truth. What she discovers is worse than she could have imagined: Link has a price on his head that no Caster or Mortal can ever pay. With their lives on the line, what’s a Siren to do?

Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthors of the Beautiful Creatures novels, are back to cast another magical spell. Their signature blend of mystery, suspense, and romance, with a healthy dose of wit and danger, will pull fans in and leave them begging for more.

After the End by Amy Plum

She’s searching for answers to her past. They’re hunting her to save their future.

World War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation. A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness. They’ve survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there.

At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life.

When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them. Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: There never was a war. Cities were never destroyed. The world is intact. Everything was a lie.

Now Juneau is adrift in a modern-day world she never knew existed. But while she’s trying to find a way to rescue her friends and family, someone else is looking for her. Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about the secrets of her past.

Continued Series

The One by Keira Cass

The Selection #3

(I’M SO EXCITED! MY SIGNED FIRST EDITION IS CURRENTLY BEING HELD CAPTIVE IN THE OFFICE POST ROOM! ARRRGGGGG!)

Seriously, just SWOON over that cover!

Take me On by Katie McGarry

Pushing the Limits #4

I am loving this series, and I was surprised to learn that McGarry continued it. More like thrilled really, her writing is awesome and I love how the series gives other characters their own story but in the same ‘framework’. This should be just as good as the others.

City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

Mortal Instruments #6

I haven’t read this series myself yet, but this is for my mate that keeps getting me to jump on board!

That’s it for this month! Are there any others you’re excited for? Let me know!

Book Review: Crash into You by Katie McGarry

Mar26

Please note this is the third book in the Pushing the Limits series, however, the characters are only slightly connected so there will be no spoilers!

Rachel is a good girl from the right side of the tracks. Growing up the youngest from a well to do family, she craves the speed her Mustang GT gives her. It’s where she can think, where she can dream, where the truth of her reality doesn’t have to exist.

Isaiah is living on the edge, literary. Barely getting by, his only hope is to pass a test that could open every door to a future he never thought could be his.

Then one night everything changes for both Rachel and Isaiah. It was supposed to be the final time for Isaiah. Rachel chose the wrong night to breach the underworld of drag racing. Now they owe the roughest guy in town, and he will do whatever it takes to get what is his.

She’s a blonde eyed angel and he’s a tattooed saviour also in need of rescue. When they start to fall in love, will it make matters worse? Or build them their stairway to heaven?

I’ve really enjoyed how different McGarry makes each of her books in this series. It keeps me coming back for more and I still get a thrill each time one of the past characters makes an appearance. It’s like a healthy ecosystem of narrative.

This book doesn’t disappoint and follows the same flow as the others. I loved Rachel’s backstory and it’s nice to be able to get into Isaiah’s head! I felt the language, the setting, the premise of the plot all worked really well. It starts off a bit slow, but boy, does it pick up! The growth within the characters is natural and genuine, causing me to tear through the final chapter to know what happens! It’s also important to note that the issue of pride is put on a more relatable level. I had to take a step back to be able to see it, and it’s something that McGarry does well. Her characters are so real, full of flaws but still capable of growth. Rachel doesn’t want to be rescued and she fights for her chance to help and fix the issues on her own. Isaiah is deep and fragile in his own way, something his persona won’t allow others to see.

Everything is a race against time in this third book and it was well worth the wait! My dear readers you know I am not a fan of romance, but for McGarry, I’m always thrilled to make the exception. Her romance has depth, heart and controversy that makes this series a romance standout!

Freshly Published: November

Nov12

There are a few really hot titles being freshly published this month! If you’re in need of books to give for the holidays, check out a few of these new titles! They’re all publishing just in time for Hanukah and Christmas!

All summaries are from Goodreads, click the book cover to go to TheBookDepository.com for purchase.

Crash Into You (Pushing the Limits #3) by Katie McGarry

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.

World After (Penryn and the End of Days #2) by Susan EE

In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what’s left of the modern world.

When a group of people capture Penryn’s sister Paige, thinking she’s a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels’ secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can’t rejoin the angels, can’t take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

Twinmaker by Sean Williams (Twinmaker #1)

High-stakes action combines with issues of friendship and body image in this timely and thought-provoking exploration of the intersection of technology and identity.

You can be Improved….

In a near-future world in which technology can transport you anywhere instantly, can a coded note enable you to change your body—to become taller, stronger, more beautiful? Clair is pretty sure the offer is too good to be true. But her best friend, Libby, is determined to give it a try, longing for a new, improved version of herself.

What starts as Libby’s dream turns into Clair’s nightmare when Libby falls foul of a deadly trap. With the help of Jesse, the school freak, and a mysterious—but powerful—stranger called Q, Clair’s attempt to protect Libby leads her to an unimagined world of conspiracies and cover-ups. Soon her own life is at risk, and Clair is chased across the world in a desperate race against time.

Action and danger fuel Sean Williams’ tale of technology, identity, and the lengths to which one girl will go to save her best friend.

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.

What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides— especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own.

Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.

This Wicked Game by Michelle Zink

Claire Kincaid’s family has been in business for over fifty years.

The voodoo business.

Part of the International Guild of High Priests and Priestesses, a secret society that have practiced voodoo for generations, the Kincaid’s run an underground supply house for authentic voodoo supplies. Claire plays along, filling orders for powders, oils and other bizarre ingredients in the family store, but she has a secret.

She doesn’t believe.

Struggling to reconcile her modern sensibilities with a completely unscientific craft based on suspicion, Claire can’t wait to escape New Orleans – and voodoo – when she goes to college, a desire that creates almost constant conflict in her secret affair with Xander Toussaint, son of the Guild’s powerful founding family.

But when a mysterious customer places an order for a deadly ingredient, Claire begins to realize that there’s more to voodoo – and the families that make up the Guild – than meets the eye.

Including her own.

As she bands together with the other firstborns of the Guild, she comes face to face with a deadly enemy – and the disbelief that may very well kill her.

That’s it for now! Happy reading everyone!

Book Review: Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Oct3

**Although this is a sequel, this second in the Pushing the Limits series doesn’t continue with the same characters, but gives minor characters their own show. Find my review for the first book, Pushing the Limits.

Beth Risk is just as her surname describes. The only one capable of looking after her junkie mother with the abusive boyfriend, Beth risks it all to keep her out of jail. Now she is swept from her home, from Isaiah and Noah to a town filled with Stepford wives. A ward of her uncle, a now famed retired baseball star, Beth is forced to forget herself for her uncle in order to keep her mother’s secrets.

Ryan Stone is the heart throb of the baseball team. A start pitcher, he’s as cocky on the field as he is off, and winning dares is his speciality. Everything is lined up in Ryan’s life – pro ball – a life of athletic fandom, and his parents have worked endlessly to present him with blue collar opportunities. But there’s more to Ryan than just ball. He writes, and writes well, so well that college could be a choice in his future if he dares to take it.

A golden boy and a girl from the wrong side of the street. The two have nothing in common except wanting to be themselves. As they are forced to get to know each other will either dare to deny the chemistry that blooms between them?

I am a huge fan of the first book, and perhaps because I loved the first so much I was left feeling a bit disappointed with the second. Why? Well, in Pushing the Limits I feel that McGarry kind of went and took every extreme for her characters. It’s fantastic but where does that leave this book? Clichéd rich parent expectations and actions.

Beth and Ryan are standout characters. I have no fault with them, McGarry is very talented with writing both male and female teenage voices. My issue is with everyone else around Beth and Ryan that I found lacking.

However, perhaps this needed to be the case to allow for Beth and Ryan to truly shine. Both characters did things I didn’t expect (more or less). I kept reading because Beth has a lot of secrets and I love major jock Ryan being a closeted writing nerd. The chemistry between the two is also really hot, so another major win for this romance publisher. They are talented in finding writers that can tone down adult romance on a teenage level.

I can’t wait to read the third book and Harlequin Teen is proving to me one of the best YA romance publishers out there!

Book Review: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGerry

Sep14

Echo Emerson used to be one of the popular girls. Talented in art, with long gorgeous red hair, the tall girl with the interesting name had the quarterback boyfriend and everything it seemed.

Then there was the night her mother tried to kill her. Echo has no memories of the evening, but the scars that grace her arms will never let her forget. Now an outcast, with an even more over bearing father, due to have a new baby with Echo’s former babysitter – yeah- it’s not as if her life could get any worse.

Noah Hutchins is a product of the foster care system. Dark and foreboding, he’s shed his basketball star rep for drugs and looking every evening for a new one night stand. His only pressure for getting on the straight and narrow are his younger brothers, taken from him after his parent’s tragic death.

Brought together but their pesky guidance counsellor, Echo and Noah try to repel each other until they discover how much they’ve lost. Both have secrets, both are so alone. But together they could find the answers that will help them move on from their haunting past.

This is fantastic romance YA! A round of applause for McGarry and Harlequin! I loved how this book was the perfect blend of teenage angst and toned down traditional adult romance novel. Only disclaimer – lots of foul language, so not for tweens.

This is a romance with heart. This is falling in love that isn’t clichéd, cheesy or unrealistic. There is vulnerability with both of the characters and their back-stories are engagingly brilliant! Ridiculous and fantastic – Pushing the Limits is a true romance book that is so much more than just the love of two lead characters. The love of family is stronger and I can’t recommend this book enough for romance junkies!

The rest of the series follows Noah’s best friends lives in separate books. I love the idea and can’t wait for the last book to be published in the fall!