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Review

OK, I’ve gotta say, I’m developing a pretty severe girl-crush on Katie McGarry!

To be honest, I was a little worried about this book. While Pushing the Limits completely blew me away and instantly shot itself into my absolute favourite reads last year, Beth wasn’t my favourite character. But despite that, I did see a glimmer of a future story there for her. So imagine my surprise when Katie McGarry not only wrote a book featuring Beth, but that in that book, she didn’t end up with gorgeous bad boy with a heart of gold, Isaiah. Instead she gets Ryan. Ryan? Who is Ryan?

Well, let me tell you, Ryan is absolutely freaking gorgeous! He is a genuinely ‘good’ guy – sweet, respectful, honourable, and caring. He has a bit of a dark side where he and his friends give each other dares to complete. Some are downright hilarious, others are more on the ‘iffy’ side. And when Ryan is dared to get the name and number of the gothic-looking “skater girl” in Taco Bell, she unexpectedly mouths off at him, and he crashes and burns. Unaccustomed to losing (and intrigued by the girl) he is not a happy boy.

His obsession with winning also features in the one, great focus of his life – baseball. He lives and breathes it. And with his golden good looks, school popularity, and his reputation as a brilliant pitcher and leader of his team, his life is seemingly perfect. But behind closed doors it’s a different story. His father is hugely controlling and runs Ryan’s life, his mother is a stepford wife, and his beloved brother is suddenly completely out of the picture.

Meanwhile, Beth’s life is completely falling apart. Finding herself at rock bottom, she is taken by her long-absent (but deeply fabulous) Uncle Scott to live with him in the town where she lived as a child – unwillingly leaving behind her deadbeat, drugged-out mother with her violent asshole boyfriend, and her friends – including the always amazing Noah, and her best friend and rock, Isaiah.

The relationship between Beth and Isaiah was a great little bonus in Pushing The Limits, and even though the romance may not be happening for them, their bond and their importance in each other’s lives is clearly there.

“With one touch, Isaiah could ground me. Keep me from floating away with his arms as my anchor. His steady beating heart the reminder he would never let go.”

With no access to alcohol or weed, and without her friends around her, we get to see a different Beth. Sure, she’s angry, and lashes out at every opportunity, but we also see somebody who is extremely vulnerable and trying her hardest to keep her head above water.

When Beth comes to town, Ryan is thrilled that he will get the chance to redeem himself with his skater girl and finally win his bet, but he doesn’t expect her to completely turns his world upside down. Yeah, it may start as a dare, but Ryan soon realizes that he’s starting to fall for the feisty, unpredictable outsider. And despite her best efforts to keep herself closed off, Beth is desperate for the connection that she feels with Ryan, but she has been treated badly, and doesn’t trust anybody. So when he makes his gentlemanly, but still very swoony, move, she initially pushes him away. And even as he pursues her, she doesn’t trust his motives, and it’s heartbreaking.

“Guys like you don’t date girls like me. What angle are you playing?

“What does he gain by being with a girl that everyone else has thrown away?”

It’s definitely not an insta-love situation. It takes a while for Beth and Ryan to really start to open up to each other, and the progression of their relationship is slow, but it’s oh-so beautiful…

“I like you. I. Like. You. I’ll admit you’re annoying. Sometimes you agitate me to the brink of insanity, but you can throw it back at me like no one else. When you laugh, I want to laugh. When you smile, I want to smile. Hell, I want to be the one to make you smile.”

…and Ryan is full of teenage swoon as he gently coaxes Beth out of her shell.

What does she want? I know what I want: for her to trust me, for her to feel what I feel. But what I really want right now is for her to be okay. I extend my arm across the bed in Beth’s direction, careful not to touch her. “I’m here if you need me.”

But with Ryan dealing with family problems, and trying to figure out exactly where his life is heading, and Beth still trying to deal with her horrific past and her inability to trust, these two have a lot to deal with in order to be together.

“Beth asked for time. How long does she need? A day? A week? Hours? Any amount is too long when the girl I’m falling for had tears in her eyes.”

And even though Beth runs from Ryan, I didn’t find myself getting annoyed with her. McGarry does a great job of getting us right inside of Beth’s head, and I understood why she acted like she did after all that she had been through.

“My heart has been ripped multiple times and each time I repaired it on my own. I know my limits and if someone rips me apart again, I’ll never find the strength to pick up the pieces.”

I loved this book. For me, it may not have packed the epic punch that Pushing The Limits did (but to be honest, that’s an extraordinary book so it’s unfair to compare), but it had a very similar feel to it, and I was sucked into the story straight away, and struggled to put it down. With each chapter in an alternate POV, we get to see all of Beth and Isaiah’s struggles, and it’s heartbreaking, funny, and sweetly romantic – with some truly shocking moments and a few fist pumps here and there from this excited little reader. Katie McGarry puts so much emotion into her stories, and her characters may be differing degrees of broken, but they are also incredibly strong, and real, and I love that!

4 stars.

Oh, and in case you are wondering – yes, we get to see Noah and Echo (it’s brief, but they are there), and Isaiah features a fair bit as well, as his relationship with Beth is a main thread of the book. And let me just say – I need his book!! I need to see Isaiah get his HEA!