{"id":76810,"date":"2024-10-26T08:32:48","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T12:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=76810"},"modified":"2024-10-26T08:32:48","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T12:32:48","slug":"review-risking-it-all-pushing-the-limits-next-generation-1-by-katie-mcgarry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=76810","title":{"rendered":"Review: Risking it All (Pushing the Limits Next Generation, #1)\u00a0by Katie McGarry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Review<\/strong><\/h4>\n

5 stars!<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh, what a delight to come back into this world! Pushing the Limits<\/a> remains one of my all-time favourite reads, even 12 years after its publication. It\u2019s an incredible YA read, and I was thrilled when Katie McGarry announced that she was writing a \u2018next gen\u2019 story featuring Noah and Echo\u2019s daughter – though it could also be read as a standalone. This book was everything I was hoping for \u2013 a dramatic and emotional story with well-developed, lovable characters on a life-changing journey, and a beautifully sweet love story. I devoured this book, and I loved it so much.<\/p>\n

Macie Hutchins\u2019 life was rocked when she was the victim of a brutal and devastating carjacking. She almost died, and has been left scarred, suffering from anxiety and PTSD, and a shadow of who she used to be. She\u2019s trying hard to move forward, and she\u2019s attending group therapy sessions at her school during the summer break, and that\u2019s where she crosses paths with Relic.<\/p>\n

Relic is looked on as a bit of a bad boy at school, but in reality he\u2019s an absolute sweetheart. His family is connected with a dangerous neighbourhood gang, but he has worked hard to distance himself, and wants nothing more than to care and provide for his two sisters. He\u2019s crushed on Macie since freshman year, and when the newly reclusive girl surprisingly reaches out to him, he responds, and makes it his mission to finally get to know her.<\/p>\n

Macie and Relic\u2019s lives could not be more different, but they find something in each other. Macie gives Relic peace, and a rest from the brutal reality of his life, and he gives her strength and confidence, helping her keep up the fa\u00e7ade of \u2018coping\u2019 for her parents. They become friends, they begin to open up to each other, and they fall into the most beautiful young love. They\u2019re open and honest with each other, they don\u2019t hold back what they\u2019re thinking or feeling, it\u2019s natural and easy, and oh-so gorgeous, balancing the line of fun, flirty and teasing with soul-deep connection.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t understand these consuming emotions inside me. This peace that settled into my soul whenever she was near, as if she were the centre of the very universe in which we lived. All I knew was that with her, I <\/i>felt. I didn\u2019t mind allowing myself to fall. No, falling wasn\u2019t right. Falling involved hitting the ground and pain. With Macie, I floated.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Relic helps Macie work through her trauma, uncovering secrets from that night, and slowly bringing her back to life. But in the meantime, his life is spiralling out of his control, and he\u2019s running out of options to protect his family. His future will collide with Macie\u2019s family\u2019s past, and he has to make some devastating choices\u2026 but for the first time he has people to support him, and my feelings were all over the place as faces down his impossible situation and fights so hard for the people that he loves.<\/p>\n

Helping along the way is the wonderful band of misfits from group therapy. The five troubled teens form an unexpected connection, and I loved getting to meet them, explore their stories, and see them be there and support each other as they each wrestle with their demons and try to find a way forward. Even as supporting characters, they are well-developed, and bring so much to the story, and I loved their inclusion.<\/p>\n

Pushing the Limits<\/i> fans will be thrilled at the familiar feel of this story, which brought the same heartwrenching emotion and beautifully sweet, soul-deep romance as PTL. And, of course, there\u2019s the characters. Noah and Echo feature prominently, as do Isiah and Rachel, and I loved seeing them all grown up as parents of teenagers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s Noah, by the way. He\u2019s Macie\u2019s dad and the man who has no problem kicking your ass if you hurt his daughter. I\u2019m Isaiah, the guy who has no problem burying bodies.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Echo and Noah are still amazing together, and their love for each other still shines. Echo is a wonderfully supportive mother, and Noah\u2019s struggles as a Dad wanting to protect and be there for his girl really brought the emotion.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoving her, protecting my family is the only job that means anything to me, and I failed her that night.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s a heartwrenching journey that had me in tears, but it\u2019s worth it for the beautifully happy ending. I loved how this story unfolded, and I watching so many people come together to support Macie, Relic and their friends as they fought for their HEA.<\/p>\n

This is a gorgeous read, and a fave for 2025.<\/p>\n

5 stars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find all the details for the Pushing the Limits series here<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0 Amazon Review 5 stars! Oh, what a delight to come back into this world! Pushing the Limits remains one of my all-time favourite reads, even 12 years after its publication. It\u2019s an incredible YA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,50,49,25,9,12],"tags":[230,1590,48],"class_list":["post-76810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-favourite","category-feeeeeeels","category-friends-to-lovers","category-romance","category-young-adult","tag-katie-mcgarry","tag-pushing-the-limits-next-gen","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Risking-It-All.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-jYS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/76590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}