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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.

This book engaged me from the first few pages. The author draws you into the lives of Echo and Noah and slowly reveals the secrets of their pasts and their families. You increasingly see their scars both physical and emotional. Their ostracism is palpable. You feel their insecurities, their need for acceptance, and their fear of not being accepted at all. Their new guidance counselor pushes them both individually and together, but is their biggest supporter.

"Think Mrs. Collins put the two most depressed people together on purpose?"

Trust. Why not ask me to do something easier, like prove the existence of God? Even God had given up on me. "I've already lost a piece of my mind. I can't trust you with What's left."

...Noah Hutchins-girl-using-stoner boy and jacket-loaning savior...

At first, Noah appears to just be an apathetical stoner that does not care about anything. But as you learn about his love for his brothers and he develops a protective streak for Echo, you begin to see he is a good guy that was just dealt a bad hand in life.

Noah Huchins meant nothing but bad news. First he made fun of me. Then he saw my scars, Then he destroyed my hopes of fixing Aires' car. Then he made people think we were doing "it".

And Echo. She used to be the perfect talented, smart, and popular girl. But now her scars are physical, emotional, and run deep. She is struggling with loss, with her family dynamics, her lack of support, and mostly with trying to remember a blocked out tragedy that changed the course of her life in one night.

They seem all wrong on the surface, but in many ways they are just what each other needs. Noah becomes enthralled with Echo and unraveling her secrets.

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.

"Echo, I can't tell you what's going to happen because I don't know. I don't hold hands in the hallway or sit at anyone else's lunch table. But I swear...on my brothers that you'll never be a joke to me and you'll be much more than a girl in the backseat of my car."

And together they can understand and support each other's issues and begin to help each other discover what they need to heal. Of course there are problems and things are not easily resolved. But you cannot help but hope that they are able to find their way together and the answers that they both need.

"You ready for a new normal?"..."Yes, and I'm driving."

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am glad that Tammy recommended I read it. I am looking forward to the sequel Dare to You.

Pushing the Limits is one of my all-time favorite books.  It was one of my first forays into the Young Adult genre and hooked me from page one.  I am a huge fan of “damaged” boys, or stories that have angst in them. It however, has to be the right amount of angst and well written. I want to relate to my characters, I want to feel every single emotion and then some. If the story is written right, I will usually need a box of tissues along with telling my husband to shut up when he is shaking his head and laughing at my face full of tears. To sum it up, Katie did all of this for me. She made me fall in love with Echo and Noah. I rooted for them, and I was hurt and angry on their behalf. I felt their love and their chemistry. I know firsthand their life story.