Take Me On (Pushing The Limits #4) by Katie McGarry

Book Title: Take Me On (Pushing The Limits #4)

Author: Katie McGarry

Publish Date: May 27th, 2014

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Genre: YA Contemporary

Series: Book 4 in Pushing The Limits series

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Acclaimed author Katie McGarry returns with the knockout new story of two high school seniors who are about to learn what winning really means.

Champion kickboxer Haley swore she'd never set foot in the ring again after one tragic night. But then the guy she can't stop thinking about accepts a mixed martial arts fight in her honor. Suddenly, Haley has to train West Young. All attitude, West is everything Haley promised herself she'd stay away from. Yet he won't last five seconds in the ring without her help.

West is keeping a big secret from Haley. About who he really is. But helping her-fighting for her-is a shot at redemption. Especially since it's his fault his family is falling apart. He can't change the past, but maybe he can change Haley's future.

Hayley and West have agreed to keep their relationship strictly in the ring. But as an unexpected bond forms between them and attraction mocks their best intentions, they'll face their darkest fears and discover love is worth fighting for.

Disclaimer: This is a library book.

Review:

Holy moly, I adored this book. I didn't have a great impression of West in Crash Into You, but that all changed in Take Me On. Not only did my opinion of him vastly improve, the female main character was a total badass. She wasn't a doormat like I felt Rachel was in Crash Into You. As a matter of fact, she was the complete opposite of Rachel.

Haley is doing everything she can to keep her family safe. Even while they are all crowded into her uncle's house. Even when her uncle demeans her. Haley's home life basically broke my heart into a thousand tiny pieces. I wanted to hug her pretty quickly into the book. She had dreams for herself, though those dreams had taken a serious hit. Especially once her entire family had to move in with her uncle.

And then there's Matt. Her ex boyfriend. The one who hit her. It takes Haley a long time to admit to anyone that Matt had hit her. He also wants her back and he'll do anything to make that happen. Because in Matt's eyes, Haley is his. Only his.

West has other ideas though. After learning of Haley's kickboxing past, he knows she can take care of herself. He knows she doesn't need him to take care of her. Yet there's something about her that attracts him. It's not just the fact that she's gorgeous. The fact that she doesn't know who he is, is appealing to him. The fact that she doesn't know his family history, which includes a loaded family, a dead sister and an almost dead sister.

They each give each other a sense of belonging. That's important and it's something not to be ignored.

West is also seeing things differently. Long held family secrets are coming to the forefront and he's suddenly feeling like Haley is his soft spot to land on when things get difficult. He feels more like himself around her and less like an outsider like he feels when he's around his family. West is startled to realize that Haley accepts him completely, and she doesn't want him to change.

The aftermath of Rachel's accident stays with West for the majority of the book and it's not until halfway through the book, that he starts to realize that he needs to stop punishing himself. Not only that, but he also needs to ease up on Isaiah. He blames Isaiah for Rachel's accident as well, but in a different capacity. It's not until a late night chat with Rachel forces him to understand that Rachel loves Isaiah and that Isaiah loves Rachel.

After I was so disappointed with Crash Into You, I was so nervous about this one. I was afraid that I wouldn't enjoy this one either. Boy was I wrong. I absolutely loved this one and it's currently battling it out with Pushing The Limits for my favorite Katie McGarry book. 5 stars to this book  that held a strong female character and allowed us to see a softer side to West Young.

Review: Crash Into You (Pushing The Limits #3) by Katie McGarry

Book Title: Crash Into You (Pushing The Limits #3)

Author: Katie McGarry

Release Date: November 26th, 2013

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Genre: YA/Contemporary

Series: Pushing The Limits Book 3

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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.

Disclaimer: I received this e-ARC from Edelweiss and Harlequin Teen in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

I swear I didn't plan to have Katie McGarry's books reviewed all in a row on my blog. It just happened like that. Over the past few days I have reviewed both Pushing The Limits and Dare You To. I had heard that Crash Into You was amazing so after I binge read the first two books in the series, I went to my e-ARC of Crash Into You. I was excited to read Isaiah's story as he had been a major player in the first two books.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this one as much as I was hoping to.I found Isaiah to be controlling and while some might call it protective, I saw a young man who hadn't been able to control much in his life and lo and behold comes Rachel. She is young,naive and in my opinion, a doormat.

Rachel's family dynamics were interesting. After a family tragedy happened before Rachel was born she must now step in and be the daughter and sister that her parents and brothers lost.Her willingness to do this infuriated me. She just agreed to whatever her parents wanted. If it had to do with the daughter they lost, Rachel bent over backwards. She should have just been herself and made them deal with it. Instead, her parents (well mostly her mom) leaves a shrine to the lost daughter and sister and Rachel allows her parents to decorate her room in a color she hates,she accompanies her mom to the malls and she reads her mom's fashion magazines.

Personally, I would not have stood for it. I would have shut it down a long time ago. I was really kind of pissed that it took a guy for Rachel to stand up to her parents.Her self-esteem had been shot down while she dealt with the panic attacks but it's only Isaiah who is able to raise her self-esteem. I'm sorry but seriously? Where is the confident, self assured woman that Rachel should have blossomed into?

Isaiah bugged me too. However I did like the story with his mom. I had wondered what had happened to land his butt in foster care and it was really interesting to see him come face to face with his mom. Yet I finished that part of the book a little unsatisfied.It felt like this story could have continued just a little more.

All the car stuff really bored me. Big time. I am not a car person, so I got bored preeeety quickly.The one thing that came out of the car thing was Abby. I loooooved Abby. She seemed like a softer version of Beth (who I also love) I loved the friendship that developed between Abby and Rachel.

I loved seeing Ryan, Beth, Echo and Noah again too. It was good to see that they played their parts in this book. The scenes near the end with Beth and Isaiah were perfectly written and I may have let a few tears fall. I loved how Ryan's friend Logan played a big part in this book. Watching the friendship grow between Isaiah and Logan was totally awesome.

Let's get to the romance part of the story. I didn't feel the same chemistry with Isaiah and Rachel that I felt with Noah & Echo, Beth & Ryan. I didn't root for the couple at all. And no it's not because I was secretly dreaming that Isaiah and Beth would come to their senses because it wasn't. Beth clearly chose right with Ryan.

I think a lot of it had to do with the insta-love as well as the cheesy nicknames that Isaiah called her. Angel,really? It was almost as cheesy as Noah's Siren talk in Pushing The Limits.The only reason that Noah's nicknames for Echo didn't bug me was because the back-stories for Noah and Echo were super strong.

The ending was pretty good and it raised the rating a half star. It was scary and no one knew what was going to happen. I love how all of the couple's friends came together to help. It showed that friendship is a very strong theme in this book which I love.Friendships are very often underrated and not given the attention that they deserve. Katie McGarry changes that in her books, which is awesome.

It kills me to give this one 3.5 stars but I have to. It wasn't as strong as the previous two were and Rachel & Isaiah drove me bananas.Plus I didn't feel the chemistry between them. However i am excited to read the next book in the series which is West's story.