ARC Review: Crash Into You

by Katie McGarry
3.5/5 stars
HarlequinTeen, 2013
489 pages
YA Contemporary Romance
Scheduled to release November 26

Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

While I tend to shrink away from the extreme melodrama of books like Pushing the Limits and Dare You To, I still sometimes find myself drawn to them, craving the beautiful romance that sometimes emerges as well as the addictive writing. After reading the blurb for this book included in Dare You To, I had extremely high expectations for this story of Isaiah. We've seen him in the previous two books and it seemed high time that he got to tell his side of the story.

All started strong. Isaiah is a tough foster kid who has spent years cultivating his image so that no one can mess with him: maybe he wasn't the biggest kid to start but now people know not to mess with him; he doesn't have parents but he has his best friend Noah and Echo around him to provide some family; and he has cars and all his knowledge that can provide him a job and a way out of his life.

Rachel appears to be anything but strong. Born as a replacement for a daughter who died of leukemia and battling an anxiety disorder, Rachel's father and four older brothers "protect" her but they can't stop her from sneaking out to drag race, a need for speed that sends her colliding into Isaiah and putting the pair in debt to Eric, a street thug who is bad news.

Like McGarry's two previous novels, this looks at two seemingly disparate young people with practically uncountable problems who are thrust together, fighting an attraction with various degrees of success. We are already very familiar with Isaiah as he is friends with characters from the first two books. As the MC of this book though, more is shared about him. His love for cars is in the forefront and his family history is laid bare as are his convictions that he isn't good enough for a girl like Rachel.

Rachel is a new character to the series and we've not really seen someone like her. She is very rich and privileged but like the saying goes, "Money can't buy happiness." She is the youngest child and is incredibly overprotected due to the fact that her older sister Colleen died of leukemia. The view in the family is that she is there to keep the mother happy, to the extent that Rachel pretends to like purple and shopping like Colleen, downplays her fascination with cars, and hides her anxiety attacks even as they leave her completely sapped of energy, all so that she won't be a burden to her family. I clicked with Rachel's naivety to be honest; when she ventures in to the world of drag racing, she can't quite believe everything that's happening and I couldn't really either.

The real standout, for me and others as I've seen in reviews, was Abby, a drug dealing friend of Isaiah's who easily welcomes Rachel and is welcomed in return. There are several oblique hints at how she got in to the business but it's kept vague, indicating to me that she will be getting her own book at some point. As book 4 is about Rachel's brother West and a new character Haley, I am hoping book 5 will be Abby's and I'm sure there are others who've read this book that feel the same!

More of an enigma was Eric. First I know an Eric who is nothing like this villain so it was hard for me to keep seeing his name. Second this Eric is nineteen but seems to be in charge of a large swath of territory with his hands in many pots. As I confessed, I certainly overlap Rachel in naivety so I don't know if that young age is really plausible for his position but I suspect it's a bit unlikely. I felt a lot of menace from him though he wasn't nearly as frightening as Rachel's dad when he discovers what she's been hiding being that the father is a very rich and therefore powerful man who likely has many connections to law enforcement that he can call upon.

My biggest problem with this book (as I think it was for the previous two) is just the lack of communication between people. Rachel could have shared with her family on multiple occasions about her anxiety and her feelings as a stand-in for Colleen. It would have been hard, so hard but also so worth it to perhaps face her anxiety attacks and give her some piece. Similarly I wish they had felt comfortable turning to more of the people around them to fulfill their debt to Eric as they do have people in their corner. I feel like that's one of the conditions for melodrama though-people can't share what's going on or problems are headed off before they even occur. I also think I'm a pretty blunt and honest person so this whole "not sharing things that really bother you" thing is kind of foreign to me.

Overall: I don't think I will ever be completely won over by this category of melodrama but I remain committed to the series and look forward to more of the cheeky Abby.

Other Opinions:
A Belle's Tales
Alison Can Read
Belle's Bookshelf
I'm a reader; what about you?
Jen Ryland/YA Romantics-review day twins!
Love is not a triangle
The Reader Bee

ARC Review: Dare You To

Dare You To by Katie McGarry
4/5 stars
HarlequinTeen, 2013
479 pages
YA Contemporary Issues
Scheduled to release May 28

Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

In my review of the companion novel Pushing the Limits, I mentioned how much I enjoyed the snippet of Dare You To included with the e-ARC I reviewed-it was one of my favorite parts of the reading experience. Something about Beth's toughness clashing with Ryan's cockiness drew me in and primed me to fall for this novel.

And in fact I did. I would have to say that I preferred this to Pushing the Limits despite its many similarities especially its incredible melodramatic chockful-of-issues plot. I thought Echo and Noah had problems; Beth and Ryan have just as many and all different. But this time I found that Beth and Ryan fit somewhat into my beloved tough girl/sweet guy archetype (although Ryan ain't that sweet ;) and thus their romance worked better for me.

Another bonus for me was that Ryan plays baseball, which brought me back to my real life playing recreational softball, and just gave me happy feelings especially as he wrestled with the opportunity to potentially go to the majors or follow his passion of writing to college and gain more skills there. I loved how important his future was to him even if he didn't always handle the situation to the best of his ability.

Meanwhile Beth exhibits tremendous loyalty even to those who do not seem to deserve it like her junkie mother in some truly heartbreaking scenes-I just wanted to protect her and raise her up in a better environment surrounded by people who would not betray her love and trust.

Like I said, this plot is very melodramatic but if you've already read the first book, you knew that and should be prepared. As last time, the teaser at the end for the next book in the series was one of my favorite parts. I can't wait to spend more time with Isaiah, his new girl, and the world of automobiles.

Other Opinions:
Jen Ryland/YA Romantics
Novels on the Run
Realm of Fiction
The Midnight Garden

Cover: This isn't ordinarily the kind of cover I like but it is really working for me in this context. Dang, Ryan looks hot!

Pushing the Limits

Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
4/5 stars
HarlequinTeen, 2012
409 pages
YA Contemporary

Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to pick this book up! Three main reasons for that: 1. Lots of buzz from other bloggers including those who don't normally read much contemporary; 2. the fact that I do read a good amount of contemporary and have a special soft spot for it; and 3. I have read and loved a lot of HarlequinTeen books lately and I think they are just hitting it out of the ballpark with their lists of books. But I was also nervous because it seems like heavily hyped books tend to let me down...what would be the case for Pushing the Limits?

As it turns out, I am not one of the people who will gush over this book: not because it was bad or because I didn't like it. It has a lot of good points and I am comfortable giving it four stars. But it is very much not my kind of story. There is drama on top of drama on top of more drama with little humor to lighten the plot and lift my spirits.

I mean, so much drama! One of our narrators (did I mention this was dually narrated between the lead characters? That was a definite plus for me-I love multiple narrators!) is Echo, former popular girl who lost her status following the news of the death of her brother in Afghanistan and then a night she can't remember but that resulted in serious scars on her arms and a restraining order against her mother. The other narrator is bad boy Noah, orphan, druggie, and foster kid who is trying to fight the system to gain custody of his two younger brothers.

Now that is a lot to take in, right? But it's only a snippet of the drama these two go through. Every time I thought they might catch a break, something else had to break. It added layers and ratcheted up the intensity of their circumstances but it ended up feeling too much for me. I know some people love these melodramatic romantic contemporaries but I'm not one of those people. If you are that kind of person, then I definitely recommend this for you!

Another thing is that while I liked the two narrators, I didn't love them. My love is reserved for supporting characters Mrs. Collins, the slightly off-beat school psychiatrist who just might be an adult they can trust; Isaiah and Beth, Noah's two friends who have been as battered by the foster care system as him; and Lila, a true friend to Echo. In fact, one of my favorite parts of this reading experience ended up being the sneak peek at a companion novel following Beth due in 2013; I can't wait for that!

Overall: A strong contemporary if heavy on the drama and light on the comedy.

Cover: Love Echo's hair-very true to the story. Personally I don't think the cover is very dynamic but it suggests a contemporary love story.