Welcome to The Bookish Babe's stop on the Crash Into You Blog Tour!
This tour is being hosted by YA Bound Book Tours. My stop includes a review and giveaway. Follow all the tour stops at the home page.
Series: Pushing the Limits #3
Category/Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: 11/26/13
Format: eARC
Pages: 474
Source: Received from publisher for review
Rating: 3.5 stars
Format: eARC
Pages: 474
Source: Received from publisher for review
Rating: 3.5 stars
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.
Like so many readers, I loved Pushing the Limits and Dare You To. Noah, Beth, and Isaiah are three of the most heart-wrenching characters I've read, and I want them to have happy, safe endings. We got there with Noah Hutchins (always my favorite), and Beth. But after the way he was left at the end of Dare You To, I really needed this for Isaiah; for him to be better than surviving. Happy.
To that point, before I go further in my review, with what I may have liked, loved, or felt "meh" about, I have to say one thing. Katie McGarry can write. She owns her words and uses each one to create stories that make readers fall in love with her characters. From my own experience, I can say that I have hurt -badly- for Noah, Beth and Isaiah. I become fully invested in their lives, and want their happy ending. So for that, I cannot say enough good things about McGarry's writing.
Overall, I liked Crash Into You - quite a lot - but that's not to say I didn't have a couple issues. In the first two books in the series, Isaiah was portrayed as a darker character. He smokes pot and drinks, is a very tough guy who's pretty much closed off to everyone but Isaiah and Beth. In Crash Into You, I didn't really see that darkness. It seems that Isaiah isn't quite who he's portrayed himself to be, it's a cover for protection. I guess I can see that, but still, I felt a bit thrown. It's not that I don't think it's possible for Isaiah to have put up that façade for Noah, but since they are brothers by bond, I don't see why. Other than that, I liked the characterization of Isaiah, and was very invested in his story, particularly his bonds with Noah and Beth. But I also enjoyed seeing this tough and closed-off boy fall in love.
Rachel, she was a bit of a challenge for me. I did like that she was a car freak. I had a friend who was so into cars in school, she even drove an old Mustang (until we wrecked it). I know my friend would have been thrilled to find a girl like Rachel in books as a teen. I also liked that Rachel was non-judgmental about Isaiah's background and tough looks. That she accepted Isaiah just as he was. What kept me from being completely Team Rachel was mostly her family. What a self-absorbed, enabling group of people they were. I'm still a bit boggled at one family that wrapped up in the past like that. And this is not to say that I don't understand why they may have been so self-absorbed and way too protective of Rachel. I do get it. I just don't get it, and that's where I struggled, because it was a bit much for me to take. I don't want to judge the story based on the dysfunctional Young family, but maybe if I didn't have to understand their motivations, Rachel's motivation to please them to the point of illness, and her constant panic attacks, it would have been a bit easier. The bright side to this dilemma? Character growth. Rachel grew immensely as a character, and I do truly appreciate that.
Crash Into You may not have been quite the story I expected, but I did enjoy it quite a lot. I loved the racing, the bond between Noah, Beth, and Isaiah, and the joy of seeing Isaiah experience true happiness. I didn't love everything about it, but I did feel so much, and at the end, that counts for a lot.
Favorite Quote:
Maybe this is what happens when you fall in love. On the outside a lighter is nothing amazing, but it holds all the ingredients that can create something wonderful. With a few pushes in the right direction, you can inspire something so brilliant that it pushes back the darkness. ~eARC, 68%
"This is who I am, Rachel. Accept it or not. The tattoos won't wash off. The earrings will never change. I am who I am and nothing more. I'm loyal to a chosen few, I always keep my word and I'll protect you with my life. I scare the hell out of most people, but you will never have anything to fear from me. Choose. Love me or don't. But tell me now." ~eARC, 74%
Pushing the Limits Series
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