Review: Crash into You (Pushing the Limits #3) by Katie McGarry

Firstly, thanks to Harlequin Teen Australia for this NetGalley <3

Date Read: September 26 - 28 2013
Release Date: November 26th 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen Australia
Source: NetGalley
Genre: Contemporary
My rating:  (Not enough stars)

Synopsis:

"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."

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“Speed. It’s what I crave. I can race the emotions away.”

And McGarry has exceeded all my expectations once again! I’ve been looking forward to Crash into You since it was announced – like REALLY looking forward to it. I went into it thinking it’d be my favourite Pushing the Limits book and guess what? Crash into You is officially my favourite Pushing the Limits book by far. I fell in love with Isaiah in book one and I just had to know his story, then in Dare You To his heart got broken and I just really wanted to see him happy.

While Dare You To delved into a much darker world with its themes, I thought that Crash into You wasn’t as dark as it was depressing. I actually haven’t cried that much throughout a book since The Fault in Our Stars. There were so many moments where Crash into You had me in tears and I was just crying for the characters and their bleak situations. This book touched me in ways PTL and DYT didn’t – for me it was almost personal – and that could be a reason why I liked it more than the previous two. I really liked how CIY dealt with issues like illness, loss, expectations and judging people. They’re general and quite broad issues but so relevant in everyday life I could really relate.

Rachel Young was born to replace her sister. To ease her brothers’ and parents’ grief. To make her mother happy. What I loved about Rachel’s character was how real she felt. The way McGarry wrote her anxiety and panic was amazing. The way she gets short of breath, the nervousness, fear, helplessness, I felt it all. Her character was absolutely innocent and so naïve – I usually hate characters like that and find them unbelievable but with the way Rachel was brought up, the over-protectiveness of her family and illness I could understand her perfectly. It doesn’t mean I always liked her (there were times when she did annoy me) but I liked her growth and how she came out of her shell by the end of the book.

“My mind clears when I’m behind the wheel and there’s something about the sound of an engine dropping into gear as I press on the gas that makes me feel… powerful.”

*Clutches heart* Isaiah Walker. He’s the boy your mother warned you about, the type I would typically run away from because seeing him on the street with his tatts and demeanour would scare the crap out of me. But he’s the type of guy who, when he loves, he loves with his whole heart and the girl who manages to get through to him will have all of him. The poor guy got the short end of the stick growing up and it’s really not his fault – I loved his guarded nature and seeing the world through his eyes. His perception of those around him and society in general was even harsher than Noah’s and it was a chilling contrast to Rachel’s world. Isaiah is by far my favourite of McGarry’s characters. It was like he was a little child in this dark and lonely world, crying out to be loved and I just wanted to reach in and hold him. Isaiah has this amazing sense of loyalty that was so admirable and possessed a depth to him that really touched me.

“For Rachel, life is still sunshine, rainbows and pink fucking fuzzy rainbows. I’m nothing but darkness, clouds and rats.”

How does McGarry write insta-love without it being insta-love? I don’t know even know but it worked. Rachel and Isaiah’s meeting was practically insta-love and yet when the damaged boy first set eyes on the angel I believed every moment of it. I think it’s to do with the situations and difference of lifestyle that McGarry brought these characters from – Isaiah’s never seen a girl like Rachel in the neighbourhood he grew up in; Rachel would never encounter a boy like Isaiah in her sheltered private school life. Thus when these two lay eyes on each other it was like fire and ice. They crashed into each other and my heart felt every point of impact of their collision. They are different and yet they are the same in so many ways. Theirs is a beautiful romance filled with uncertainty, heartache, longing, stolen moments and the innocence of first love. I felt all their happiness and pain and cried so many times because McGarry’s writing just elicits all the emotions from within me.

“His hand caresses the sensitive spot right below my chin, and with a gentle pressure, Isaiah raises my head until I look into those warm silver eyes.”

“She’s mine. This is mine. I don’t have much that’s mine. So you can’t destroy her, okay?”

Cars. I fell in love with cars because of Crash into You. How does that happen? But then again how does McGarry do what she does so exceptionally? I don’t know and all I care about is how amazingly McGarry incorporated cars and racing into this story. The dangers of illegal street racing, the thrill of the gears shifting and the speed. It might be the adrenaline junkie in me (I love extreme rides and rollercoasters) but I LOVED those moments when they were behind the wheel and there was nothing but speed and the finish line. It was both soothing and exciting at the same time (what the heck I know). I wanted to be able to drive a clutch just reading this! McGarry pulled everything together so well with the various stories of each character, the main plot and the romance – it was suspenseful, scary and insanely sweet I was pulled into the drag racing world immediately.

“Little did I know, at the time, I had no idea what I was asking or how awful saying goodbye would really feel.”

McGarry doesn’t disappoint with her third book in the Pushing the Limits series. In fact, I’d say this is her best work yet. I adored all the cameos and the new additions which I hope are here to stay! It’s undeniable her writing has improved, her characters well thought out and brilliantly intertwined plots that come together so well. Sorry Dare You To, Crash into You has taken your place as my favourite McGarry book and is now one of my favourite contemporaries of 2013.

“Fuck me. God does exist and he sent an angel in a white Mustang to prove it.”