July Reading Update

In July, I read a total of 10 books. 6 of these books count for the "Real" Book Challenge bringing my total for that challenge to 48 books. I also listened to 4 Audio books during the month. My total count for books read this year is 56.

"Real" Books:

Audio Books:

Take Me On Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Take Me On

AUTHOR: Katie McGarry

PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen

PUBLICATION DATE: 5/27/2014

PAGES: 544

MY RATING:

INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: 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.

Haley 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.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Another instant hit from Katie. I don't think this woman could write a bad book if she tried. I will read anything by her. I was in love with this book before I was even halfway through it. Katie's writing just pulls you in and makes you keep flipping the pages. I will admit that I didn't like this one as much as her other books, but it was still extremely good. 

CHARACTERS: I think my reason for not liking this book as much as the others is because of the main characters, Haley and West. For some reason, I just didn't connect with them as well as I would have liked to. It might have been because the story line revolved around boxing, and I have zero interest in that, but I did really love the relationship that West and Haley shared. 

COVER: I'm not a fan of any of the covers for the Pushing The Limits books, but I do like that there is something printed directly onto the book underneath the dust jacket.

**I received a finished copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

Crash Into You Review

Goodreads

TITLE: Crash Into you (Pushing the Limits #3)

AUTHOR: Katie McGarry

PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen

PUBLICATION DATE: 11/26/2013

PAGES: 474

MY RATING:

INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: 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.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: When I received this book, I dropped everything else I was in the middle of reading to start on it. I've read the first two books in the Pushing the Limits series and loved them so much! I had extremely high hopes for this one, and I was not disappointed. I was entertained throughout this entire book. 

I've been waiting so long to find a book to make me cry, and this one finally did it. There's just so many emotions in this book and I love that I experienced so many feels while reading.

The second half of this book was fast paced and just amazing, and the ending was wrapped up nicely.

I also learned that there's going to be another book coming out and I am so excited! 

CHARACTERS: I really liked Rachel. She was so sweet and innocent and I could completely relate to her. My favorite character is Abby. I would have liked to see more of her in the book as I really enjoyed her character.

COVER: The cover is pretty cheesy. I'm not a huge fan of covers with people on them and I feel like this cover makes the book like it will be just another cookie cutter romance book, which is not true at all. I do like all of the red and I like the letters of the title.

**I received a finished copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

Dare You To Review

Goodreads

Amazon

TITLE: Date You To

AUTHOR: Katie McGarry

PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen

PUBLICATION DATE: May 28, 2013

PAGES: 456

MY RATING:

INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does...

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock--with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Ask out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams--and his life--for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all...

OVERALL IMPRESSION: This book was amazing. I loved every bit of it. I read the first book in the series and while back, so I didn't remember a whole lot about what happened in that book, but this is a completely different story. This book follows two other characters, and you could easily read this book without having read the first one. 

This book was so emotional and I love reading books that can make me feel something.

CHARACTERS: Beth and Ryan are both really great characters, but I really enjoyed reading about Beth's story. It is so heartbreaking, and I feel all of her joy and devastation as she struggles to find herself throughout the book.

COVER: The cover is great! I love that the image from the book jacket is printed under the cover directly on the book too. It looks like it should be a poster!

**I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.

Pushing the Limits Review

TITLE: Pushing The Limits

AUTHOR: Katie McGarry

PUBLISHER: Harlequin Teen

PUBLICATION DATE: 7/31/2012

PAGES: 392

MY RATING: 

INSIDE COVER SUMMARY: 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.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: I saw that this book had tons of 4 and 5 star reviews on Goodreads. Everyone said that it was emotional. It's been a while since I've read anything that has made me emotional so I was excited to give this book a try. I was literally chewing my nail during some of the scenes of the book because they were so intense. I loved everything. I feel like the story moved along at a great pace and I enjoyed reading it every step of the way.

CHARACTERS: Echo and Noah have great chemistry together and I liked reading their interactions with each other. I liked Mrs. Collins, the guidance counselor  I felt like she was really genuine and cared for both Echo and Noah. I hated the character of Luke. He was just so aggravating and selfish.

COVER: The cover is cute. My favorite thing about the cover of this is that when you take off the book jacket, there is a larger photo printed directly on the the cover that wraps around to the back. I always check under the book jackets of my books to see if there is anything underneath and I love the rare times that I actually discover something.

*I received a copy of the book from Amazon Vine for my honest review.