{Review} Breaking The Rules by Katie McGarry

Title: Breaking The Rules
Series: Pushing The Limits #1.5
Author: Katie McGarry
Published: 8th December 2015
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: eARC provided by author for fair & honest review
Rating: 4/5

BLURB:
A summer road trip changes everything in this unforgettable new tale from acclaimed author Katie McGarry

For new high school graduate Echo Emerson, a summer road trip out west with her boyfriend means getting away and forgetting what makes her so... different. It means seeing cool sights while selling her art at galleries along the way. And most of all, it means almost three months alone with Noah Hutchins, the hot, smart, soul-battered guy who’s never judged her. Echo and Noah share everything — except the one thing Echo’s just not ready for.

But when the source of Echo’s constant nightmares comes back into her life, she has to make some tough decisions about what she really wants — even as foster kid Noah’s search for his last remaining relatives forces them both to confront some serious truths about life, love, and themselves.

Now, with one week left before college orientation, jobs and real life, Echo must decide if Noah's more than the bad-boy fling everyone warned her he'd be. And the last leg of an amazing road trip will turn... seriously epic.

While I had a few minor issues with this book and didn't quite love it as much as Pushing The Limits, I still really enjoyed spending more time with Echo and Noah!

REVIEW:
I absolutely LOVED Pushing The Limits, and it is still one of my favourite books! So needless to say I was very excited about this book. While I really enjoyed Echo & Noah's continuing story, I feel like it didn't quite live up to it's prequel.

This story takes place over one week - the last week of their summer road trip. Both Echo and Noah have made so much progress in their lives since we first met them, but they still have a lot of issues to overcome, both separately and as a couple. Echo is still struggling with her relationship with her mother and related nightmares from the attack. While Noah is trying his best to believe he's worthy of Echo's love and can give her the future he knows she deserves.

I personally felt there was a little unnecessary drama in this book, and while I love some good old teen angst, it just didn't work as well for me this time. I think the main reason is that with all of McGarry's books, one or both of the main characters are keeping a secret from each other, and it's that process of each of them uncovering the secrets and getting to that HEA, that is what I love about her books. But as Echo and Noah already know each other's past secrets, there was less natural tension between them, so the drama that McGarry had to create felt somewhat artificial. Personally I would have preferred to see this sequel take place a littler further into the future.

That being said I still thoroughly enjoyed getting back into the world of Echo and Noah and it was great to see Echo following her dream of becoming and artist. I felt Echo grew more of a back bone is this book and started to really stand up for what she wanted - I loved that! It was also great to have Beth and Isaiah feature quite a bit in the story. Seeing Isaiah and surprisingly Beth too, being so protective of Echo was so beautiful. These characters have all becomes such a beautiful family, I just love it! This series continuities to be one of my favourites and I'm looking forward to the next instalment - hopefully Abby will get her book next!

FINAL WORD:
While I had a few minor issues with this book and didn't quite love it as much as Pushing The Limits, I still really enjoyed spending more time with Echo and Noah!

CONTENT:
Sexuality: medium-strong / mildy descriptive sex scene
Violence: mild / some minor fighting
Language: medium / some f words
Drugs & alcohol: medium-strong / underage drinking, mention of party drug use

1 comment:

  1. Yay! I'm so glad you liked this one. I must say that I think I liked the first one better as well but I honestly love the whole series so much. Just need to read the last one!

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