ARC Review: Crash Into You

Title:  Crash Into You
Series:  Pushing The Limits #3
Author:  Katie McGarry
Published:  November 26, 2013 by Harlequin Teen
Source:  A copy was provided by the publisher via Netgalley.  Thank you !

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.

My Review:  Wow, this was a really powerful book.  A lot of hard topics were explored throughout the story and I was so touched by what these characters were facing and had to go through.  And while there was a lot to appreciate in this book, there was also a lot that didn't sit very well with me. 

Rachel was one of the things that brought this book down.  She was so annoying.  She had absolutely no social sense and was constantly just saying and doing things that should never be said or done.  Plus, she was super clingy.  You know a guy a couple hours, let him kiss you, and then get all pissy when he doesn't call you the next day.  You are not in a relationship.  You don't even know his last name.  He doesn't owe you anything so you have no right to be mad at him after that.  Kissing is a two way thing.  It's not all on Isaiah.  My gosh.  And while I completely sympathized with her situation, I found it hard to really root for her because she was so obnoxious.  

Isaiah was definitely better.  He was street and book smart and knew how to act when.  He didn't do stupid things and he didn't let his emotions get out of hand.  I totally felt for him and my heart broke at his back story.  He had so much to deal with and I really admired him for keeping it together.  Also, Rachel's brothers were completely terrible to her.  They did not care at all for her happiness.  Several times throughout the book, I wanted her to just slap one of them across the face because of what jerks they were being to her.  

The story moved sort of slow for the first half but after about 50% it shot off.  I couldn't take my eyes off of it.  I wanted to know what happened and what they were going to do next to get out of the problems they were having!

While this book did have some problems with the characters, the overall story and the message was wonderful.  I enjoyed seeing the topics and problems worked out on these pages.  It was a book that, in the end, was happy I had the chance to read.

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