Review: Crash Into You

CRASH INTO YOU
Pushing the Limits #3
Katie McGarry
Contemporary Young Adult
474 pages
HarlequinTEEN
Available November 26th
Source: ARC from author for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
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 THOUGHTS 
Crash Into You is yet another painfully fascinating exploration of family dynamics, the word family dissected in sometimes brutal detail as we see how those tied to us by blood can in fact draw it quicker and easier than anyone else. We're given the pleasure though of bearing witness as family is then redefined as it's put back together after being torn apart, perhaps stronger in the honesty of its new scars than in the previous beauty of its seeming perfection. We can't help but approach Isaiah's story with a small sense of dread, our love for him fully cemented after Noah and Beth's stories, and while we know Ms. McGarry would not be so cruel as to tear him down without building him back up, we know watching him fall even as he finds new strength in Rachel will be a special brand of punishment, one we'll feel keenly until that final page gives us his hope and happiness.

Isaiah is someone nearly impossible not to like, his fierce protectiveness of both Noah and Beth something that brought a tremulous smile to our faces as the two of them fought their battles in books one and two, a warmth spreading through us thanks to his love for them, but searing pain followed swiftly behind with the knowledge that even with them in his life he was still so very alone. His loneliness is never more apparent than in Crash Into You, a feeling beautifully echoed in Rachel despite the drastic differences in their home lives, and we want nothing more than for him to find someone for whom he will finally come first. First in thought when sharing good news, first to need when seeking comfort after receiving bad, and first to hear words of love that extend beyond mere friendship.

Rachel is a young woman who could have easily been frustrating, her relatively low opinion of herself thanks to her family something that seems as though it might difficult to get past as we read, but Ms. McGarry does a stunning job of dragging her out into the light for us to truly see, any potential irritation over her brief moments of (understandable) self-pity washed away in a flood of affection. Her strength is quickly clear to us no matter how many times her overprotective brothers remind her she is weak, the determination and fortitude it takes to not only push through her debilitating panic attacks but to also shoulder the knowledge that her parents consider her a mere replacement for the beloved daughter they lost causing us to root for her and Isaiah in the hope they find every bit of peace and joy they so deserve.

The only minor drawback to an otherwise emotionally exhausting yet exhilarating tale is the lack of complete resolution between Rachel and her family, the issues between all of them so deep and complex ten books with them as the focus likely wouldn't see the trauma of Colleen's death entirely healed. Given the next book features Rachel's brother West as a protagonist though, we can overlook some of our remaining questions about the Young family knowing we haven't yet seen the last of them. Rachel and Isaiah together are a striking pair, rough edges met by smooth lines as they each find relief in being the shelter the other so desperately needs, able to admit weakness and know the other's strength will hold them up until the storm passes. They are partners in every sense of the word, and we close the back cover of this book with hearts considerably lighter than when we started, grateful to Ms. McGarry for bring these two into our lives.

Rating: 4.5/5

Find Katie:

Goodreads • Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

If you haven't had a chance yet, be sure and enter to win a Crash Into You grand prize package!

This book was sent to me by the author  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.