Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

Title: Crash Into You
Author: Katie McGarry
Publisher:  Harlequin Teem
Release: November 26th 2013
Pages: 489 (Kindle)
Pre-Order: Amazon UK / Amazon US
Add on 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.

Am I the only girl stupid enough not to have fallen in love with Isaiah from book one? Yes? Well, better late that never! The Pushing the Limits trilogy is one of my favourite YA contemps out there, and you wouldn't believe how excited I was when I received an ARC of it. True to what is becoming McGarry's fashion, it was an absolutely breathtaking read - imagine my relief when I found out that the series wasn't ending here!

The first three books in the Pushing the Limits trilogy follow the lives of three troubled teens - Noah, Beth, and now Isaiah. As I said above, I was never really a fan of Isaiah - loads of people adored him from the word go, whereas I leant much more towards Beth and her storyline. However, now I've read things from his viewpoint, I'm not so sure. Isaiah is a character that you can't help but fall in love with - he's the walking definition of "don't judge a book by it's cover"; you feel so much empathy for him and everything he has been through, and you begin to feel incredibly protective of his character.

I also really liked Rachel, despite the fact that she is almost the exact opposite of what I look for in a female protagonist. If you have read a lot of my reviews, you'll know I like the typical feisty, independent, strong heroine - Rachel, although she is quite strong in her own way, is very meek, very submissive, very emotional. However, I did still like her - she provided the perfect balance for Isaiah's anger and hatred, and I think the fact that she was the polar opposite of him helped to bring out both their characters. The chemistry between them was thick and intense, with scenes between them practically sizzling right off the screen of my Kindle!

Again, McGarry's flawless characterisation continues on into the secondary characters, developing the idea that this is a real story. I actually really liked Rachel's brothers - despite them being waaaay too overprotective (AND getting in the middle of my ship!), I did find them adorable - especially West and Ethan. So imagine my reaction when I found out that this trilogy isn't a trilogy - it's a series! A series and the next book is GOING TO BE BASED ON WEST! Yes, that did require caps lock. I'm excited, what can I say?

I didn't like the storyline as much as I liked either Pushing the Limits or Dare You To, but I think that was mostly due to the fact that I am not at all car savvy. Whilst they were getting excited by engines and nitro systems (whatever that is), I...well, I just wasn't. However, what McGarry did was make this factor accessible to all readers, regardless as to whether they know cars or not. So although I didn't understand it as much as the other two books, I still found it brilliant. Being able to make a single subject available to everyone is a major skill in writing, and she has got it.

Overall, I'd give this book a seven out of five star rating if I could, it's that good. McGarry is a crazy awesome genius of an author, and her books always manage to transport me to an entirely different world altogether. You have no idea how pleased I am that this series is continuing - when you've got a good thing, you shouldn't let it go, so I'm glad this isn't the end. However, the ending I am glad for is Isaiah's; I'm glad he finally got the girl, even if it wasn't the one he first intended.
Rating: 5/5