Book Review: Crash into You (Pushing the Limits #3) by Katie McGarry

Crash Into You

by Katie McGarry

Release Date: November 26, 2013

Source: Netgalley

Summary: From acclaimed author Katie McGarry comes an explosive new tale of a good girl with a reckless streak, a street-smart guy with nothing to lose, and a romance forged in the fast lane 

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.

Review: I've had an egalley of this book for about a month now, but I've forced myself to wait to read it closer to the release date. Katie McGarry's books are definitely on my list of favorite books ever, so putting off reading Crash Into You was very hard to do. It comes to now surprise that, when I finally did pick this one up, I read the entire thing in one sitting because it was that good. 

On the outside, Rachel Young is the typical, straight-laced and straight A student. On the inside, though, she has to deal with the pressures of filling up the shoes of her perfect sister that died before she was born, as well as hiding her intense panic attacks that come any time Rachel is in front of people. The only solace Rachel can find, away from her four older and overprotective brothers, is driving her car. When she finds herself at an illegal street race, the last thing she expects is to be running away from the police with a dangerous, yet irresistible boy named Isaiah. Isaiah knows that his world and Rachel's have no business connecting, but he can't get the stubborn, mesmerizing blonde out of his mind. Rachel finds she can be herself with Isaiah, but does he simply see her as another spoiled rich girl, or the passionate, car-loving individual she really is? 

Oh. My. Gosh. Seriously, I thought I loved the first two books in this series, but this one. Amazing. Addicting. Wow. I was so skeptical going in because I really didn't like Isaiah in Dare You To. He was so obsessed with Beth and I just wanted her to get with Ryan already. But there is so much more to Isaiah and I absolutely fell in love with him from the very first page of this book. Seriously, he may have tattoos and piercings, but he's really super sweet and would do anything for those he loves. 

I think one of the main reasons I loved both Isaiah and Rachel in this book is because the chapters alternate view points. You learn so much more from the characters if you get to see inside both of their minds. Especially Rachel. I absolutely loved her as the main character with Isaiah. She has some major issues she's dealing with, and all you want for her is to be happy in the end. I couldn't image simply being born to replace the perfect sister that had died of cancer. Rachel was pressured to speak in public to please her depressed mother, despite the fact that she has severe anxiety. But she's so selfless that she tries to hide her illness from her family. She definitely deserves a guy like Isaiah, and I loved how she came out of her shell and was much more herself around him than she is around anyone else, including her brothers. 

But you know what sealed the deal for me on this one? The racing. I am an absolute fanatic for car movies like Fast and Furious. So when the first racing scene happened in the book, I literally smiled at the pages and started reading even faster to see what would happen. I had no idea this was going to have to do with racing, and that made the whole book, especially the already irresistible Isaiah, that much more enticing. 

Seriously, I could go on and on about how much I loved this one. I read every single page of this 471 page book in one sitting because I absolutely could not put it down. The story was unique and the characters were lovable, every single one of them. And all of the main characters from the last two books pop up in this one, which is always a fun surprise. Oh my gosh, and guess who's story is next in the series? West! Rachel's older brother! Ahhhhh! It's going to be so good and I absolutely can't wait for May to roll around so I can read even more of Katie McGarry's amazing writing and storytelling. 

So basically what I've been trying to say this entire review is that you have to read this series. Katie McGarry has created one of my favorite contemporary YA books of all time, and that's saying something because I've read A LOT contemporary YA books. If you want a YA book with heart-pumping adrenaline and a super sweet romance, you have got to get yourself a copy of Crash Into You. Right now.