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Take Me On
(Pushing the Limits Book 4)
(Pushing the Limits Book 4)
by Katie McGarry
Take Me On is the fourth book in Katie McGarry's Pushing the Limits series. Also available: Pushing the Limits, Crossing the Line (novella), Dare You To, and Crash Into You. Coming soon: Breaking the Rules.
Description
Acclaimed author Katie McGarry returns with the knockout new story of two high school seniors who are about to learn what winning really means.
Champion kickboxer Haley swore she'd never set foot in the ring again after one tragic night. But then the guy she can't stop thinking about accepts a mixed martial arts fight in her honor. Suddenly, Haley has to train West Young. All attitude, West is everything Haley promised herself she'd stay away from. Yet he won't last five seconds in the ring without her help.
West is keeping a big secret from Haley. About who he really is. But helping her - fighting for her - is a shot at redemption. Especially since it's his fault his family is falling apart. He can't change the past, but maybe he can change Haley's future.
Hayley and West have agreed to keep their relationship strictly in the ring. But as an unexpected bond forms between them and attraction mocks their best intentions, they'll face their darkest fears and discover love is worth fighting for.
Video for Book 1
Excerpt
From West’s Point of View
I’m used to people talking, saying words aloud to prove they know more than me, that they’re better than me. But they’re just words. Syllables strung together between breaths to fill uncomfortable silences.
Meaningless words.
Haley, on the other hand, speaks volumes with a touch. The way her hand clutches mine, it rips out my heart and tosses it onto a platter.
This moment, it’s too raw. It’s too real. And the instinct is to snatch my hand back and slam the door shut on the sharing, but the other part of me—the part that feels as if my remaining sanity is a gift on the verge of being returned—it clings to her.
I knot my fingers with Haley’s and turn my head so I’m focusing out the driver’s side window—away from her. If I look at Haley, I’m terrified of what I might say, what I might feel. And fuck me, I’ve already said too much.
If she understands this, being without a home, will she understand the rejection? Will she understand the devastation that everything you have ever loved doesn’t love you in return? And because I can’t face those fears, I’m unable to face Haley.
She squeezes once and it’s like her voice caresses my mind: I’m here. I get it.
I squeeze back.
Seconds pass into moments. Moments into minutes. No words. No meaningless conversation. No eye contact. Just our hands combined.
My throat swells. Haley’s the only string holding me together.
Featured Review
I absolutely love McGarry's work! Her plots are full of emotion, her characters so full of heart.
This book follows West who was introduced in the previous novel in the series. His sister has been gravely injured, his older brother is suffering from a gambling addiction, his dad is distant at best, and his mother still lingers in the past due to the death of his other sister. He believes that he is responsible for saving everyone in his family and that the failures of others are his fault. He tends to be very emotional and has a quick-temper but he truly cares about his family and wants desperately to help. He also thinks that by saving someone else, he will find redemption for the times that he could not.
It is this attitude that puts him in the path of Haley. Haley is struggling with her own demons, some from an ex-boyfriend and others from a family that is falling apart. She is very similar to West in that she thinks it is her responsibility to hold everything and everyone together. When West first meets her, he is definitely intrigued and there is an attraction, but I think he looked at her initially as a project and his way to redemption.
Turns out they needed each other and they needed to admit that they can't do it all on their own, that they are young and have been let down by the adults in their lives that should support them. While training together for MMA, they grow to like each other, rely on one another, and fall in love. West grows up and Haley learns to let others in. Their growth as characters was very well-explored and McGarry has a knack for delving deep into her characters and their motivations.
This book also touches on some characters introduced in previous books, and while we don't get to catch up with all of them, it was nice to see Isaiah, Rachel, and Abby. I look forward to more stories in the Pushing the Limits series.
About the Author
Katie McGarry was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, and reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.
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