Nowhere But Here by Katie McGarry

WELCOME ALL to Katie McGarry's new book series, and one hell of a series it is going to be. 

Let me introduce you to the two main characters of this book: Oz and Emily. 

They both come from completely different worlds. Their definitions of 'normal' are polar opposites. And they're both as loveable as each other. 

Oz has been a prospect of the 'Reign of Terror,' a motorcycling boy-club ever since the day he was born. He hasn't had it easy but has always loved the community he was brought into. A world completely different than the one Emily understands, the one me and you understand. It is a world that to some seems dangerous and terrifying.. but to the members it's a club about family and loyalty. A place that loves their members no matter what and stands by each other to the end. 

Emily was raised in a world full of secrets, but she did not know this until the day an email arrived from her biological father, Eli telling her that her biological Grandmother had passed away.. this one act was to change her entire life and throw her into the beautiful and chaotic world of the 'Reign of Terror.' What she learns along her journey of finding freedom is what will change her whole lifestyle and also helps not only the reader to see the world we are all sharing in a different perspective, but also Emily to understand the world she could have easily grown up in. 

“This is your family … If you learn to love us then you will forever have our love in return.”

One of my favourite secondary characters in this book is Olivia, her sense of not-giving-a-shit, is the most refreshing thing to grace my world of reads in quite a long time and the life lessons Emily is to learn from her are not just ones of extraordinary fiction, they're ones that we can all learn from. 

Emily and Oz's relationship was fun to watch grow throughout the book. Their attitude at the beginning made me laugh out loud and Oz's words of complete honesty made me cry multiple times throughout this book, but I did not expect anything less from this magnificent author who uses words to tell show us all a different side of this beautifully messed up world. 

“Like you know anything about living. You never take a risk!”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“But not fully engaged. When the hell are you going to step outside of yourself and experience what’s going on around you? You have a huge family I would kill to be blood-related to and you can’t appreciate it to save your life!” 

Believe it or not this innocent looking book made me cry for the first nine chapters, non-stop and the only explanation I can seem to come up with.... it was Katie McGarry's way of putting words together and making me feel all the emotions both Oz and Emily (the main characters) were feeling underneath the surface. 

Fans of Simone Elkeles' books: Perfect Chemistry, Rules of Attraction & Chain Reaction.. will most definitely enjoy reading this masterpiece of words and even if you're not a fan of those books, I'm sure you'll fall head over heels for this mesmerizing series. 

This book is a million percent a 5 star read and I sure as hell will be getting all my friends (& maybe family) to read it.. because damn if they don't they're missing out on something straight out of the Heavens.

Katie McGarry: Interview

Ahhhhh! Looooooooooook! 

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to interview the wonderful Young Adult author Katie McGarry. Who I’ve been a fan of ever since my friend and co-owner of Drool Worthy Books blog, introduced me to her.

Katie has just recently published ‘Take Me On’, her fourth installment to the ‘Pushing the Limits’ Series and so I got around to asking her some questions about the book, to which you can find my review on our blog.

• Why did you decide to pair West with a girl fighter?

When I first met West as a secondary character in CRASH INTO YOU, I knew that he had a short temper and got into fights easily.

In TAKE ME ON, I wanted West to fall in love with a girl who could mentally challenge him. By being an actual fighter, Haley was in a position to tell West that his temper hurts him, not helps him, and that sometimes walking away is fighting.

• You did a lot of research for ‘Crash Into You’ and ‘Take Me On’ which lead you to learn and do interesting things. Was it stuff that you thought you'd ever get the chance to experience?

For CRASH INTO YOU, I spent a lot of time at a local dragway and I even got the opportunity to go down the dragway. It was an exhilarating experience!

For TAKE ME ON, I found a local Muay Thai gym and they were fabulous enough to let me watch some of their training sessions. I eventually became bold enough to join their morning kickboxing for fitness class. It’s a bag class, but I learned how tough and fun kickboxing is.

I don’t believe I would have ever experienced either of these things if it wasn’t for the research I needed for the books.

With ‘Breaking the Rules’ coming out in Decemeber, I didn’t forget to ask some important questions there.

• Did you always plan on continuing Echo and Noah’s story?

I have always known what happened to Echo and Noah after I finished writing PUSHING THE LIMITS. I wrote PUSHING THE LIMITS as a stand-alone so I didn’t think I would get an opportunity to continue their story. When I was asked if I would consider continuing their story, I jumped at the opportunity. BREAKING THE RULES will be released on December 30, 2013. 

• What has been the most emotional book for you to write so far in the Pushing the Limits Series?

It’s a tie between DARE YOU TO and TAKE ME ON. In DARE YOU TO, I understood a lot of Beth’s hurts and there are a lot of themes in TAKE ME ON that are personal to me. Both stories required me to dig deep into places that are difficult for me to visit. 

But don’t worry guys I asked Katie the one question that’s been on all our minds ever since we met the girl in Crash Into you.

• Will we ever get the chance to read Abby’s story?

I’m not sure yet what the future is for the PUSHING THE LIMITS series. I’m crossing fingers and toes I’ll be able to write Abby’s story. 

Oh and so are we Katie, so are we! A big thank you to Katie for taking her time to answer our questions. It meant the world.

Goodread's link

Katie's Site