Title: Walk the Edge
Author: Katie McGarry
Series: Thunder Road
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Harlequin TEEN
Publication date: March 29th 2016
Pages: 384 (hardcover)
Source: Publisher, Netgalley
Buy links: Amazon | iBooks | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Indiebound
One moment of recklessness will change their worlds
Smart. Responsible. That's seventeen-year-old Breanna's role in her large family, and heaven forbid she put a toe out of line. Until one night of shockingly un-Breanna-like behavior puts her into a vicious cyberbully's line of fire—and brings fellow senior Thomas "Razor" Turner into her life.
Razor lives for the Reign of Terror motorcycle club, and good girls like Breanna just don't belong. But when he learns she's being blackmailed over a compromising picture of the two of them—a picture that turns one unexpected and beautiful moment into ugliness—he knows it's time to step outside the rules.
And so they make a pact: he'll help her track down her blackmailer, and in return she'll help him seek answers to the mystery that's haunted him—one that not even his club brothers have been willing to discuss. But the more time they spend together, the more their feelings grow. And suddenly they're both walking the edge of discovering who they really are, what they want, and where they're going from here.
Katie
McGarry is one of my favorite YA contemporary authors. I first fell in love
with her Pushing the Limits series
and her new series has not let me down either.
Razor and
Breanna are probably one of my favorite couples that McGarry has created so
far. I liked both characters right from the very beginning. They have such
different personalities and a complete different background yet they are so
alike. They mad each other stronger in so many ways and that is what every
couple should do. It was very clear why they fitted so well together and why
they were attracted to each other in the first place. Another thing that was
great about them was that they took things slowly and didn’t rush into anything
even though that there was chemistry between them from the beginning.
Walk the Edge had all the elements that you can find in all
McGarry her books. The main characters that are often from different
backgrounds, the slowly burning chemistry between them and of course the
personal baggage that the main characters bring with them. And it is exactly
this combination of things why I love her books so much. In this book Razor and
Breanna had some personal issues but they also shared some of them. Breanna
never felt like she truly belonged in her family being the middle kid and the
one with a freaky brain. Razor on the other hand felt like he belonged in the
club but at the same time he does not know if he can really trust them because
of the demons that hunt them. It was great to see how they both helped each
other find their place in the world. Another thing that I liked about this book
was that it talked an issue that is often present in nowadays society,
cyberbullying. People need to pay more attention to this problem, so it is
great when an author uses it in her books to show what kind of consequences it
might have.
The book
itself was pretty long, as most of McGarry’s books, but it did not feel long at
all. Walk the Edge sucked me right
into the MC world again and at the same time it also showed how it is to grow
up in a large family. There was so much going on the entire time that I could
not spot one dull moment in this book. The book was paced out pretty well and
that is probably one of the things that I loved the most about this book. My
only remark is that the ending felt a bit rushed to me. Bu if I had had the
time I would probably have finished this book in one day; unfortunately I had
work and other responsibilities.
Overall I
really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend it, especially if you
are a YA contemporary romance fan. This book has it all – romance, kickass
heroines, swoon worthy boys and though issues. I cannot wait for the next book
in this series to come out!
Excerpt
School starts in a few days and tonight is
senior orientation. My parents are currently in a meeting with my guidance
counselor while I’m being propositioned.
Propositioned.
My lips tilt up sarcastically.
My
goal for this evening was to be noticed. Guess I succeeded. I was noticed, but
not for my new choices in clothing, hair style, or because I dumped my glasses
for contacts. Nope, I was hunted for my brain. All exciting and swoon worthy
romance novels start off this way, right?
Kyle
misreads my body language and his dark eyes brighten. “So you’ll write my
English papers for the year?”
Fifty
dollars per paper-that’s his offer. Standing in my sister’s second generation
hand-me-downs of a sleeveless blue blouse, shorter-than-I’ve-ever-worn jean
skirt and platform sandals causes me to consider his proposal if only for the
course of a heartbeat. I’m the middle of nine children and, I’ll admit, new and
shiny gains my attention, but this…this is wrong.
“Do
you know this is the first time you’ve spoken to me?” I say.
He
laughs like I told a joke, but I’m not kidding. Snowflake, Kentucky is a small
town and everyone tends to know everyone else, but just because we breathe the
same air doesn’t mean we communicate, or act like everyone else exists.
“That’s
not true,” he retorts. “We sat at the same table in fourth grade.”
I
incline my head to the side in a mock
why-didn’t-I-remember-that-bonding-moment? “My, how time flies.”
He
chuckles then scratches the back of his head causing his styled hair to curl out
to the side. “You’re funny. I didn’t know that. Look, it’s not my fault you’re
quiet.”
Kyle’s
right. It isn’t his fault I became socially withdrawn. That blame falls solely
on me. It’s a decision I made in seventh grade when I was publicly crucified.
Blending
into paint for the past couple of years has kept me safe, but it creates the
sensation of suffocation. Everyone says the same thing: Breanna’s smart, she’s
quiet. On the inside, I’m not at all quiet. Most of the time, I’m screaming.
“I’m not writing your papers.”
Kyle’s
smile that had suggested he had a done deal morphs into a frown and acid
sloshes in my stomach. Denying Kyle isn’t what bothers me as much as it worries
me what he’ll mention to his friends. They’re the reason why I went voluntarily
mute in seventh grade.
Heat
races up my neck as the repercussions of refusing sets in, but I don’t even
consider agreeing. Cheating is not my style.
Kyle
surveys the hallway and, it it’s privacy he’s searching for, he’ll be sorely
disappointed. He slides closer and a strange edginess causes me to step back,
but Kyle follows. “Fine. One hundred dollars per paper.”
“No.”
“You
don’t understand. My grades have to improve.” Easygoing Kyle disappears and
desperation is hardly attractive.
I
steal a peek into the school’s main office, hoping my guidance counselor will
beckon me in. Half of me hopes she’ll have life altering news for me, the other
half hopes to end this insane conversation. “What you’re asking for is crazy.”
“No,
it’s not.”
In
an answer to the one million prayers being chanted in my head, my guidance
counselor opens her door. “Breanna.”
Kyle
leans into me. “This conversation isn’t over.”
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, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.
Katie is the author of full length YA novels, PUSHING THE LIMITS, DARE YOU TO, CRASH INTO YOU, TAKE ME ON, BREAKING THE RULES, and NOWHERE BUT HERE and the e-novellas, CROSSING THE LINE and RED AT NIGHT. Her debut YA novel, PUSHING THE LIMITS was a 2012 Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction, a RT Magazine's 2012 Reviewer's Choice Awards Nominee for Young Adult Contemporary Novel, a double Rita Finalist, and a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Teen Pick. DARE YOU TO was also a Goodreads Choice Finalist for YA Fiction and won RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Best Book Award for Young Adult Contemporary fiction in 2013.
Giveaway
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