Review Detail

4.5 26

Pushing the Limits

Young Adult Fiction 1062

Horrible cost of war

August 31, 2012

Overall rating

3.0

Plot

N/A

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

Echo Emerson thinks that she is doing fairly well, considering all that has happened in her life-- her brother has been killed in the war, her father has married the woman who babysat her and is expecting a baby, and there is a restraining order against her mother. Little wonder that she is having trouble keeping up with grades, dealing with her boyfriend, and taking part in the activities she enjoyed before everything fell apart. She doesn't appreciate counseling all that much, but when she is assigned to tutor Noah, she finds that it's not so bad. Noah's parents have died in a house fire, he's in foster care, and his younger brothers are with a different family. The two are drawn to each other over their shared problems, and working together helps them to heal.

Good Points

Again, Echo's attempts to deal with the death of a beloved brother are painful but realistic. She would like to finish restoring a car that he had bought, but her father just wants to move on. There are secrets that both characters hide that are revealed slowly but in an interesting fashion.