Monday 28 March 2016

Review and Excerpt Tour: Walk the Edge (Thunder Road #2) by Katie McGarry

I am so excited to bring you the Walk the Edge Review and Excerpt Tour! I love this series so, so much! It is such an amazing book, I almost can't put into words how much I love Thunder Road. If you haven't read it yet, you really should! You can find my review of book one, Nowhere but Here, here. Keep reading for my review of the book, an excerpt, and a giveaway!

*I recieved an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not in any way affect my opinion, and all thoughts expressed in this review are unbiased and my own.*
Title: Walk the Edge
Author: Katie McGarry
My rating: 5 romantic, relatable, oh-my-god-the-feels stars
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pub. date: March 29th 2016
Publisher: Harlequin TEEN
Synopsis: 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. (synopsis from Goodreads)
My thoughts: Will you believe me if I say that it was better than I’d expected? If you have read my review of Nowhere but Here, you probably won’t. I can barely believe it myself. I am speechless. For once, I don’t know any words that can explain how much I absolutely loved Walk the Edge.
   I’ll try, though, with starting with the characters. In Nowhere but Here, I thought Razor was an interesting character, and really looked forward to reading his story. Getting to know him, to follow his thoughts and feelings, was truly amazing. As I mentioned before, there are no strong enough words to express my feelings right now, and amazing sounds so weak, but it’s the best I’ve got.
   He lost his mother when he was a kid, and in the process, he lost his father, too, in a way. He has a pretty bad relationship with his father after his mother’s death, and things get even more complicated and strained when a cop shows up at his doorstep and tells him that his mother might’ve been killed, after hearing all his life from his family that it was an accident.
   Razor is another example from McGarry of a great character that you can’t help but root for. He is very protective of the people he cares about, he never breaks a promise, and he is a good guy. Sure, he gets in fights, but that’s his way of protecting the people he cares about. Everyone in Snowflake is terrified of him, but really, he is a good guy. You just have to get to know him.
   I might love Breanna more, though, because I get her. I mean, I don’t remember everything I read, and I’m not as smart as her, but I’ve always been the smart girl among my friends. Also, I’m the oldest of seven, and I’ve always been very responsible, so I was expected to take care of my younger siblings. Even though Breanna is the fifth of nine kids, she is the oldest who still lives at home, and therefore, she has to take care of her siblings. She’s the responsible one. She’s expected to have everything under control.
   Katie has this great ability to make the readers (at least me) feel the things the characters feel, and that’s part of what makes her books so good. I’ve mentioned this in previous reviews of her books, but I’ll repeat myself; I love how none of her characters are perfect, which makes them so much more realistic and relatable.
   The chemistry between Razor and Breanna is just so real. And it’s believable; they don’t fall in love just like that, but it happens over a long time, and it feels so right.
   I mentioned in my review of Nowhere but Here that the only problem was that the plot was a little boing at times, but that it added something to the plot. In Walk the Edge, it doesn’t get boring. Seriously, I was on my toes throughout the whole book. Sure, there are some “quiet” moments, but they’re surrounded by the more “exciting” moments, which makes it feel like there are no quiet moments at all.
   There is just so much to love about this book, and if I’m going to mention them all, this review will be way too long for anyone to read it, so I’ll sum it up a little. The writing is great, the characters are awesome, the plot is also awesome (I’m running out of words), the romance is swoon-worthy, and, as usual, there is something valuable to learn, which I love. Katie’s books have become my go-to examples of why it’s good to read. There are such great messages in her books that teach you things about life.
   And I loved that ending so much! Sure, there were things that still weren’t great, but it just felt like the best ending to the book, like it was the only ending that would’ve worked. It just really fit the rest of the book. It was a perfect ending for a perfect book.
   To sum it up, I loved everything about this book. For anyone who reads Young Adult Contemporary, Katie's books are a must. If any book deserves five stars, it's Walk the Edge. I'd give it more if I could.
Book Links:
Amazon ** Kobo ** B&N ** iBooks ** IndieBound ** Goodreads
 Don't miss the first book in the Thunder Road series, Nowhere but Here
Pre-Order WALK THE EDGE, Register your Pre-Order and receive an exclusive Echo and Noah short story and a chance to be in the next Thunder Road novel!  Register at https://offerpop.com/campaign/796530.

 
Excerpt:
The colors and sights of the club merge. There’s too many people. Too much noise. A few feet away a trio of girls from school are staring at me—watching me and Kyle. One gestures toward me. The other two laugh.
      Nausea knots my intestines. I didn’t mean to be the girl people laughed at. In fact, I craved the opposite. I wanted to be me for once, but to be me without the judgment and hate.
      Wetness stings my eyes and I pivot away from Kyle. His fingers circle my wrist and he slides in front of me again. “Don’t be upset. I can make this better. For one year, don’t you want to be someone more than the weird smart girl?”
      Sadness sinks past my defenses and creates an ache of pain, but then a flash of anger whips through me like a storm gale through trees. I tilt toward him as if he should be scared of me. “I am not that girl!”
      “When did you stop? New clothes don’t change who you are, but I can help.”
      He said it. Out loud. My fingers form into a fist. I should hit him. I should throw a punch into his face and hurt him exactly how he’s torturing me.
      “Let me get you another drink.” His grip on my wrist lightens and his thumb slowly moves across my pulse point. His touch sickens me. “And we’ll talk.”
      “Leave me alone.”
      Kyle releases me then sags like I crushed him and I find him confusing. He’s the one causing me to suffer. He’s the one causing the tears flooding the rim of my eyes.
      “I’m not trying to make you cry.” He crams his fingers into his hair. “I’m saying this wrong. Doing this wrong. I swear, I’m not trying to make you cry.”
      I’m terrified to peek across the room again—afraid the girls from school will be cackling like hyenas. I desperately try to cling to the anger, but it slips through my fingertips.
      I turn and there’s Addison. The elation that was on her face wanes as her eyes crazily take me in. “What happened?”
      “Nothing.” My lungs burn and I want so badly to curl into a ball and cry, but I can’t. Not in public. Not with everyone gawking.
      When she spots Kyle she rolls her shoulders back. “What did he do?”
      “Nothing,” I say, and I’m moving. Through the crowd. Past guys who ask me to dance. Past Reagan who’s all smiles and tries to snatch my hand to join her and another friend. Past tables and chairs. I run past my name being called by multiple people.
      I need air. I need to disappear. I need out of Snowflake and out of my home and out of this life and out of my skin and just out and with a push of my hands on the door, I am out.
      I suck in a breath when my heels click against the blacktop, but then the door bangs shut and my heart jumps. No, I went out a side door. Not the front door. I spin and my fingers graze the smooth steel where a handle should be. It’s a security door and I’m officially locked out.
      “Crap!” I shout into the night, but no one is around to hear.
      To the right is a Dumpster. To the left is another alley. Both are shadowed. I choose left and pray once I reach the corner there will be light. But as I go to walk the world becomes disoriented. I throw my hand out to the wall when stumbling seems easier.
      “Alone again?”
      My head snaps back to the entrance and a surge of adrenaline shoots through my veins. Emerging out of the darkness is a large, looming figure. I stagger back. Away from the night of the alley, toward my hope for light, but there’s a crunch of glass under my feet. I trip, my ankle twists and a spasm blasts from my foot up to my leg.
      My already bad balance is completely thrown. My arms flail, there’s a pain near my elbow as it connects with the brick and my body topples back.
      I close my eyes, bracing for the impact of the ground, but as fast as I was falling, I hit something and then I’m ascending. My eyes fly open and I’m greeted by the most beautiful blue eyes. But then I shiver. Those eyes are as frozen as ice.
      “You have the worst luck,” he says.
      It’s Razor and he’s cradling me in his arms. As my skin vibrates, there’s a part of me that agrees with his assessment. But a small dissenting voice wonders if, in this moment, I’m lucky.


About Katie McGarry:
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.
Author Links:
  
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I receive some books from authors, publishers and third party sites (such as Netgalley). This does in no way affect my opinion, and all thoughts expressed on this blog are unbiased and my own. I do not get compensated in any way or form.