Pushing The Limits Read-Along: Week 1

It’s week one of the Pushing the Limits read-along!

This event is hosted by Candace Book Blog, Natalia @ Dazzling Reads, The Page Turners, Mary @ The Book Swarm and The Bewitched Bookworms. Here’s the breakdown from the hosts themselves: For 6 weeks, we will discuss the amazing emotional roller coaster that is Pushing the Limits. We will tear up with Echo, swoon over Noah and thoroughly enjoy this unbelievably fantastic book! Every week will have awesometastic giveaways sponsored by HarlequinTEEN and we have an epic, unique and absolutely adorable Grand Prize sponsored by Bewitched Bookworms and Katie McGarry herself!
Here are the first week’s questions:
  1. The story starts out with Echo’s thoughts on how she wants to answer her therapist’s questions (snarky and caustically truthful) which are quickly juxtaposed to how she does (milque-toasty and banal). Who do you think she hides the truth for more, her parents or herself?
    Answer:
    Definitely for herself. Even though she doesn’t get along with her dad and hates her step-mom Ashley, I think it’s a defense for herself. Even if she did care what her parents thought, she answers quietly and dishonestly as a shield to protect herself. She clearly doesn’t want to talk about the things that happened in her past and doesn’t want to meet with the therapist anymore. Echo tries to make it as quick and painless as possible.
  2. We see Mrs. Collins, the school therapist, interact with both Echo and Noah in the first few chapters. From those interactions, what do you think of her? Is she a prototypical caricature of state care? Or do you think she’s there to make an honest difference in the lives of those she’s there to help?
    Answer:
    So far it seems like she’s more than an assigned therapist, following through with her job. It seems like she really cares about the people that she works with and really wants to see these kids turn their lives around and really help them. So far, I really like her and it also seems like she’s able to take all the crap that these teenagers give her and twist it around to a positive.
  3. Noah has two friends, Beth and Isaiah, who have his back no matter what–through thick and thin–and he has theirs. Consequently, his life is a little easier because he has two people who know about his situation. Echo only has one close friend, and Lila will barely speak to her in school. Do you think Echo would have had an easier time coping and moving on if she had friends like Noah does?
    Answer:
    I definitely think it always helps to have friends you can talk to and who understand you. I know the best thing for me when I’m frustrated or hurting it to talk to someone about it. Friends don’t always have to solve your problems or give you advice, but I think the moral support of just being there is enough to help anyone during a crisis. Echo really pulled back from her friends when “the incident” happened and I think she might have been able to move along with her life better if she had better support on which she could rely.
  4. Echo fixates on a colorful ribbon that sits on the school counselor’s desk during their one-on-one sessions. Do you think this is a case of “Oh, look at the pretty ribbon. Let me zone out while staring at it” , or could it have a deeper significance!
    Answer:
    Hello, foreshadowing!!! Of course it has a deeper significance. Why else would it have been pointed out to us??
  5. Noah and the jacket… Already when Noah and Echo meet for the first time, Noah got angry when Echo forgot her Jacket (pg 34). Then on Echo’s Birthday party Noah gave Echo his jacket when he saw that she forgot hers (pg 54). There is a significance behind his anger when Echo has no coat and it tells already so much about Noah! a) Why do you think is Noah so focused on Echo and her jacket and what does that tell you about Noah’s character? b) Show us your favorite jacket! Either with you having it on or alone!
    Answer: Hmmm. Possibly there was some significant point in his life where a loved one was left out in the cold/froze to death?? Maybe he was without a home for a while with all of his jumping around in poor foster homes and knows the importance of having a coat so he can be mobile at all times?? I noticed that right off the bat that he freaked out when Echo wasn’t wearing her jacket and thought that was odd since at that point they weren’t even friends and he showed so much concern. There’s something behind that! Either way, I know we’ll get the story behind that later!
  6. Echo wears gloves all the time to hide her scars. Not only for her sake, but obviously also for the others. When Noah sees Echo’s scars for the first time he’s shocked. a) Do you think this was the moment he began to see Echo in a different light? b) Show us your favorite pair of gloves!
    Answer:
    Absolutely! Before she was just another girl. Kind of hot. Strangely wears long sleeved shirts, but whatever. Then when Noah sees her scars, it’s like “Whoa! There’s a LOT more to this” and we as the readers kind of almost get the same reaction. There’s a lot more to Echo’s story than we knew, and I definitely think it softens Noah’s feelings towards her. He can tell she’s been through something seriously traumatic and maybe he shouldn’t treat her poorly and tease her. She clearly doesn’t need more of that in her life.
Hi, I'm Brittany!
Hi, I'm Brittany!

I'm an avid reader, candle-maker, and audiobook lover! Here you'll find book reviews, fun blog posts, and my other loves of photography & craft beer!

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11 thoughts on “Pushing The Limits Read-Along: Week 1

  1. Mary @ Book Swarm

    Hello foreshadowing is right! It’s weird how it catches her eye like that and she keeps coming back to it… Noah really did freak out a bit when Echo forgot her jacket. He’s so very protective, even though he claims not to care. A lot going on below the surface, I think.

    Reply
  2. Candace

    Yeah, I got the vibe right away that there was something more with Mrs. Collins. That she can push them both to achieve more and find their way. Plus it’s someone they can mutually ‘hate’. 😉

    Reply
  3. Vyki

    I have never participated in a read along like this before, so I am excited about it 🙂 Great answers! I just posted mine. Would have done it much sooner, but work is killing me!

    Reply
  4. DannyBookworm

    OoOOoO!!!! I LOVE your questions! love them:))

    Seriously I think at this point everyone thought about this ribbon to have a significance… I was just dump and confused lool!
    I love your take on Noah and the Jacket! Yes, maybe he knows how it is to be cold – poor boy!!

    Thank you for joining the Read-Along :))

    Reply
    1. Brittany

      Thanks, Danny!! It’s really fun 🙂 I haven’t done a real-along before and it’s been a blast so far! Half the fun is sharing the reading with other people 🙂

      Reply

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