The teenager is a breed of human animal I do not understand. They run an awkward gamut of confusion, mayhem and hyper-active, Technicolor emotions that bewilder my fragile grasp on reality. Teenagers are angry. They feel things. And a potent cocktail of hormones and heightened self-awareness propel them through life decisions like blind rhinoceroses (rhinoceri?). My own experience as a sub-adult was peppered with dark corners, embarrassing poetic emoting and a smattering of ill-conceived attempts at love. I also had braces and listened to Hoobastank. These were not the best years of my life. But despite – or perhaps because of – the obvious danger that adolescents pose to society, the teenaged whirlwind makes for one hell of a juicy story. Ready to move on from glittery vampires? Join teen author Katie McGarry as she brings her new delightfully angst-laden novel, Pushing the Limits, to Carmichael’s Bookstore tomorrow evening at 7pm.
Woven with the much-beloved yarn of the Impossible Love Story, Pushing the Limits tells the tale of Echo Emerson, a popular, beautiful youth who finds herself the fodder for whispers and pointing fingers after a confusing night that left her with scarred arms and a fresh label as an “outsider”. But from this lonelier dark side, Echo meets – and, yes, falls passionately in love with – “the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket”, Noah Hutchins. I’ll leave you to fill in the steamy blanks.
Pushing the Limits is the first novel from teen writer Katie McGarry, an author who acknowledges her own coming-of-age as an era of grunge and boy bands. A self-described lover of “music, happy endings and reality television”, McGarry’s persona likely strikes a familiar cord with her target audience. Chosen as a Summer 2012 Kids’ Indie Next List title, Pushing the Limits is the debut work in McGarry’s preferred writing genus, a genre she calls “Contemporary Young Adult love stories”; her next book written in the realm of juicy teen drama, Dare You To, is scheduled for release sometime in 2013.
Ready for a dose of some paperback cotton candy – with, oh, maybe just a drop or two of drama? Meet up with McGarry tomorrow night at the Carmichael’s Frankfort Avenue store for a reading and book signing sure set your melo-drama meter soaring and your summer reading list blazing.
Pushing the Limits is available at both Carmichael’s locations for $17.99 in hardcover. Carmichael’s Bookstore has two area locations: 1295 Bardstown Road and 2720 Frankfort Avenue. For more information, visit the event page or call the Frankfort Avenue store at (502) 896-6950.
Image: Courtesy of Carmichael’s Bookstore website www.carmichaelsbookstore.com
