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 [4], 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 [5] or call the Frankfort Avenue store at (502) 896-6950.
Image: Courtesy of Carmichael’s Bookstore website www.carmichaelsbookstore.com [6]