Blog Tour: Walk the Edge by Katie McGarry




Rating: 4 stars
Pub Date: March 29, 2016
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Genre: Young adult contemporary romance
Format/Source: ARC, from a friend/DRC, from the publisher
Status: Book 2 of the Thunder Road companion series

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review as part of the blog tour. This did not affect my review. 


Summary:
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 cyber-bully'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.

Review:
Wow. It's been a while since I've read a Katie McGarry book, and I love falling back into her world. Katie's stories are intense, real, visceral. They're lovely and sweet, but they also never shy away from the ugly parts of life that are occasionally glossed over in books. And yet...they're also full of love and hope and butterflies in your stomach and first kisses and puppy dogs (no, really; there's a dog in Walk the Edge).

I admit I was a little nervous going into Walk the Edge. Razor is depicted as something akin, to a psychopath in Nowhere But Here, but that's not at all who he is. Razor actually is a boy who is unpredictable, distrustful, and closed off, but also kind, loyal, and yes, he just wants to be loved. I fully admit the motorcycle club way of life is one that is strange to me so I empathize with Razor's inability to trust his father and other leaders of the club when they have been lying to him about the circumstances of his mother's death. To me, brotherhood means trust, but it also means honesty, and in both Nowhere But Here and Walk the Edge the club has flirted with disaster by not being honest with Emily and now Razor. Razor is a good guy, one who always has his people's backs (Bre, Violet, Oz, Chevy, Stone), and it's kind of disappointing to see the men Razor looks up to require him to walk outside his comfort zone before they walk outside theirs.

This is one way Razor and Bre are perfect for each other. I adore Breanna. Her voice is sweet, but she's also tough, smart, and caring. I love how she takes care of her siblings, although I hate that she has to. It breaks my heart the way Clara treats her because my sister would never be that way to me. I hate how isolated and invisible Breanna feels even in her own family. I hate how she tells her mom she needs to talk because teens are always told to talk to their parents or a trusted adult, but her mom doesn't listen and then leaves her to play house. Dear adults, if you're reading this review: if a teen ever tells you they need to talk, LISTEN. That right there is what makes teens stop talking to you and get into trouble. But my favorite line of the book, mentioned two or three times, is when Breanna mentions how "the boy everyone sees, but nobody knows is with the girl who everybidy knows but nobody sees" (ARC, pages 229 & 393). I love that they fit together, sometimes exactly alike, sometimes complete opposites.

I also really like the cyber-bullying plot, and I feel like even more than the overarching rival gang plot of the series, this arc was a major strength of the book. I didn't have Facebook in high school. No Twitter. No Snapchat. No Instagram. Nobody had a Youtube channel. No tumblr. I had Myspace for a couple months my senior year, but it was still relatively quiet. It wasn't yet widely known as a way to torment people. I never had to deal with the online pressure teens face today, but thousands of teens today do.

Breanna's and Violet's struggle with blackmail and cyber-bullying and sexism is incredibly relevant and important. Violet's loss of a scholarship, her opportunity to leave Snowflake, is an example of bullshit real-world consequences of VICTIMS of bullying. Another character attempts suicide for fear of those consequences. Katie never pulls punches and here is the modern world all laid out: "once it's out there, it never goes away" (ARC, page 150).

Teens, be smart what you put out there. Parents and teachers and librarians, read this book. Give it to your teens. Give it to boys. Talk to your teens. Actually, talk to your kids. Teach them early. There is so much to learn, so much to discuss from a book like Walk the Edge. I didn't have to deal with this kind of stuff, but it makes me endlessly happy that there are books like this one that will help teen readers. Definitely this is a title I will be recommending to everyone.




Excerpt:
I know that the capital of Bolivia is Sucre. I know that the average distance from the earth to the moon is 238,900 miles. I also know that blue whales can go six months without eating. Random, bizarre stuff. That’s what my head is full of. Nothing that will boost my math scores on the ACT or secure me a date to prom. Nothing that will save me and my best friend from this being our last day on the planet. 

While my brain is obviously wired differently, there are certain common sense rules all girls in town comprehend. It’s not knowledge that has to be taught, like when I was six and my oldest brother spent weeks teaching me to tie my shoes or how at four my older sister spared a few minutes from her overly important life to show me how to spell my name. 

In fact, sitting here on the top step to the entrance of Snowflake High watching this potential disaster unfold, I search my memory for the first person who warned me to steer clear of the Reign of Terror Motorcycle Club. 

There was no pamphlet handed out during health class. No sex conversation like the one my mom had with me in Kindergarten because I referred to a certain male body part by the same name as a round toy. Stupid brothers teaching me their stupid slang. 

But when it pertains to the threat that is the Reign of Terror MC, it’s not learned, it’s known. Like how an infant understands how to suck in a breath at the moment of birth or how a newborn foal wobbles to his legs. It’s instinctual. It’s ingrained. It’s fact. 

“Do you think his motorcycle will work this time?” Addison asks.

“Hope so,” I breathe out, too terrified to speak at a normal level in fear of drawing the scrutiny of the men wearing black leather vests who circle the broke-down bike. Reign of Terror arches over the top of the black vest, in the middle is a half skull with fire blazing out of the eye sockets and drops of fire rain around it. It’s ominous and I shiver. 

Addison and I sit huddled close. Legs touching. Shoulders bumped into the other. We’d probably hold hands if we didn’t have our welcome back to school information folders gripped tightly to our chests. Because we can’t spawn eyes in the back of our head, we lean against the large pillar of the overhang so no one can sneak up on us from behind. 

It’s edging toward nine in the evening but the August sun hasn’t completely set. Darkness, though, has claimed most of the sky. Temperatures during the afternoon hit over a hundred and I swear the concrete stairs and pillar absorbed every ounce of today’s sunshine and is not transferring the heat onto my body. 

Sweat rolls down my back and I shift to peel my thighs off the step. Why I thought it was a fantastic idea to wear the jean skirt, I have no idea. 

I take that back. I do have a clue for my clothing choice. Tonight is the first time my entire grade was together in one room since the end of last year. My goal for the year may seem simple to some, but to me, it sometimes feels impossible. I’d like to be seen, to be known as something more than freakishly smart Breanna Miller at least once before I leave this town. I’d like to somehow find the courage to be on the outside who I am on the inside. 

An annoying sixth sense informs me that I’m about to make a huge impression—on the evening news: two friends on the verge of starting their senior year vanish without a trace. Because that’s how motorcycle clubs would handle this—they’ll kidnap us and then hide our bodies after they’re finished with whatever ritual act they’ll use to perform. 

My knee begins to bounce. Mom and Dad left after my failed attempt to convince them to let me attend High Grove Academy and they promised to return in time for pickup. 

The senior welcome session ended at eight and the parking lot cleared out by eight twenty. The straggling parents arrived by eight thirty and that left Addison and me alone with blond-haired biker boy and his dilapidated machine. 

He called his buddies around the same time I tried the various members of my family for the fiftieth time. His gang showed in a chrome procession in less than ten minutes. I’m still waiting to hear from anyone I’m related to. 


Register your preorder of Walk the Edge and receive an exclusive Echo and Noah short story AND enter to win a chance to be in the next Thunder Road novel! Register here or click the picture above. 

Book Buy Links:
   

About the Author:

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, and 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 Limits, 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, an 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:
   



Giveaway: 
Four winners will receive a signed copy of Nowhere But Here.
This giveaway is open internationally.

Tour Schedule: 
Check out all of the WALK THE EDGE tour stops here!
March 21st
Grownup Fangirl – Excerpt
Broc's Bookcase – Review
BookWorm221 – Review & Excerpt
Take Me Away To A Great Read – Review & Excerpt
Dark Faerie Tales – Review
Lost in Literature – Review & Excerpt
Always YA at Heart – Review & Excerpt

March 22nd
Letter shelves blog – Review & Excerpt
Oh My Shelves – Excerpt
Milky Way of Books – Review & Excerpt
Mary Had a Little Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
Tween 2 Teen Book Reviews – Review & Excerpt

March 23rd
Eye in Bookland – Review
Under the Covers – Review & Excerpt
the bookdragon – Review & Excerpt
Lost in a Book Blog – Excerpt
Emilie's Book World – Review & Excerpt
No BS Book Reviews – Review & Excerpt

March 24th
Angel Reads – Review
Ineffable Book Blog – Review
LucyLicious Reads – Excerpt
YA Book Divas – Excerpt
Movies, Shows & Books – Excerpt
Peace Love Books – Excerpt
BookCrushin – Review & Excerpt

March 25th
So Bookalicious – Review & Excerpt
LuLo Fangirl – Excerpt
Little Read Riding Hood – Review & Excerpt
Gabic Reads – Excerpt
2 Greek Girls Reading – Excerpt
Chasing Faerytales – Review
HotPreasedBooks – Review & Excerpt

March 26th
Margie's Must Reads – Review & Excerpt
Girl Plus Books – Review & Excerpt
Short and Sassy Book Blurbs – Review & Excerpt
The Consummate Reader – Review & Excerpt
Curled Up and Cozy – Review & Excerpt
Becky on Books – Review & Excerpt
Brittany's Book Blog – Excerpt

March 27th
Beauté De Livres – Review
Lita's Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
Oh My Growing TBR – Review & Excerpt
Rachel's Book Reviews – Review & Excerpt
Have Words Will Scribble – Review & Excerpt
Cocktails and Books – Review & Excerpt

March 28th
Lazy Book Lovers – Review & Excerpt
Kindle and Me – Review & Excerpt
Crazii Bitches Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
TSK TSK What to Read – Review & Excerpt
PopKitty Book Reviews – Review & Excerpt
Confessions of a Bookfreak – Review & Excerpt
Bows & Bullets Reviews – Review & Excerpt

March 29th
The Book Hammock – Review & Excerpt
Best Book Boyfriends – Review & Excerpt
Defiantly Deviant – Review
Desert Divas Book Addiction – Review & Excerpt
Bookworm Misfit – Review & Excerpt
Bookaholics Anonymous – Review & Excerpt
Lady Amber's Reviews – Excerpt

March 30th
Pages to Explore – Review & Excerpt
The Butterfly reads – Review
Book Angel Booktopia – Review & Excerpt
Bridget's Book Bungalow – Review & Excerpt
Nerdy Soul – Review & Excerpt
Once Upon a Twilight – Excerpt
True Story Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
behind Closed Covers – Review & Excerpt

March 31st
Coffee&Books – Excerpt
A Book Lovers Playlist – Review & Excerpt
I Heart YA Books – Review & Excerpt
Sanaa's Book Blog – Review & Excerpt
Avid Reader Musings – Excerpt
RhiReading – Review & Excerpt

April 1st
This Literary Life – Review & Excerpt
Buttermybooks – Review
A Pair of Okies – Excerpt
Shelf_life – Review & Excerpt
PBC – Excerpt

April 2nd
BooksChatter – Excerpt
For the Love of Books and Alochol – Review & Excerpt
Book Bitches Blog – Review & Excerpt
The Cover Contessa – Review & Excerpt
Aaly and The Books – Review & Excerpt
Book Butterfly in Dreamland – Review & Excerpt
BOOKS&LOVERS – Review & Excerpt
Greyland Reviews – Excerpt

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