New Release Review! WALK THE EDGE by Katie McGarry (Thunder Road #2)

One moment…That’s all it takes to change your life.

What happens when your entire future is on the line because of one reckless moment? This is what Breanna Miller and Thomas “Razor” Turner have to face in Katie McGarry’s WALK THE EDGE. Blackmail, family secrets, future plans on the verge of collapsing, two people who aren’t supposed to be together fall in love, and the power of social media in defining who you are when you’re not even sure who that person is yet…Join the Club and and immerse yourself in the world of the Reign of Terror. Pick up WALK THE EDGE today!

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.

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.

Review:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again–I am so glad I didn’t have to deal with growing up in the time of social media. What people can (and do) do with it scares the heck out of me. Add that to the volatile mix that is high school?

Terrifying. Truly.

Though I’m sure Walk the Edge would still be the kick-butt story that it is without the social media element to it, I can’t deny that it absolutely added to the story. Breanna definitely could have been threatened in some other way, and Razor would have needed to protect her, but adding in the it’s-never-going-to-truly-go-away aspect of the internet to it all? (I say as I write this review on the internet) Talk about amping up the drama!

And…so scary. (shudder)

I really liked book one of this series, even though I often had issues with the characters’ behavior in it. But this one? This one I loved from page one. Breanna and Razor/Thomas are fantastic characters. At first glance it appears they couldn’t be more different, but as the story continues we begin to see that they actually have a heck of a lot more in common than anyone thinks. Both are used to being talked about–Breanna because of the quirky way her brain works, and Razor because of how his mother died (not to mention he’s already a full-fledged member of the Reign of Terror). Razor’s been unable to fully trust his family (the club); even his dad has been on the can’t-get-too-close-to list since his mother’s death. Breanna’s the middle of nine kids, and has never felt like she belongs–the older kids shut her out while the younger ones see her as another parent, mostly because her parents are constantly dumping the care of them on her while they’re elsewhere. Even when she essentially begs her mother to listen to the problem she’s having, her mother brushes her off because her older sister Clara “needs her more” right then. And then there’s the secret pain that they’re both holding deep inside them and have been for years…so, yeah, they’ve got a whole heck of a lot in common.

Their relationship grows slowly, which is exactly as it should be. For all that the good girl/bad boy troupe is seemingly everywhere these days, somehow this story makes it feel fresh and new. I loved watching them grow closer together–first as friends, then as more–and how each of them made the other one stronger. I especially loved how they eventually resolved Breanna’s big problem–it wasn’t one or the other of them “fixing” it, but they each did their own part to make things better. Plus, Breanna’s way had me in tears. Actually, the whole last quarter of the book turned me into waterworks. But I digress…

Usually MC books aren’t my “thing”, and as much as I loved Ms. McGarry’s first series (Pushing the Limits) I would have never believed I’d say this, but Thunder Road just might actually be my favorite series of hers…especially if Violet and Chevy’s book lives up to the hype I’ve built up for it in my head. (It’s next! YES!!! And she only made us sit through two other books to get to it…but what fantastic books they were :)) And Goodreads says there’s going to be a fourth book after that?

YES.

Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

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“There’s something about McGarry’s writing that’s totally enthralling. Her characters are vivid, flawed and riveting, making this is a truly amazing read!”

~ RT Book Reviews

“Katie McGarry is a master of her craft! Raw emotion, pure grit, I hang on every word. Her characters are real people with real problems and I cheer them every step of the way. Ready for a new addiction? Look no further than Katie McGarry’s books.”

~ Gena Showalter, Bestselling author of Firstlife

“I finished WALK THE EDGE by the amazing Katie McGarry. It was SO good that now I feel bereft. I already miss Razor & Bre – I need to know more! She is by far my #1 favorite author. She paints a picture with the words, puts you IN the story… LOVE.”

~ Lori Foster, New York Times Bestselling Author

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.