Life in the Fast Lane

"Why doesn't anyone want to keep me?"
--Crash Into You, Katie McGarry

Genre: YA Contemporary

Publisher: Harlequin Teen, 474 pages

Publication Date: November 26th, 2013

Source: Borrowed ARC
Goodreads
Previous Books in Series: Pushing the Limits & Dare You To

Goodreads Description

The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life-that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers...and she's just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker-a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind.

Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks-no matter how angelic she might look.

But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other.

My Thoughts

Oh my. Where do I begin?! Ugh, this is a review where I will proceed to ramble and flail and try to make coherent sense of ALL THE FEELS. Seriously. If you’ve read PTL and DYT or read my reviews of them, you know…you KNOW how much I love Katie McGarry and her books. Heart-pounding, sweat-inducing, fanning myself kind of love. I have not met a Katie McGarry book that I have not fell in love with. After talking to Katie at BEA and her saying that Isaiah is her boy, I knew I would be reading something heartfelt, poignant, and utterly emotional…

…I was not proven wrong. This book is amazing. It truly is heartfelt, poignant, and emotionally driven (driven?...get it?...see what I did there?) Pun intended. It will not be the last. To be honest, I didn’t think a lot about Isaiah while reading PTL and while my heart broke for him in DYT, I was still firmly on Team Ryan for Beth. This book…this book changed everything. Isaiah is a beautifully tortured soul that wants to be loved. *cue my incessant obsession with tortured souls and damaged men* Yes. Isaiah fit my mold emotionally. Physically…hello, lover. Muscular, thick, TATTOOS!! Drives sick cars and drag races. Get me the couch, I am going to faint.

While I loved the sexy descriptions of him, he is so much more than easy on the eyes. He is loyal, so loyal to those he loves and I love this quality. He will do anything to protect his own. His moments with Rachel and how he stands up for her ( I won’t say more than that) had me crying and my heart racing (get it? Racing?!). I could not get enough of the dynamic between these two. Equal parts respect and smolder. The way they saved each other, in a way, was just perfect. I don’t know if I’m saying that right but, to me, they did save each other, in so many ways. I loved that they saw past the perceived stereotype that they each fit into based on first looks. This was my favorite aspect of the story. Watching them grow and learn together.

Our periphery characters don’t disappoint in the least. We meet Abby, who I didn’t think I would like at first and comes to be one of my favorites. She is complex in her own right and I loved seeing her grow and mature throughout the story. Logan…hello, Logan. I want more of him. He is so mysterious to me with all his adrenaline junkie obsessions and I want more Logan. Oh my gosh, Rachel’s brood of brothers?!? Hot. Hot. Hot. I want to know ALL about the Young brothers. They were both an endearing and infuriating part of the story. OH. And the moments with Noah…always appreciate. Thank you, Katie.

I also continue to love how Katie deals with real life issues. These books are not light or superficial, by any means. They deal with legitimate issues and deeply-rooted emotional trauma. One example, Rachel suffer from panic attack. I have never had a panic attack but reading what Rachel felt like while having one, made me claustrophobic. I would have never understood that kind of debilitating panic having not reading about it like it was described. I felt like I gained an insight into a condition I would have never fully understood having not read about it in this way. I still can’t fully grasp it because I’ve never had one, and I hope never to, but it made me extremely empathetic to those who do suffer.  

The plot of the story is constantly speeding forward and never brakes in its action (ya like that one?). I could NOT put this book down. I HAD to know what was going to happen next. And what I love is that SO much happens. There isn’t just one linear plot line. It flows and is fluid and there are so many facets and components to both Rachel and Isaiah, and they are both dealing with a lot more than just their relationship.

Finally, the fact that Katie McGarry constantly takes characters at opposite ends of the social spectrum and fits them together in all the ways that matter never ceases to amaze me. I find it poetic that she takes the token “rich girl”, “bad boy”, “good girl”, “dangerous boy” generalized characters and strips away all the bullshit and introduces you to the person underneath. And that’s all that matters at the end of the day, isn’t it? The person. Not the look. I feel like we could all use this kind of outlook in all of our everyday lives. 

I love this book. I am obsessed with these characters. I absolutely love them. If you have not have the pleasure of reading these books, please do so immediately. You will fall in love with their pain, their drama, their problems, and, ultimately, their love stories.

Should You Read This? Um, duh! But also read Pushing the Limits and Dare You To.