Blog Tour: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

 Today I am very excited to welcome Katie McGarry to the blog! Her book, Pushing the Limits, is one of my favourite books I've read all year and has quickly become one of my favourites! I sincerely hope that you go out and read this book, for I think it is fantastic. 

So I love this book, these characters .. and the fact that Katie is here today talking about Awesome Women, something very close to my heart. Over to you, Katie... 

 To find out more about Katie McGarry or Pushing the Limits, please do visit the following websites: 

Katie McGarry ... Katie on Twitter ... Katie on FaceBook ... Katie on GoodReads

Could you tell us something about the women in your life who have been an influence on you?

It’s funny you ask. While writing this I am days away from my US release and I was thinking about people I’d love to give a finished copy to. One of these people is a teacher/coach I had in high school.

I first met her my freshman year when I walked onto my school’s tennis team. She scared me a little, because let’s face it, most adults did. In my sophomore year, I had her for history and from that point forward she became a pivotal person in my life.

In her class, we often had to write essays and give speeches. She saw something in me, in my writing, in the stories I told during my speeches, and she told me that she thought I had a talent. She encouraged me to enter my essays into contests and to enter speech competitions. Under her advice I did and I was shocked when I succeeded.

On the court, she encouraged my quest to play competitively outside the high school arena. When I couldn’t find rides to tournaments or to the above speech competitions, she drove me. One summer, she drove me to a town an hour and a half away on her birthday so I could compete.

This woman told me more than once that I was college material and that I should keep my goals high. It is because of her faith in me that I’m where I’m at today.

If you had any advice for yourself as a teenager, what would you say?

That this too shall pass. When I was a teenager, I felt that every situation I found myself in would endure for the rest of my life. It’s not true. While some situations were harder than others, each morning brought a new day and a renewed sense of hope that I’d someday find happiness.

Who are your top literary heroines?

Katniss Everdeen from the Suzanne Collin’s Hunger Games

Frannie Goldsmith from Stephen King’s The Stand

Alice Bell from Gena Showalter’s Alice in Zombieland