Going Too Far, Jennifer Echols
4 of 5 StarsAge Group / Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Publication: 3/17/2009, MTV Books
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Why I Chose It: I received a signed copy from the author with no obligation to read and/or review. This has in no way affected my review.
Synopsis from Goodreads: HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO?
All Meg has ever wanted is to get away. Away from high school. Away from her backwater town. Away from her parents who seem determined to keep her imprisoned in their dead-end lives. But one crazy evening involving a dare and forbidden railroad tracks, she goes way too far...and almost doesn't make it back.
John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules. To serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won't soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won't be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge -- and over....
My Review: I'm feeling pretty foolish as I type this. The entire time I was reading Going Too Far one thought kept repeating in my head: how have I never read a Jennifer Echols novel before? That and 'damn, I wish I could make out with Officer After'. The cover of the book doesn't help. Look at his mouth. Totally kissable. Oh, there I go, thinking about it AGAIN.
Moving on, Meg is troubled. She drinks, she engages in casual sex, she decides to engage in said casual sex on a bridge where two kids were hit & killed by an oncoming train. John (Officer After) is the by-the-book police officer that arrests her. Match made in heaven, no?
In her mind, Meg thinks she's living, experiencing all life has to offer by being reckless. And in John's mind he's making the world a safer place by enforcing the rules. In a way, they are, but in a way, they're each going too far. Neither one is really living. They're merely ghosts of the people they would have been but for a tragedy they each suffered in their past. And when their lives converge they find an attraction they can't deny. So they bicker, push, and love in a way that brings out the worst and ultimately the best in each other.
This is one of those books that was a quick read for me, meaning I was unable to put it down until I finished. This may have been because I developed an undying affection for Officer After. More likely it's because I developed an undying affection for Jennifer Echols writing style.
She's like my author soulmate, writing in a way that is perfectly suited to my tastes. I tore through the pages and when I closed the back cover, I had a huge smile on my face. There's really nothing negative to say about it at all. I mean it may have been a tad predictable but that's only a problem for me when the characters lack depth and honestly that's not an issue here. Meg and John are fully formed, compelling characters. Their story is one full of tension, and heartbreak, and romance. If you're like me and you haven't read Going Too Far yet, pick it up. You'll fall in love with these characters.
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