Novel Review: Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Rating (Out of 5): ~4-4.5

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: MTV Books

Release Date: 2009

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. BookDepository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

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....

The Cover:

The cover works, don't get me wrong. It fits with one of her previous books, and the style of it is all right. But I'm generally not a big fan of the super close image of the faces. It works, and it's not terrible, but not really eye-catching, and it doesn't make me want to read the book. It doesn't really show me what I'm getting with the book, either.

Generally, though, I think her covers need a re-do, especially to go with her newer books. They could be a lot better.

Review:

I wasn’t expecting this. I ended up picking this up by chance, and now I’m wishing I’d started it forever ago, and that I already had all of her other books waiting. I loved it.

Meg is getting into trouble left and right. Having a casual fling with any guy as long as he doesn’t care anymore than she does, drinking, speeding. Her parents have had enough. And all she wants is to get out.

And then she gets caught, and is put on probation in the form of riding along with John, a new cop who wants her to get her act together. There’s an immediate attraction between Meg and John, and they’re only a year apart. But they’re both so closed off that they’re going to push each other too far.

I loved the chemistry between them. John is very reluctant, but they’re both very closed off and secretive, with something big in their past that they can’t get over. They push each other too far, because of how little they really know about each other. And despite that, I loved them together, and I loved the ending.

The things they’d been through was very believable to me, as with their reactions to them. Meg’s rebellion, and the way John grew up too fast and became a cop so quickly. It all made perfect sense to me, and I loved the way everything was revealed. The secrets were always ther, but I had no real idea what they were until they were revealed, and the timing was perfect. As was the conclusion.

I loved this book even more than I thought I would, and now I can’t wait to get my hands on more.