Going too Far by Jennifer Echols

Let's start with the classic bad girl meets good boy story and then turn it on its head with characters who totally rock and are so much more than they seem.

Aaaannndddd BEGIN!

On June 7th (graduation night), Meg is getting out of the small Alabama town she was born and raised in with plans to never, ever come back. She only has a couple of months before graduation in which she plans to get into as much trouble as possible without getting caught. That is until she gets caught by Mr. By The Book Officer John After. Her punishment is to ride patrol with Officer After for one week in hopes of seeing the error of her ways and going on to lead a productive life.

What she doesn't count on is the fact that Officer After is young, incredibly handsome and more than a little funny (usually unintentional). While he initially seems pretty one-dimensional in his mission to 'save' Meg, John reveals himself to posses immensely deep waters leaving me wanting more, more, more. And Meg! Blue hair and full of bravado - I love her.

Both have a past chock-full of skeletons and more than a few hangups when it comes to relationships. Meg has been living life fast and hard (for very good reasons), just waiting for the other shoe to drop. All Meg wants is to get out of Dodge and John is content to stay where he is - definite damper for any relationship. Both are feeling the pull to get closer but each is on the defensive and know exactly what buttons to push.

Much as I love Meg's narrative, as a girl, I felt like some key descriptions of Meg's motorcycle-riding status were missing. Even if I had dyed my hair blue and had firmly established myself in bad girl-landia, I'd still want to wax poetic about my biker chick status at 17. Maybe that's just me wishing I was more edgy than actually I am, but that would be a selling point in my book and she hardly mentioned it at all. (!)

Even though the ending felt rushed, Going too Far caught me from the first and held on tight. Meg's monologue stunned me with it's subtly and humor of all things. I totally dig this chick in her road to self discovery and maturity. And Johnafter. *sigh* He cares! He really cares!! Sometimes I felt like I was watching MTV with all the teeny lingo, but since I enjoyed this book so much, I really didn't care. Not one bit.

8 comments:

Ladytink_534 said...

Meg sounds like a character I could really like! Thanks :)

Michelle said...

Ladytink - Oh I liked Meg so much, I think it's hard not to. She's just my kind of tough girl.

rachel said...

I'm glad you read it! Definitely melodramatic but oh-so-good and fun. :)

Cherie said...

Where do you get these fun book ideas? I can't wait to find it!

Michelle said...

Rachel - yep, me too! So much fun, I loved Meg's running jokes (baking a warm fruit cobbler *snort*)!! It was great.

Cherie - A fellow blogger has generously loaned me a butt-load of books and I am happily devouring them all. Her blog is angieville - she'll give you some fantastic ideas - go forth and let your horizions be broadened...

Leslie said...

ooohh wow! i was going to get this one i think last week but the cover was putting me off... i need to go out and get it =)

Michelle said...

Leslie - yeah, don't worry about the cover... there is one fabulous story behind it!!

Janicu said...

I just read this a few days ago and I LOVED EETTT. I'm writing my review and linking yours. Le sigh. This book is happy-making.