Customer Reviews

Going Too Far

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

All Meg has ever wanted is to escape from her backwater hometown. Away from certain memories, away from her parents who seem to want to suffocate her in their dull lives...away from everything. And it looks like she's getting her wish, it's almost spring break and she's going on a trip to Miami and see the beach.

But then, Meg and a few friends end up on a bridge where, a few years ago, some kids died. They're caught by a cop, John After, who's only 19 years old and was one of the top students of his year...Meg can't imagine why he would choose to remain tied down in the tiny town and work as a cop. But John is connected, strangely, to the bridge and Meg and her friends' stunt provokes him to want to teach them a memorable lesson.

Meg is assigned to join John After during his night shifts for a week, to learn about the law and the importance of it.

Only, Meg isn't one to be complacent and she pushes to find out exactly what promoted John to remain bound to the small town that she's so determined to escape from. And he fights back, and stretches her boundaries in an attempt to figure out exactly why Meg refuses to remain in the small Alabama town that has shaped both of their lives so much.

So, this was my second Jennifer Echols novel. I'd always intended to read The Boys Next Door, but for some reason, I never got around to it. I *did* read Major Crush which was a pretty cute ro-com read. But then I read Going Too Far. It blew Major Crush away.

I'd expected Going Too Far to be good. To be great, even. I was sure that when I reviewed it, I'd tackle it like most of the other books I've reviewed. Normal and level-headed. Except this time, I have no CHOICE but to let loose and write a completely fan-girly review of Going Too Far. You've been warned.

Okay. So this book has depth. And I'm not talking the shallow pool that some YA novels are. Going Too Far is a freaking ocean. And I mean it in the best way possible.

The relationships and characters in this novel are so complex and layered. The main characters and secondary characters all seem so real. They all have their dreams, their hobbies and their insecurities. John and Meg's pasts both haunt them, every decision in the now is a reflection of certain events from before. Both have secrets that are hinted at, throughout the novel. But, it is only further in the novel that the secrets are fully revealed to the reader and the other characters. (And, of course, this fuels further conflict and further revelations and conclusions.)

The story is told in Meg's POV, and it couldn't be told any other way. Meg's voice is realistic; everything about her makes sense and stays true to her character.

Along with that, Meg's easy to relate with and feel for, despite her not being like the average teenager. When she hurts, you cringe. When she's happy, you smile. In that aspect, reading Going Too Far is like a (fun) roller coaster.

Similarly, John is well-rounded as well. His secret, his driving motivation in life and everything..really, are questioned by Meg in this novel. The way he handles his life, his job and the way he is, makes it easy to feel for him as well.

And when you put the two characters together? It's completely believable to have them get each other. To have them fall in love, even. There are so many books where relationships are handled shabbily; the girl and the guy meet, think the other is hot and decide, at the end of the book, that they should go out. It's not like this at all in Going Too Far. In the span of the week that the book takes place over, it's easy to see their relationship build as you read page after page.

Overall, Going Too Far is an intense, touching and believable story of love, loss and friendship that will resonate with you for a long time after you've closed the book.

Honestly, this is one that deserves a spot on your bookshelf. Make sure you pick up a copy!
Reader Rabbit
readerrabbit.blogspot.com

In Jennifer Echols' Going Too Far, two teens full of their own personal demons meet one night under volatile circumstances and end up pushing each other to his/her limit while falling in love.

The characters are real and interesting, showing great development from the first page. Meg feels like a real troubled teen, who is not without humor or sarcasm, though she is not happy with her lot. John also has his own issues to work out, and is nothing like normal from the beginning. The side characters are engaging and realistic, as well.

Told in first person perspective, Meg describes what is happening in her life, and is honest enough about herself the reader can mostly trust what she sees and feels. The writing is easy to follow and flows rather nicely.

While there are no big surprises in the story, I was still impressed by all the little details the author tied into the plot. No strings were left untied, and everything that happened or was said had some meaning and was important in some way. The novel was tight and concise, making the story and reading experience even better.

I would recommend this teen novel to anyone who wants some drama, heartache, and growth in their teen romance. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will not hesitate to pick up the next book by this author.

This book was HOT! The chemistry and banter between Meg and John (Officer After) could keep me reading for probably a 1,000 pages. It was an absolute pleasure to read I couldn't get enough of it.

Echols writing style is just perfect to me, it's humorous and detailed and random, everything I love. She created a very likable character in Meg, someone who intentionally creates a somewhat shocking appearance (blue hair) and attitude to protect herself but little by little we learn more about Meg and the reason she is the way she is and you can't help being on her side and wanting to be her friend. And John, man, I loved reading about this boy. I don't even know what to say.

I loved reading about John and Meg on night patrol and watching Meg realize she's falling in love with him. It's pretty cute to see this punk haired bad-a%* girl get kind of self conscious around John. There is a great push and pull between them that keeps you on edge, needing to know where this is going to go.

I'm at a loss for words of how to express how much I loved this book! It has so very many things going for it, GREAT characters (main and secondary) a great premise, humor, pain.... just please, do yourself a favor and read this book! I'll definitely be reading the rest of the author's books!

And seriously, when can I see the movie version? :P

I purchased this book on my Kindle knowing nothing about the book or the author, wooed by the plethora of rave reviews and the promise that it had great depth. I began it because I love young adult fiction, and was excited to have a new author to read. I pushed through to the end only because I hate to leave a book unfinished.

Reading the sample, I thought the book had some potential. Strong female lead who clearly has unresolved issues and who is in a bad relationship gets in trouble with the police and has to spend a week with a cop, the brooding male lead who also has unresolved issues. But the way it panned out, I found it extremely disappointing.

My first issue was that it went too fast. A week and a half after meeting each other and Meg and John were fantasizing about how much they loved each other? It did not feel believable, and that shook me out of the story, so that much of the time, I found myself staring at the book in incredulity. Echols did not give her characters time to develop a relationship, and honestly, it made them seem desperate.

There was too much sex. Every character of any note in the story seemed to have only one intention. Not only were Meg's and John's minds filled with the idea of a one-night stand, which seemed somewhat out of character for John, at least, but every supporting character was given some occasion to state their yearning to have sex, even if it seemed out of place or out of character. A novel can be a deep, satisfying read and relationships can have chemistry on the page without every character attempting to get in someone else's pants.

Did I mention that the characters did not seem believable? Meg seemed especially so, although because it was written from her perspective, I was closer to her than to anyone else. **SMALL SPOILER ALERT** There were several times when I sat there wondering, why in the world are you going to meet Eric? I thought we were over this by now, and you are acknowledging up front that this will end badly. Or, why are you confiding in Will? Sure, he's John's best friend, but you barely know him - you just met him. **END OF SPOILERS** Later in the book, explanations were sometimes attempted to make it seem more true to character, but by that time, Echols and Meg had already lost me, and I was just forcing myself to read to the end.

This book tried really hard to be a deep, resonating novel with lots of character development. To that end, Echols amply provided both leads with troubled pasts. But the characters' histories seemed really forced, and new information was revealed awkwardly at frequent intervals not because it fit the characters but because it was needed to push the plot forward. Also, neither of them ever actually resolved any of their issues; they just managed to gloss over them enough that they were able to move forward. The end of the book was awkward, much too fast, and conveniently tied things up in ways not really true to the characters.

Finally, other reviewers have praised this book for beautiful writing, but I saw none of that. The dialogue was terrible; teenagers simply do not talk the way Meg, John and their friends did. The plot was predictable, which I do not always consider a bad thing if the story and the writing draws me in, but this did not. Meg makes a huge, shocking discovery about John's family right at the end of the book - but I realized it when his family was first mentioned, half the book earlier. By the time I was ¾ of the way through, I wished the book would just end already so that the sickening prose would be over. I had high hopes for this book based on all the positive reviews, but now that I have finished it, I don't understand why there are so few low reviews. I will not be rereading this book, and I will not be following Echols' writing. If a YA novel with depth is what you are looking for, try anything by Sarah Dessen or Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver instead.

Meg has wanted nothing more than to get away from her backwater town. Dealing with her parents who don't understand her, she rebels. She does what she wants when she wants to do it, so she's no friend of the police in town. One night, a week before spring break, Meg and some friends decide to go to a bridge in town that's off limits. Before she can dye her hair another bright color, Meg is having to cancel her plans to go to the beach for Spring Break, so that she can ride with the cop that arrested her on the graveyard shift.

What Meg expects from the week riding with Officer John After and what she gets are two totally different things. She never expects that she knows John from high school or that they even had a class together. Meg also doesn't expect to fall for John. He's the opposite of everything that she stands for. But they both have skeletons in their closets and maybe they'll be able to help each other and find a common ground.

This is the first time that I have intentionally read slow so that the book would last longer. Going Too Far is a wonderful and deep book. I didn't want it to end. Jennifer Echols makes you feel like you're in the story. I felt what Meg felt, even though I've never been in her kind of trouble. The story isn't as stereotypical as you might think that it is. It gives a new spin and a refreshing look at how life can be unfair sometimes, but it's how you pull yourself out of the rubble that counts. This is one of my Top 2009 Picks and I highly recommend that you pick it up when you're on your next trip to the bookstore. Happy reading!!

After reading Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles I was hungry for more love stories like it. The teen first love but a bit more grown up. I found it with Going Too Far. From the very first page you know that this isn't your typical fluffy love story. No, Meg is definitely a troublemaker and proud of it. What she really needs to get her life straightened out is a little fear. At least that is what Office After thinks. But neither Meg or After's past is exactly as it seems.

The writing was spot on. Exactly what I needed at the time. I don't remember the last time I laughed out loud this much while reading. I really could not put this book down. I finished it in one day. I'm still thinking about Meg and John days later.

Meg and JohnAfter were perfect. I think I might have fallen in love with John just a little. He was so swoon worthy. Their banter with each other during the week they were stuck together is priceless. I love that their secrets were revealed slowly throughout the book. It made it so much more exciting.

This was an incredible love story with a twist. I highly recommend it. Especially if you are getting a bit tired of those fluffy romances.

It was my birthday eve and I was feeling like being incredibly cozy and wanted something sweet and absorbing. Jennifer Echols' GOING TOO FAR is both. I read it in one sitting and pretty much had to know what happened before I could sleep. The funny thing was my dreams had an interesting musical score behind them that night. Full of songs about love and loss. Particularly "Re: Stacks" by Bon Iver. Over and over again in my head, this one seemed to fit Meg and John so well.

Stuck in Nowhere, Alabama, Meg MacPherson is counting down the hours until she can move away to college. And it doesn't even matter that she's only going just a few miles down the road to Birmingham. She'll still be away from her hometown, away from her parents, and away from her thankless (and payless) job at their 24-hour breakfast greasy spoon--Eggstra! Eggstra! *snort* For the last few years Meg has comfortably occupied the position of town Bad Girl, complete with rapidly changing hair color (currently blue) and revolving door of lousy boyfriends (seriously, her latest makes Charlie Sheen look like a real catch). One night up on the railroad bridge, Meg and three compatriots have the misfortune to be caught, drunk and disorderly, by the local cops. For their punishment, they each have to spend a week riding with one of the emergency personnel that had to come out after them that night. Meg pulls the cop who chewed her out that night--Officer After--a 19-year-old hometown boy whose only ambition in life appears to be busting the butts of errant high schoolers and who never dreams of leaving. Over the course of the next five days, Meg and Officer After learn a few things about each other that complicate both of their long-term plans.

At first these two seem like fairly straightforward stereotypes. Bad Girl meets Straight Shooter. Sparring and romance ensue. In that order. But then, just as you're prepared to get bored, things get interesting. Meg shows herself to be quite a bit more layered than initially expected. She's clearly got several hideous incidents in her past which make it, among other things, difficult to be in confined spaces. Handcuffs or prison bars, for example, assume nightmarish proportions for Meg. And she has a charming habit of voicing her thoughts and emotions. Every time she blurted out, "I am full of fear," I laughed and loved her more. Except when she really was. And had good reason to be. Then I was full of fear for her and I couldn't stop turning the pages. John is as layered as Meg, only it comes out more slowly as Meg herself discovers it. And it doesn't all come out in the right order, which is frustrating for all concerned. But they're both so likable, you'll go along for the ride. My favorite bit about this story is that in the end, when the inevitable unforgivable act occurs, Meg squares her shoulders and fixes things. She doesn't dissolve in her despair but rather has a good cry and then goes about making reparation and salvaging what she can. I always liked her, but that's when I admired her. Recommended for fans of Simone Elkeles' Perfect Chemistry, Laura Wiess' Such a Pretty Girl, and for when you're looking for a light, swallow-in-a-single-gulp read.

*This review contains some mild spoilers*

Thanks to Amanda at Another Book Junkie for recommending this one. I read Going Too Far in one sitting last night (well, I may have gotten up once or twice for a Popsicle break. It's the first day of summer, after all!). After racing through J.R. Ward's Dark Lover earlier this weekend, a YA book about humans seemed like it would be a most refreshing change of pace. And it was. I basically enjoyed it.

There is plenty of lively banter between Meg and John, which leads them to have sizzling chemistry. I wouldn't say either character is particularly complex...but they do have distinct voices and react believably to the various hardships they've had to undergo in their lives. In this sense, the book is definitely above average in the genre.

Amanda was right, however, to warn me that it's no Perfect Chemistry. A trailer-park romance between a rebellious 17 yr old Leukemia survivor and a cop who arrests her for trespassing on a railroad bridge (while drunk and stoned), Going Too Far seems on the surface more original than Perfect Chemistry, a story about star-crossed lovers who bond in chemistry class.

Yet...Perfect Chemistry seemed more real to me than Going Too Far. In the latter, the main characters, Meg and John, are carrying some serious baggage, just as Brittany and Alex are in Perfect Chemistry. Meg suffers from claustrophobia, both in the physical sense of fear of closed spaces as well as an emotional claustrophobia, which leads her to avoid forming close relationships with anyone. She is reckless and impulsive, constantly seeking thrills through drugs, boys that are no good, and risky ventures like hanging out on the railroad bridge where four teenagers were killed tragically years before. She says she does these things "to feel alive" - and because nothing will ever seem dangerous to her compared to nearly dying of leukemia when she was 13.

John is the opposite: he's extremely intelligent and artistic and could have secured a scholarship that would have enabled him to escape from the small, redneck Alabama town they live in. But he chooses to stay in the small town and become a cop at age 19, a profession which he claims he wants to pursue without promotion for the rest of his life. He is not a risk-taker. Unlike Meg, who does dangerous things in a misguided attempt to feel alive, John accepts that he's basically dead, that his life will never get any better than it is now. He thinks this is a burden he has to bear, as penance for an old guilt (the cause of which is revealed late in the book).

So, predictably, John and Meg fall in love and each influences the other to overcome their fears and embrace a world of possibility and live happily ever after. That was the part that bothered me. The whole thing was just tied up way too neatly for my taste; it was too symmetrical. Dangerous, risk-seeking girl meets safe, boring boy. Both are terrified of actually living, because both have come close to death in their past. Both attempt to "live" in the wrong way. They force each other to come face to face with their darkest fear, and in doing so both immediately overcome said fear, putting it behind them forever, moving on to a life of eternal happiness (presumably).

Perfect Chemistry kept me guessing. The climax happened, and then it was still a number of months before Brittany and Alex were able to move forward. In Going Too Far, there's a very emotional scene at the end, in which the tightly controlled John finally snaps, and we think we're going to see some real emotions, some serious pain from him. But...he gets over it in the space of about 12 hours, does a full 180, overcomes all his fears, and embraces the life of opportunity he's been resisting since tragedy hit when he was 9 yrs old. It was just too easy and left a bad taste in my mouth.

On the plus side, John After reminded me of Dimitri Belikov of Vampire Academy, what with his rigid self control, his serious brown eyes that occasionally could be full of such warmth and love, and even his language, which was always short and to the point. I almost feel like Jennifer Echols was channeling my beloved Dimitri as she wrote this (or maybe I am just obsessed and will myself to see Dimitri everywhere). Meg, too, reminded me of Rose Hathaway sometimes, with her sassiness, her promiscuity, and her protectiveness of her friend Tiffany. I wonder if Jennifer Echols has read Vampire Academy...hmmmmm.

So, to sum up, an enjoyable read, definitely recommended--I just wish the end hadn't been so clean, quick, and contained.

3.5 stars

Meg is rebellious and impulsive, and she bides her time until graduation day when she can skip town by partying hard and distracting herself from her home life. But one night, she crosses a line...John After's line. John may only be a year older than Meg, but already he is a police officer, and he is determined to stay in town and do his duty and protect. When he catches Meg and her friends on a railway bridge, he comes up with an unconventional punishment that he hopes will teach her a lesson...but instead it just throws them together, leaving them nowhere to go but too far.

Jennifer Echols' book is an intense, quick read that is brimming with action, sarcasm, and passion. Meg is a confident, pushy, and mysterious character whose voice is bold and quite unforgettable. John After is a very complex and intriguing character as well, and both he and Meg have old issues that make for plenty of drama as they sort through hot and cold emotions and long-withheld fears and resentment. Though it does require a slight stretch of the imagination, Going Too Far is a gripping, rebellious, and edgy read, and readers will be proud of Meg as her tough exterior slowly falls to reveal a strong, resilient, and sarcastically witty character they can admire. Great for teens who are reluctant readers, this is a great read for those who like a bit of danger to their reads, without forgoing a meaningful message.

Meg is a wild and rebellious girl - she drives a motorcycle, has blue hair, indulges in casual sex, has a pot-head boyfriend and is counting down her last few months of high school. She has been looking forward to that moment her whole life - the moment when she can finally escape her parents, her job and the small town she's always lived in. Somewhere different where she can be someone new - go to college, etc. And even more exciting than all that is her upcoming Spring Break trip to Mexico.... But one night's stupid decision to hang with her friends and boyfriend on a train bridge (where some kids were killed a few years back) - lands her in jail and having to cancel her trip to spend quality time with the officer who arrests her.

Officer John After has the bright idea that Meg and her friends (sans boyfriend - whose dad is a hotshot attorney) should learn from their mistakes and thinks that each one should ride around with the emergency personnel called out to the bridge the night of their escapade. And guess who Meg has to drive around with for five nights? Yep, Officer After - who ends up being much younger (and cuter - okay, and hotter) then Meg originally thought.

Meg doesn't understand why John would choose to stay in a small town - to help protect and serve and even talk dumb kids out of making wrong choices. She questions everything he learned at the police academy... but when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won't be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge -- and over.

I love character driven novels like this. Most of the book is just Meg and John - sitting in his cop car reminiscing and just opening up to each other little by little about their hopes, dreams, aspirations... life. When you first read about Meg - the way she looks and how she acts, you can picture and see her one way, but as she slowly unravels you find a person that you immediately side with, whose witty remarks have you laughing out loud or at the brink of tears. John comes off as the shy, quiet type with this underlying strength. But together they are perfect - they have such awesome chemistry that I was really saddened when this book was over. I wanted more of them. As their secrets are revealed you can't help but root for their love to overcome any obstacles.

I was sucked in from the first chapter and it was hard to put down (and I will confess I didn't really do much of that). I sat down and read it and didn't stop until I was done with it. I was surprised by how much I really liked it - I thought it would be a cute little romance without too much depth - but it was so much more than that. It was thoughtful, sexy and plainly unputdownable. I highly recommend this one.