Book Review: Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Review: Going Too Far
Author: Jennifer Echols
No. Of Pages: 245
Release Date: 17 March 2009

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 Thoughts:


I absolutely LOVE this book!!!

This is by far the best book I have read in a long time. It is so unbelievably powerful.

We view the story from Meg’s point of view, she’s rebellious, she hates the rules and she does everything she can to break them. I can connect to Meg on so many levels that it’s almost scary because I have been there, and in some ways probably still am. Meg has issues yes and they are very real, explain a lot and create a powerful yet vulnerable character.

John doesn’t see it that way, he sees it as kids being reckless and breaking the rules for the sake of breaking the rules, and because of their own stupidity.

And so they are thrown together for a week’s ride doing Johns grave yard shift. John orchestrates it to teach Meg a lesson because he has his own lesson to teach from pain he has felt in the past. The banter that ensues is absolutely hilarious, Meg constantly questioning and John trying to be an intimidating cop.

We start to see changes in the way Meg thinks, and I love the occasional loathing of her blue hair. What once seemed a good idea, now just seems silly.

Meg grows so much during this book that it’s inspiring. John grows as well but as we are seeing his growth through Megs POV we don’t see it as dominantly as Meg’s.

The romance that buds between our main characters is beautiful. It isn’t rushed, and there is a lot of doubt and going out on limbs. I loved how Meg was attempting to convince herself that she was developing Stockholm syndrome instead of admitting that she was starting to crush on a police officer.

I also loved the fact that to get around Meg’s fear of commitment John would plan things without telling her and let her think that it was her idea. Of course she caught on after the fact, but it was still so beautiful to watch.

There aren’t enough words I can use to explain how much I love this book, how much I can connect with it. I still get butterflies when I think about Going Too Far, hell I’ve even got butterflies right now as I’m writing this, I will probably get them again when I post it and a million times after that when I see it on various pages it ends up on.

As soon as I finished it I had the urge to read it again, I still do now and I think it’s attempting to take up permanent residence on my bedside table just tempting me to pick it up and revisit the story of Meg and Johnafter.

I love this book so much and even if the idea of teen angst doesn’t appeal to you, I still implore you to pick it up because it is a story so touching, so moving and so unbelievably powerful that even a person who doesn’t cry often was brought to tears over.