Review: Going Too Far

"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...."
-Good Reads



Stats:

• Publisher: Pocket Books/MTV Books
• Release date: March 17, 2009
• Page count: 245
• Would appeal to: Fans of Sarah Dessen

Favorite Quotes:

"The cop put his fists on his hips and cocked his head to one side. There probably was a line drawing of him like this in the dictionary, illustrating the word skepticism."

"However, I did have blue hair, which was like walking around with a Sims arrow over my head."

"John held me with the dark look. Part of me wanted to embrace the dark look, chase it wherever it went, on the off chance I could convert it to my side."

"He was wearing cologne again...I hoped the two of us together didn't smell too overpowering to other people, like we were trying to attract water buffalo."

"My knee radiated heat...I thought dumb things: I will never wash my knee again. I will never wash these jeans again. I will cut the knee out of these jeans and sew a pillow to sleep on every night, just to have a molecule of him in bed with me."

"He stroked absently while he finished talking on the phone, as if setting my blood on fire were the most natural thing in the world."

Six quotes! I know, getting to be a bit lengthy, but I found so many lines by Jennifer Echols that made me laugh out loud. I can honestly say this book sounds so much like a teen's perspective I forgot it was written by an adult!

In 2010, this book was nominated by Romance Writers of America for Best YA Romance!!! That should tell you a lot. The combination of witty dialogue between the two main characters kept me turning pages furiously. It all was so natural and funny.

I don't like an easy romance, so this was great...so many misunderstandings between Meg and John. She truly can handle herself. Something happened in both their pasts that shaped their characters...Meg's came as a surprise to me more than John's "big" changing event from the past.

John is so swoon worthy! Don't get me started...you MUST find out for yourself!

John's best friends are funny and Will is charming. I loved the scenes where John, Will, Skip, and Rashad all interacted together and with Meg. I appreciated all the current references the author slips in, including Skip doing impersonations of Arnold Schwartzenegger.

This book makes me think that if maybe I had the sassy, bold attitude of Meg when I was seventeen, my life could have been more exciting! I will be making a bookstore/library run soon to check out other books by Echols. I like the author even more after reading she fought for the cover image to be changed not once, but twice (they kept getting Meg's eye color wrong)! Fun, quick read full of sexual tension.