Going too far by Jennifer Echols

Synopsis 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... I bought my copy of Going Too Far because I'm a sucker for being told "go and buy it, it's that cool" by various other bloggers and readers. And it is a pretty damn cool book. It deals with adult themes and is aimed at the YA crowd but I'm pretty sure some older folk will benefit from reading it. Meg is an excellent character and someone I liked because I could understand why she acts as wildly as she does. Here's someone who is terrified of being left behind, of being the same as everyone else, as being stuck in a one-horse town and never ever getting out. Her motivations are clear, her character is crisp, funny, abrasive and cool. She's the kid you notice around town, what with the cyan blue hair and the wild clothes, the bad boyfriends and the rumours about lewd behaviour. She's the girl you think you've sussed out as someone who's going downhill, fast. What you don't see is the student, the girl who works hard at her assignments, the one who will do anything to get out of town, to see the world. She's so busy being loud and scary on the outside very few people notice the anxious girl on the inside. It's only when she's arrested for tresspassing on the bridge where a group of children had died in the past that Meg realises that there might very well be a different way to get what she wants from life. She's locked in a car with John, the young policeman who arrested her. As Meg's opinion starts changing about John and she realises there's more to him than just the jutting jaw, the gun, the uniform, so John's opinion about Meg changes too. He realises that behind this loud facade is a young girl who is so determined and resolute to make something of herself that she's burning up with it, her spirit seems almost too big for her body. Wonderfully written with a few utterly amazing tearjerk moments, Going too Far is an excellent read for those of us who want a break from the paranormal and just hang out with a girl and a boy as they slowly but surely fall for one another. At it's heart, Going Too Far is a coming of age story, a story of friendship and falling in love. But it's also about being responsible, clever and wise, even at a young age and how important it is to have goals and how much more important it is to hopefully be able to share that with someone. I do hope Going too Far gets picked up by UK publishers as it genuinely does deserve an airing here in the UK. Jennifer Echols is popular American author (her site is here) and I've got some of her other books on order from the US to read.