Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Being the rebel of the town is a hard job, but Meg does it well. She's got bright blue hair, tattoos, and dresses a little under the preferred requirements. She has to work for her parents at their breakfast diner for free, and can't wait to get out of dodge and go to college.

After a stupid stunt where Meg, her friend Tiffany, Eric and Brian snuck onto the bridge where two students years ago died, they got caught by a new officer who doesn't take crap from any of the kids.

To punish them for their stupid stunt, Officer John After decides to take away their spring break trip in FL and make them stay in town to follow the ambulance crew, the fire department, and the police department to write a report about the safety of following the rules.

Meg's hatred toward John cannot be described, but then, come to find out, John is only 19, just two years older than Meg herself!

Meg gets tagged with following John around for the week with the police department, and after a few nights they start to understand each other a little bit more.

But both Meg and John have dark pasts, secrets that they are keeping from each other. And as they start to get closer and closer, those pasts are catching up to reality and how it has influenced their daily routines.

John has decided to stay in their small town, working as an officer to help people in need.

Meg wants to run away from her hometown as soon as graduation is finished.

But with their attraction toward one another, how can they decide to go separate paths without finding out what is between them? Or will their dark pasts interfere with what could happen between them? Read Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
Sigh, Jennifer Echols. Thank you for this book! I loved it! I loved Meg, I loved John, I just loved it.

There aren't many YA contemporary's out there that have a "bad" girl and "good" guy (yes, they are quoted, because they aren't necessarily the good and bad that you might be thinking).

Meg is a drinker, does pot, and breaks the rules. But she has a reason and doesn't care if she gets into trouble. John needs to follow rules, and he's been pretty good at doing that until he meets Meg. Then things start to go downward for him, but not necessarily in a bad way.

The back stories of Meg and John are amazing. They are so torn up by what has happened that they can't see too far into the future. But when they are faced with those ghosts, along with the ghosts of the future and not being with each other, they have to figure out which one they need to conquer.

And the romantic chemistry between the two? Yeah, that was good too, even when they were denying their feelings.

I labeled this a NEW ADULT novel even though it is and it isn't. There are some steamy scenes, but nothing too racy. Just enough to get your heartbeat racing!

I am a huge fan of Echols, so I was really happy that I liked this book as well. It's a standalone novel, so no waiting for another book to find out the ending and I think it has a lot of great lessons that young adults could learn from.

I'll have to see if I need to read any more of her novels - I've read quite a few, but I still think I'm behind.

I would recommend this to older teen girls who want to read a contemporary novel about dark pasts and bright futures.