Review - Forget you By Jennifer Echols

Title and Author: Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Publisher: MTV Books

Publication Date: July 20, 2010

Paperback: 293 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Romance

Summary:

WHY CAN’T YOU CHOOSE WHAT YOU FORGET . . .  AND WHAT YOU REMEMBER?  There’s a lot Zoey would like to forget. Like how her father has knocked up his twenty-four- year old girlfriend. Like Zoey’s fear that the whole town will find out about her mom’s nervous breakdown. Like darkly handsome bad boy Doug taunting her at school. Feeling like her life is about to become a complete mess, Zoey fights back the only way she knows how, using her famous attention to detail to make sure she’s the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect girlfriend to ultra-popular football player Brandon.  But then Zoey is in a car crash, and the next day there’s one thing she can’t remember at all—the entire night before. Did she go parking with Brandon, like she planned? And if so, why does it seem like Brandon is avoiding her? And why is Doug—of all people— suddenly acting as if something significant happened between the two of them? Zoey dimly remembers Doug pulling her from the wreck, but he keeps referring to what happened that night as if it was more, and it terrifies Zoey to admit how much is a blank to her. Controlled, meticulous Zoey is quickly losing her grip on the all-important details of her life—a life that seems strangely empty of Brandon, and strangely full of Doug. (goodreads.com)

Review:

I read Going Too Far and loved it so I decided to read Forget You and while it was a very good book, I didn’t like it as much as I did Going Too Far.

After her parent’s divorce, Zoey is determined to keep everything and everyone in its place. All should be perfect and she should always be in control but when her mother has a breakdown and attempts suicide, everything changes. To make everything worst, Zoey is in a car accident and can’t remember almost anything about the night it happened.

Zoey is a complex character and I have to confess I didn’t always understand her reactions and actions. It was a little frustrating to see her go on and on about a relationship with Brandon (her friend and, supposedly, boyfriend) that clearly didn’t truly exist. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t a smart, funny and sweet character at times because she was. It was also interesting to see her deal with not remembering what she did the night of her accident and finding out little by little exactly what had happened that night.

Dough is definitely the best character in this book. He’s portrayed as a bad boy in the start but as the story develops you find out there’s much more to him than his bad boy façade. He is sweet, funny and caring. He’s a little messed up but that only makes him more interesting.

What I really did like about this book was Jennifer Echols writing style and her ability to write a witty and emotional novel. The moments Zoey and Dough spent together were extremely well written and it only seemed natural for them to be together. Once again Echols managed to make the chemistry between the main characters real and tangible.

All in all, Forget You is a very good book with and interesting plot and story development that focus on important themes such as family, friendship and sex.

After her mother and father's divorce, Zoey is determined to live the perfect life, everything and everyone in it's place. However, when her mother attempts suicide Zoey's world is thrown out of whack. To further complicate matters, Zoey is in an accident and can't remember what happened the night it happened. But she needs to remember and fast, because when she wakes up her love life is upside down.

Things that irked me about the novel: I had a hard time sympathizing with Zoey at ti ...more

Rating: Well Worth Your Time

Review - Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Title and Author: Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Publisher: MTV Books

Publication Date: April 20, 2009

Paperback: 245 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Romance

Summary:

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...

 

Review:

The first thing that drew my attention to this book was the cover (isn’t it pretty?) and then the plot.

Meg’s a wild girl who experiences frequent panic attacks when she feels confined. All she ever wanted is to break free and escape the small town in which she lives, and all she has to look forward to before graduation is the spring break trip to Florida.

Her chances of going to Florida are completely ruined when she is arrested for trespassing on a train bridge where two kids had been previously killed, though.

Her punishment is to spend spring break riding in the police car with the same cop that arrested her - John After, who she first assumes to be much older than he actually is.

While all Meg wants is to leave town, John made a choice to stay, to serve and to protect. Meg simply can’t understand that and pushes him beyond his limit. He pushes back and the chemistry between them grows as they question each other’s choices.

Reading the plot, I was pretty sure I would enjoy this book but I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would. It was absolutely addicting.

I loved the way Meg and John’s relationship developed and how it was so complex and intriguing. The chemistry between them and their banter was incredibly well written. I just couldn’t get enough of it.

Jennifer Echols does a great job in telling Meg’s story and in making her a likeable character. Meg hides behind a rebellious façade and her blue hair to protect herself but as the book develops you start to understand her more and more. You can’t help but to like her and want things to go her way. And John… Well, John is much more complex than he first seems to be. He is dealing with some unsolved problems himself and you only find out exactly what those problems are towards the end of the book. The development of both characters was beautifully written and explored. The more you read the more real they become to you.

I enjoyed reading about Meg and John on night patrol more than I can express and it was great to see her realize she was falling in love with him. They push each other to their limits and that keeps the reader on edge, wanting and even needing to know what will happen between them.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were great, the chemistry between Meg and John was fantastic and the plot was fast paced and enjoyable.This was my first time reading Jennifer Echols, I’d seen her book around, but for some reason I never had the initiative to pick on up. Then I saw the cover and synopsis for Going Too Far and I just had to have it. I think originally I’d saw the title as Boy In Blue or something along those lines, but after reading the novel I think that the title, Going Too Far, fits it perfectly.

I was expecting to like this novel, I figured it would be good, what I hadn’t expected was how much I wa ...more

Going Too Far is one of those books I read in one sitting, both because it was fast paced and also because I couldn’t put it down. I wanted to know what would happen to Meg and John and when the end of the book came, the impression that they were out there living happily together stayed with me.

Rating: Must Read