Once Upon a Twilight!: Blog Tour: Gone Too Far by Natalie D. Richards | Excerpt

Welcome to our stop on Gone Too Far tour for Natalie D. Richards. This tour is hosted by The Fantastic Flying Book Club Tours.

Gone Too Far
Author: Natalie D. Richards
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: January 6, 2015
Review Source: Sourcebooks Fire | Netgalley

Piper Woods can't wait for the purgatory of senior year to end. She skirts the fringes of high school like a pro until the morning she finds a notebook with mutilated photographs and a list of student sins. She's sure the book is too gruesome to be true, until pretty, popular Stella dies after a sex-tape goes viral. Everyone's sure it's suicide, but Piper remembers Stella's name from the book and begins to suspect something much worse.

Drowning in secrets she doesn't want to keep, Piper's fears are confirmed when she receives an anonymous text message daring her to make things right. All she needs to do is choose a name, the name of someone who deserves to be punished...

My first thoughts of Gone Too Far was more of question than a statement. I was wondering why Piper had the guts to think she had the rights to judge people. As I continued reading, I realized, we all do it. We all judge people by what we think we know. Yet we don't know the actual story behind someone's home. We all get to make assumptions without trying to find the truth first. Gone Too Far is more than a mystery story... is about second chance and true friendship. A book about redemption and forgiveness.

Piper is not popular, she minds her business and ignores the world. One day at school she witness a cruel act by her classmates and she doesn’t do anything. A day after, she finds out the girl that was being bullied is now dead. Her lack of action kills her with guilt. She wants revenge. She wants people to pay for this girl’s death. As she stumble upon a book, Piper starts receiving anonymous texts. This person is asking Piper for names of people that need punishments. At first, Piper thinks this is a way of getting back at those that caused the death of her classmates. As secrets are reveals, Piper begins to see that it is not her place to punish others. And that this anonymous person is dangerous and causing more harm than necessary.

I didn’t like Piper. I thought her character was weak. With the lack of confidences she had with herself, she thought she had the rights to judge others. As the story proceeded, I saw her transformed for the better. Even though she needed a little push from Nick. Now his character I enjoyed the most. Nick was genuinely kind and sweet. Piper thought he was trying to get to her for another reason, she soon realized that his intentions were sincere. I liked him. He challenged her and he made me like Piper at the end.

Overall, Not Too Far is a good read. It's entertaining and it makes you double think before judging others. It's bittersweet. Piper had to learned from her mistakes. Yet, even when things got out of hands, instead of being a coward, she finally stood up and was willing to pay the consequences. If you love mystery, then this one is a good one to read.

Excerpt - Chapter One

Late. So late. I slam the car door behind me and race across the parking lot. My hair is tangled in the strap of my messenger bag, my shoes are untied, and I have no idea how I’m going to get to my locker without getting caught. I have to try because I need those chemistry notes.

Technically I needed them last night when I’d actually had the time to study for my midterm, but I didn’t think it was a big deal. I know the materials and I figured I could do a little last-minute cramming during first period homeroom. It was a decent plan until my phone battery died, taking my morning alarm down with it. Now I’ll be lucky to catch the last ten minutes of first period.

I hop the curb and slow as I slide into the shadow of the ancient brick school. It’s probably not classy to barrel through the door like an escaped convict. Of course, it probably wasn’t classy flying into the parking lot doing Mach 2 either.

I check my barely charged phone for the time as I climb the first step. My foot slips on something halfway up the stairs. It’s like hitting a patch of ice. I lunge gor the handrail and jerk myself upright, glaring down at the thing that tripped me –a dropped notebook.

Nothing special. It’s a plain, spiral-bound pad, the kind you can get at the drugstore for less than a buck. Pretty much worthless, excerpt I know it’s probably chock-full of notes. Notes seomone will need during midterm week.

Oh, fine.

I snatch the notebook off the steps and shove it into my bag. Lost and Found is going to have to wait though. It’s in the student store, which is on the opposite side of the school.

At seven, Natalie D. Richards wrote about Barbara Frances Bizzlefishes (who wouldn't dare do the dishes.) Now she writes about awesome girls, broody boys, and all things dark and creepy. Natalie lives in Ohio (Go Bucks!) with her techno-wiz husband, three amazing kids, and a seventy pound dust-mop who swears he's the family dog. Her psychological thriller, Six Months Later, will be released in October 1, 2013 by Sourcebooks Fire. Until then, you'll probably find her writing her next book or trying to wade through the towers of dog-eared paperbacks that have taken over her bedroom.