Review: Gone Too Far by Natalie D. Richards

Release date: January 6th 2015
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Purchase: Amazon | B&N

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Keeping secrets ruined her life. But the truth might just kill her.

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...

*Approved by the publisher via Netgalley

Gone Too Far was an interesting read, but I'm still iffy about my overall feelings of the story. In regards to Piper, I didn't really connect with her character but it didn't stop me from wanting to figure out what was going on and who was the person wanting to bring about justice for Stella. I actually sympathized more with Stella and even got mad when her so-called friends made fun of her like that. And to be honest, I initially felt like they got what they deserved and wished that more individuals had received some payback as well. 

I didn't feel the friendship between her friends. Maybe if they were included more, then I probably would've gotten to know their characters. Manny was an interesting one though, regardless of the fact that I had figured out the twists surrounding him earlier on. The romance bit? Sadly, I wasn't convinced. It felt like it was missing something. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that Piper was so closed off at first, but even when she started to open up I still couldn't buy into it.

Although there were several aspects of the story that threw me, some parts did happen to keep my interest. For instance, the case of the notebook and all the codes used to represent various students in and out of the popular crowd was intriguing, as well as the mysterious texts Piper started to received following Stella's suicide. 

Also, the writing was good and the descriptions were vivid. I just didn't get the fireworks to give it a higher rating. Still, I would like to read other books by Natalie because like I said, she's a great writer.