Going too Far

by Catherine Alliott

Polly Penhalligan is recently married and happy in her house in Cornwall. At least she was until her friend Pippa makes her realise that her new lazy lifestyle could be having a bad effect on her. So Polly allows her home to be used for a commercial. But even before the cameras are set up Polly's life and marriage are turned upside down.

Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Fiction, Love, Mystery, Humor

Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Catherine has sold over 3 million bestselling novels worldwide and is translated into eighteen languages.

The first of these novels Catherine started under the desk when she worked as an advertising copywriter. She was duly fired. With time on her hands, she persevered with the novels, which happily flourished.

In the early days she produced a baby with each book - but after three - stuck to the writing as it was less painful.

She writes with her favorite pen in note books, either in the garden or on a sofa.

Home is a rural spot on the Hertfordshire border, which she shares with her family and a menagerie of horses, cows, chickens, and dogs, which at the last count totaled eighty-seven beating hearts, including her husband. Some of her household have walk-on parts in her novels, but only the chickens would probably recognize themselves.

All her novels are published by Penguin Random House internationally, and by No Shooz Publishing in America and will be available in the US in the Fall of 2017.

Reviews

[Margo]

Everyone is loathsome, except for the H, who is simply an idiot. Don’t read this because it will depress you about human nature. It’s very hard to read, because everything is constantly agitated and dramatic, and for awful reasons.

[Kayla]

easy read, just kinda predictable

[Annalisa]

A fun, easy read. Enjoyable story, great characters who were described brilliantly within the tale. Kept my interest and the plot was exciting as it twisted and turned.

[Isabella]

I just did not vibe with this book. The whole time I was just like meh

[Nicole]

This book didn’t age well, but I question if there was ever a point in time that the characters were entertaining or sympathetic.

[Elizabeth]

This is a quick and fun read with some quality British humour. The plot is simple and quite predictable and sometimes it can be a bit wordy. But if you're looking for some light reading with a bit of fun, then I would recommend this book to you!

[Kate]

What a silly book! Daft story, daft characters, and I laughed like a drain throughout! Unchallenging, unthoughtprovoking (no such word but you know what I mean) and thoroughly enjoyable.

[Jo]

Even for chick lit this was a bit of a daft storyline - but quite enjoyable. I do like this author.

[Jacky Hall]

I quite like this author's other books....but....this book is terrible! The character Polly is clearly very stupid (why are all characters called Polly stupid?). Altogether an annoying read!

[Nita]

Not nearly as good as her other books.

[Claire Tanner]

A very different story of relationships, friendships, live changing events, and bad decisions. All mixed in with some who-done-it minor crime.

Whilst I liked the story by the end, at the start I wasn't at all empathetic for the main character. She had everything and seemed to still make bad decisions based off of being bored or thinking she was missing some excitement in her life. A lot of the decisions were made without thought and would hurt those she loved.

It also hasn't necessarily aged well.... A lot of the book is based off of a moment of cheating (sleeping with someone else). And the majority of that is whether or not the protagonist had slept with the guy because she couldn't remember. The book was published in 1994 - and the age shows in this major part of the writing, as in current times that would certainly be classed as rape by most of her friends and family when she told them. But in the book it wasn't. There's victim blaming, looking at what she'd drunk, what she was wearing etc. It is quite the insight into the thought process in the 90s for this type of crime.

[Cheryll]

This book infuriated me! How could Polly be such an idiot? I suppose if I had a better sense of humour it could be classed as a funny novel with a bit of 'who done it' to keep you reading. There was one part I resonated with on page 45 "If I want to smoke and tan myself to death, I will, at least I'll look good in the coffin against all that white satin". Yes, I admit it, there were some very amusing bits but I'm so glad I've finished it!

[Tara Blais Davison]

3/5 This book certainly improved by the halfway mark but it was a total slog getting to the more interesting part of the plot. Unfortunately I had the whole mystery worked out by the point in the book where Sam, the director, agreed with Polly that he didn’t like Polly’s husband’s former girlfriend either despite using her in all of his commercials—best to always follow another’s actions not necessarily their words.

[Tracey- Jo]

Really enjoyed this read .
Polly is such a fabulous chaotic character whose life gets turned upside down between her and newly wed husband .
There is a burglary, drunken night out, confusion , pregnancy and blackmail.
Catherine Alliott has written a book that has had me laughing at polly's antics.

[Yvonne]

Very good reading and I thought I had guessed who the culprit was and couldn't wait to find out - read over 100 pages one evening to find out if I had guessed it right and finish the book. Will definitely read more of Catherine's books.

[Nessa]

This was great read, I absolutely love Catherine's books.

Thoroughly enjoyable and can't wait to read more by this author.

[Kara Shallenberg]

A jolly enjoyable bit of fluff 😁

[Trigger Warning Database]

Trigger & Content Warnings:

Victim-blaming
Rape

[Helen]

I nearly gave up half way through too depressing. Glad I stuck it it out though.

[Rosa]

A sequel to The Old Girl Network, and just as fun.

[Alison Nicol]

Very long winded, book could be half as long

[Amazon]

it was boring

[Felicity Robertson]

Super funny I was creasing all the way through

[Carly Leigh Forbes]

Absolutely brilliant book!

What an absolutely brilliant book! I loved the second book in this series! I absolutely love Polly and Nick as a couple so I love the fact that they got married! This book has lots of twists and turns with some really sad bits but some funny ones too! Even though it was horrible what happened to Polly I am so glad she didn't actually sleep with Sam and the baby is Nick's!

[Heather]

Polly Penhalligan, who is recently married, trying for a baby and blissfully happy in her beautiful manor farmhouse in Cornwall, has put on weight and comments frm her best friend Pippa lead to her wondering if there should be more in her life. Polly allows the filming of a commercial on their property to the disgust of her husband Mark (ex advertising world now farmer) and evrything goes from bad to worse in the inevitble Catherine Alliot style. The first half of the book was quite tedious and the characters annoying rather than enjoyable. Mystery and intrigue spiced up the second half of the book to complete a light and in places fun read.

[Terena]

This is a sequel of sorts to Catherine Alliott's first novel "The Old-Girl Network" and features the characters Polly McLaren and Nick Penhalligan, who are subsequently now married and living in Cornwall. The story centres around Polly agreeing to their farm being used as scenery for a commercial and the fall out which ensues from this. Catherine Alliott's books are generally madcap light hearted affairs which do lead to a serious twist in the end, and this one is no exception. But sometimes I really do find her lead ladies totally irritating, mainly due to the situations they get themselves into of their own making, and I found myself getting really annoyed with Polly at times.

[Amanda Henninger]

Vacation/Beach Reading

[Desiree Smithie]

Funnyy !!

[Jane]

I'm not taking any responsibility for anyone else reading this book. I'm just saying I liked it.

[Donna Irwin]

I enjoyed this, it was a bit silly but made me smile!