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Book Tour Review; Deeper by Robin York

DeeperAuthor: Robin York
Publisher: Little Brown
Published: 6th March 2014
Pages: 391
Format: paperback
Source:: Review Copy
Add It: Goodreads, Amazon UK, TBD

Summary:
When Caroline Piasecki’s ex-boyfriend posts their sex pictures on the Internet, it destroys her reputation as a nice college girl. Suddenly her once-promising future doesn’t look so bright. Caroline tries to make the pictures disappear; hoping time will bury her shame. Then a guy she barely knows rises to her defence and punches her ex to the ground.

West Leavitt is the last person Caroline needs in her life. Everyone knows he’s shady. Still, Caroline is drawn to his confidence and swagger – even after promising her dad she’ll keep her distance. On late, sleepless nights, Caroline starts wandering into the bakery where West works.

They hang out, they talk, they listen. Though Caroline and West tell each other they’re ‘just friends,’ their feelings intensify until it becomes impossible to pretend. The more complicated her relationship with West gets, the harder Caroline has to struggle to discover what she wants for herself – and the easier it becomes to find the courage she needs to fight back against the people who would judge her.

When all seems lost, sometimes the only place to go is deeper.


When You

When I first heard about Deeper, I was intrigued but also a little worried. With a central topic that is incredibly sensitive, it can be difficult to make sure that it stays sensitive. Fortunately this book really managed that, it also found a way not to make it at the forefront of everyone’s minds as they read which is, essentially, what you would hope would happen if this ever happened to you. That somehow you’d be able to do something but also that you wouldn’t let it ruin your life. By the time I finished reading this book, I knew that I was well and truly hooked. For me, this book is exactly what I love about New Adult. It is a book with a strong issue, bold characters, and doesn’t include sex simply because it can. It is a book with a strong storyline and I truly loved it.

Become A Victim

Getting into relationships and trusting people should be easy. We should be able to feel like we trust those we love, even after we’re no longer together. What happens to Caroline is an act of betrayal and something that can haunt a person for the rest of their lives. But Caroline is a character who isn’t willing to just roll over and let it destroy her. She begins steps to stop that from happening. But in doing so, she also has anxities that stop her from living the life she once did and while it seems that she’s in control, it is clear that under the surface, she’s drowning. This story is about her fighting against that current, of finding a way to become herself again, even a better version of herself than she ever was and I loved it. I loved how character central this plot was and how while it was about Caroline, that West also had his own back story and had to grow as a person himself. Together they help each other and I just found that to be the ultimate lifting quality of this story. It isn’t a give and take relationship, but a truly equal one.

You Can Either

I adored Caroline in this story. In a way, she reminded me a lot of me – in parts at least. She was someone who liked to be in control of things, even when things were spiralling away from her. She took steps to try and stay in charge of her life, without letting the world knock her down. But it was who she was at the end of this novel that made me truly love her. Caroline is a fierce protagonist and a strong character. She is the kind of character that I love reading about because she takes control of her fate and doesn’t let anyone interfere with that. She knows that she has flaws and that she is human, but she’ll be damned if she’s going to let those flaws ruin her life completely. And then we have West. He is the ultimate bad boy. He fights for Caroline’s honour, he sells weed, he has more jobs than he should be able to handle with college as well, and he causes instant reactions in Caroline. But that is just the surface of who he is. Underneath all of that he is caring, protective, worried, likes to fix things, and would throw his entire life away to keep safe those that he loves. The perfect kind of guy.

Give Up Or

While reading this book, I couldn’t help but compare it to other New Adult books that I have read, such as Easy. While some people may feel that this book is just like all the other NA books out there, I beg to disagree, because while it does have some similarities to other NA books – hey it’s a romance, of course it’s going to be similar! – it is also unique and in my opinion, really manages to stand out from the crowd. In this book you have characters willing to step up and fight, you have a strong female not willing to let males rule her life and you have a romance that is just so completely full of chemistry. But, essentially, it is the writing style of this book that kept me hooked. Robin York has a brilliant way of writing that really pulled me in. I loved how intense the writing was and how you really got to see what her characters were thinking and feeling. In so many places I felt so completely wrapped up in the characters that I felt exactly as they felt. The only fault I have with the style are the small chapter diary-like snippets at the beginning of each chapter. For West they really worked, but with Caroline she often spoke about things too far in the future and left me a little confused or as though I’d just read a spoiler. But aside from that, the writing style was incredible.

Simply Carry On

All in all this was a book that I quite simply devoured. I started reading this book and then found it very difficult to put it back down again and before I knew it, the story was over and I was begging for more. The ending of this book was so refreshing. I loved how it ended and it has certainly left me very intrigued for the next book. This book is full of strong, well written, truly amazing characters that you can’t help but fall in love with, and it is a book that follows all of the characters on their own individual journey’s, which is something that I have always loved. This story is intense, powerful and really shows that when faced with horrible and terrifying things, we can rise up and keep going. It deals with a very sensitive topic and, in my opinion, deals with it perfectly. How it came about, how it affected the main protragonist and everything else that happened was just extremely well done and I give my props to the author for that as it could have been a complete disaster. If you like New Adult books that are deep, intense, powerful, nitty and gritty, and aren’t just full of fluffy romances and pointless sex, then you should definitely give this book a try, I can almost guarantee that you will absolutely adore it.

five stars

** I received this copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated nor was I required to write a positive review. **


Robin York Robin York grew up at a college, went to college, signed on for some more college, and then married a university professor. She still isn’t sure why it didn’t occur to her to write New Adult sooner. Writing as Ruthie Knox, she is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance, including RITA-nominated About Last Night and Room at the Inn. She moonlights as a mother, makes killer salted caramels, and sorts out thorny plot problems while running, hiking, or riding her bike.


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