Review: Deeper – Robin York

In this New Adult debut by Robin York, a college student is attacked online and must restore her name—and stay clear of a guy who’s wrong for her, but feels so right.

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 defense 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.

Series: Caroline & West #1
Release Date: January 28th 2014
Publisher: Bantam
Source: Inkslinger PR
Reviewer: Shannon
Rating:

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Reviewer’s Thoughts

I remember when I was a teenager and having the discussion about never taken photographs that you would regret if they came out.  Those were the days before digital cameras and cell phones, so it was kind of hard to sneak a snapshot of you in a compromising position without knowing about it.  So as I began Deeper and discovered what happened to Caroline, part of me kept going back to that lesson.  Because today, that picture you took thinking it was staying amongst friends or someone you love could be in front of billions in a second.  And in that second life will be forever changed.

It’s hard not to feel very, very badly for Caroline.  She is deeply broken by the revenge act of her ex-boyfriend.  While he gets to walk around the college campus laughing and having fun, Caroline hears only the voices of those that left hateful messages about her online or whispers in a classroom or hallway.  She’s closed herself off from people in an attempt to protect herself from all the hurt.  But there is one person who she can share her true self and feelings:  West Leavitt.

West has his own set of issues.  He’s doing his damnedest to get his degree and work his way to medical school, despite the way he grew up.  But Caroline has been a draw for him since the first day he met her.  So he’s unable to push her away when she starts to hang around him and share some of how she’s coping with what happened to her.    But you could see that there was a part of West that wanted to lean on Caroline so he didn’t have to carry the burden of his family on his shoulders.  You didn’t always agree with what West was doing to support himself and his family, but you couldn’t help be a little in awe of him and the way he tries to take care of his family and reach for his dreams.

This was one of those books that was hard to read, but the author wrote it in such a way that I found it virtually impossible to put down.  The subject matter may be very tough and what Caroline had to go through emotionally challenging, but you really wanted these two characters to find a way to fight.  Fight what was happening to them because of what happened to Caroline and to fight for each other and what they have.

I can’t wait to get the second book in this series and look forward to reading more New Adult titles from Robin York.