Review of Harder by Robin York

Synopsis: In Robin York’s provocative new novel, two young ex-lovers find themselves together again in the shadow of tragedy—and an intense, undeniable attraction. 

Caroline still dreams about West. His warm skin, his taut muscles, his hand sliding down her stomach. Then she wakes up and she’s back to reality: West is gone. And before he left, he broke her heart.

Then, out of the blue, West calls in crisis. A tragedy has hit his family—a family that’s already a fractured mess. Caroline knows what she has to do. Without discussion, without stopping to think, she’s on a plane, flying to his side to support him in any way he needs.

They’re together again, but things are totally different. West looks edgy, angry at the world. Caroline doesn’t fit in. She should be back in Iowa, finalizing her civil suit against the ex-boyfriend who posted their explicit pictures on a revenge porn website. But here she is. Deeply into West, wrapped up in him, in love with him. Still. 

They fought the odds once. Losing each other was hard. But finding their way back to each other couldn’t be harder.

5 Stars!

Review: When Deeper left off, West had left to go back home to Oregon to take care of his younger sister. He let Caroline know that they were pretty much over, but she continued to have hope because she had fought through so much this last year, that she was unwilling to give up on West. After all, West was a huge part of her learning how to fight for herself again, so she couldn't let him not fight for himself. 

I have to say that I really loved this book. There were so many amazing parts where Caroline showed how strong she was - how strong she had always been, really. She was able to pull herself through a horrible nightmare of betrayal and cyber abuse, and, in some cases, the only person she had to count on was herself. Her father, whom I respected in so many ways, even had to learn how to encourage her to fight for herself in different ways than he had taught her, previously. I was so mad at him, and at one of Caroline's sisters, at one point, but her whole family really came through for her in many ways. 

One of the most incredible things about this book is that it does a 180 from the first book, and Caroline is now fighting for West. She is being his strength when he has none for himself. She teaches him that he can't take away her pride in herself now that she has really learned how to own it for herself. After she was beat down so much in the first book, it was truly great to see Caroline come back. What was also amazing was how proud West was to see her fight for herself and to be a strong woman. He didn't feel threatened, at all, by her strength, and in fact, encouraged it even in the face of others not believing in her. 

These two did not have it easy. Time, life circumstances, family members, sex scandals, college exams...you name it...so much was against them. This was a very well written story, and it was just beautiful to see so much strength come from adversity. 

Jessica

Review of Deeper by Robin York

Synopsis: In Robin York’s sizzling debut, 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.

4.5 Stars!

Review: Caroline Piasecki has experienced a woman's worst nightmare. She was betrayed by someone that she trusted, and her betrayal is one that can have very long term consequences. Her ex-boyfriend posted intimate pictures, mainly of her, online, and she is then basically cyber attacked and cyber bullied by men and women because the ex also posted her contact information and where she attends college. She spends the next several weeks trying to figure out a way to make it all go away - she sets herself google alerts to find the pictures on different porn sites, she keeps her head down, she stops attending parties, she starts monitoring what she wears, etc...she is the epitome of a woman shamed because of her sexuality and for making the mistake of trusting the wrong person. I was so angry on her behalf because this happens every day. 

Caroline has such plans for her future, too, and she is struggling to believe that she can still achieve those dreams of eventually taking over the White House when she has something like this hanging over her head. She refuses to ask for help, too, and tries to do everything on her own. Then, one day, the guy that everyone else thinks isn't good enough for her, he takes up for her. This continues a pull between the two of them that really started on the first day of school when they both arrived to move into their dorm rooms. This guy, West, he slowly helps Caroline begin to believe in herself again. 

West comes from basically nothing, so he works very hard to just survive and make it through college. He has several different odd jobs, some that are not very legal, but he is focused on completing college, going to Medical school and then rescuing his younger sister from the hell-hole that they come from. He can't afford to get sucked into Caroline's drama - or into a relationship with her. And yet...

Caroline now suffers from insomnia and high anxiety because of the horrible thing that was done to her, as well as the continued trauma that she goes through every day as she pays the price for her sexuality (pisses me off, still!). She begins to visit West, at night, at the bakery that he works at. They somehow soothe one another, as they also build a relationship. I thought it was so interesting that he worked in a bakery, making breads, which is a very specific process and requires patience, as you wait for the bread to rise, you have to knead the dough, bake, all that stuff, and in some ways, that is exactly what West and Caroline's relationship is like. 

Just when these two finally figure out some of their issues, however, West gets the call that he's been dreading from back home. He has to make the decision of staying in school and staying focused on his future, and Caroline, or going home to fix the mess that his parents began years before. Be warned!! This book basically has a cliffhanger about this. 

Jessica