Deeper by Robin York

Deeper (Caroline & West, #1)

by Robin York

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY LIBRARY JOURNAL

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.

Praise for Deeper

“York’s beautiful prose and vivid descriptions enhance the realism and impact of Caroline and West’s story. Deeper and Harder are sensual and profoundly moving. The books are told in first-person from both Caroline’s and West’s POVs, and I sat on the emotional roller coaster right beside them as West learns to hold tight to Caroline and embrace life to the fullest. . . . They are books I will cherish.”—Lea Franczak, USA Today

Deeper perfectly captured me. Robin York masterfully tells this story with the perfect balance in tone and realistic characters that I’m still thinking about days later. One of the best written New Adult novels, hands down!”—Cora Carmack, New York Times bestselling author of Losing It
 
“Bursting with chemistry, emotion, and heart, Caroline and West’s story will take your breath away!”—Katy Evans, New York Times bestselling author of the REAL series
 
“The perfect New Adult story. West will make you swoon!”New York Times bestselling author Monica Murphy
 
“Beautifully written and full of swoony tender moments, toe-curling chemistry, and delicious, twisty angst . . . Stop whatever you’re doing and read this book.”—Christina Lauren, author of the Beautiful Bastard series

Reviewed by Leah on

4 of 5 stars

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When I was offered the opportunity to take part in Robin York’s blog tour for her debut New Adult novel Deeper, I thought it sounded great, so of course I said yes! I love New Adult books but haven’t had the opportunity to read one for a little while, and this one sounded right up my alley. I couldn’t wait to receive it and when I did I thought it looked fantastic and I couldn’t wait for my next day off so I could dive in! Deeper isn’t your typical New Adult novel – for a while, Caroline and West decide that being not-friends is the key to their whatever-it-is so it’s not like they dived into a relationship right off the bat, so I was definitely interested to see how that would work (and for how long they would be “not-friends”).

Revenge porn is what you call what happened to Caroline – somebody purposefully posting your nude pictures online for whatever reason they see fit (revenge, mostly). Which honestly I find totally wrong. I think if you’re going to stoop so low to posting personal, private pictures on the Internet, then you deserve somebody like West coming and beating you up. Just saying. I think every school should have a West because I’m sure every school has a Nate, and the Nate’s need to be taught a lesson. It ain’t cool, Nate. It’s mean, and petty. So it’s pretty safe to say that I was super thrilled with West’s arrival on page 9 on Deeper. That’s quite the way to make an impression, not that Caroline was particularly impressed, since she copped a punch in the face to boot. But that starts a interesting thing between the pair, where they’re definitely not friends, and definitely nothing more than friends, but the sparks fly, and soon they can’t really keep denying their feelings for each other.

I enjoyed Deeper so much! Like I told you, West makes quite the first impression, and it’s a first impression you’re going to remember. It’s the first impression I’m sure many people want when they’re looking for a potential boyfriend. Don’t you want someone who will always defend your honour? See. But the novel isn’t just about the romantic tension between Caroline and West, though that makes up like 80% of the novel, I also liked their simple interactions – like Caroline spending time at the bakery where West works on evenings when she can’t sleep, and he taught her how to bake. But, I also loved the romantic tension and I just wanted to scream at the book “JUST KISS EACH OTHER ALREADY!!!”. But it was more than worth the wait because they were great as not-friends and great as more than not-friends and it was always disappointing when they were struggling to keep their emotions from boiling over the surface.

Deeper is a fantastic first novel in the series, I can’t wait to read more about Caroline and West and I’m gutted I have to wait until July for the second novel in the series, Harder. I have no idea where the second novel’s going to go, because of how Deeper ended, so I foresee Harder will most definitely be harder for Caroline and West’s relationship. Which is so disappointing as they’re awesome together, and I love when they’re flirting and sparring, and I don’t want the second book to give them so many obstacles to overcome, but I have faith in Robin York. She’s an ace writer. I’d also be quite interested in a book featuring Bridget and Krishna, I see some sparks there, though I’m not 100% as Krishna seems a bit of a girl-magnet, to put it politely. I also really liked Quinn, another of their group. I liked how she just welcomed Caroline into the rugby team and didn’t judge Caroline like everyone else did, I thought their little group was just amazing, and I’m sure there’s plenty of stories there if York wanted to go down that route of making it a series to encapsulate all the characters. I would read them, that’s for sure, and I can’t wait for Harder!

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 18 February, 2014: Finished reading
  • 18 February, 2014: Reviewed