Review & Dream Cast: Deeper by Robin York

I received this book for free from Random House in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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.

A slow budding romance, loads of chemistry, and highly character driven; Deeper has a lot to offer. Revenge porn is something that happens all too often, and unfortunately continues to be legal in most States. Finding those sex pictures of herself after a break-up was only the beginning of a very long, very dark chapter in Caroline’s life. Not only is she plagued with the knowledge of everyone having seen her during such an intimate act, she’s ashamed, haunted by the voices of the men who call her vile names, describe the repulsive things they’d do to her in comments, making her wary of anyone that looks her way. This is not something that ever goes away.

Deeper is not a fast paced read. It’s a slow character-oriented story that begins with Caroline living through an incredibly difficult time, building up to her realizing who’s truly to blame despite all the fingers pointing at her. I truly admire her for learning to be above it all. Even though there is a guy involved in her getting her strength back, it’s done in a way that had me happy she found someone to see her for who she was, not who she thought she had become. Sometimes, you just need to be nudged by the right person.

West and Caroline aren’t instant lovers, though. Quite the opposite actually. West being so driven to give his sister a nice life made him reluctant to let someone into his own. He could not allow anyone to disrupt the road he was on. This doesn’t mean there was no immediate chemistry. From the start, their attraction is like a character in itself. Their ignoring it just makes it all the more infuriating, albeit in a good way. I loved their banter and fun-loving relationship; they’re so different from each other, yet fit so right together. The time spent at the bakery just keeping each other company might be “boring” to some, but I loved the whole atmosphere and it’s where we see them connect beyond attraction. The cast of mutual friends become a group that makes this story even more character driven. They all help get Caroline through this. Each one adds to the depth to this novel.

I already mentioned it’s not a fast paced read. Some parts in the middle did drag a bit where I wished it would have moved along faster, but overall I’m satisfied with the lack of urgency this plot has. The ending is one that leaves a lot of open roads, especially from West’s perspective. If this was a stand-alone, I would say the story was left incomplete, but seeing as it’s the first in its series this is clearly not the end. All in all, we’ve got a fantastic mix of humor, romance, friendship, and conflict with an important message touching on the often misplaced blame of online attacks. It’s an eye opener, and I hope it opens yours, too!

Dream Cast, by Robin York

Hello, Xpresso Readers!

Thanks for inviting me to share my dream cast for Deeper, my debut new adult novel. It was fun finding just the right faces for my characters.

First up, I picked Nicholas Hoult for the novel’s hero, West. Hoult can look a lot of different ways depending on how his hair is, how he’s dressed, etc., and not all of them remind me of West, but he’s got the eyebrows and the interesting face, and he’s very West-like in these photos.

And who’s a better heroine for Hoult than Teresa Palmer? No one, that’s what I say. But the Teresa Palmer who looks like my heroine, Caroline, isn’t the glamorous blond one. Caroline’s not even blond, actually. (I kind of doubt Palmer is, either.) The Palmer I love is the more natural, messy one, as in these pictures.Perfect, right?

Now, just for fun, here’s our supporting cast. West’s best friend, Krishna, played by Rajiv Surendra.

And Caroline’s best friend, Bridget, played by this adorable redhead whose name I can’t find, but put her in track pants and she is perfect.

There you have it!

This post is part of the Deeper blog tour.

Giveaway

Thanks to Random House Publishing and Robin York, you can enter to win a signed copy of Deeper!

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Giselle

Canadian blogger, wife, mother, coffee lover, and sarcastic at heart! She has had a love for all things bookish since before Amazon and eReaders existed *le gasp*. You can also find her organizing tours and other fun things at Xpresso Book Tours.

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