Deeper (Caroline & West, #1) by Robin York

Deeper (Caroline & West, #1) by Robin York
Published: January 28, 2014 by Bantam
Source: From the publisher via Netgalley

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. [goodreads]

There is one word to accurately describe this book for its plot, characters, and style of writing: INTENSE.  I kept coming back to this same reflection while reading, page after page.  From the horrific reality of how someone can be virtually assaulted to the conflicting and emotional characters that make up the structure of this story, the pressures in this novel kept growing until finally the only place to go was to bust wide open.

I know this author's work as Ruthie Knox, from her addicting adult romances that have quickly become my go-to reads.  So with that being said, I was very curious to discover her try at New Adult.  There's a formality that's become popular in this genre (though I don't even know if by calling it a genre I am being correct), a system of equations that all add up to one sum or another.  I feel that York has delved into this formula, but she's added her own touch along the way, carving her own path in a well-worn route in New Adult fiction.

New Adult fans will be eating this novel up, devouring it for its INTENSE flavors.  Some things left me unsettled, especially while reading.  I was caught between wanting Caroline and West to be together, yet knowing it was all kinds of wrong if they were.  Almost every scene they were in together was ignited by the one before.  I never found peace in their relationship, but then again perhaps that was the intention of this story.  After all, the connotation of taking their emotions and the presence of their actions deeper was the only way to survive this intense attraction between the two of them.

Robin York has peeked my interest and I am definitely curious to read more from her set in this New Adult world she's so intensely created.