Blog Tour Stop: Caroline & West/Deeper

This month marks the UK release of the hotly anticipated New Adult book, Deeper, the first in a set of books focusing on Caroline & West. This is a book that has had absolute rave reviews and almost non-stop praise from world-wide fans already, so it's definitely one of, if not the New Adult book to look out for.  

For my part in the blog tour, I'll be sharing my review of Deeper with you.

Here it is - enjoy!

Deeper by Robin York

Paperback, 400 Pages

Expected Publication 6th March 2014 by Piatkus

Shelves: arc-or-review, contemporary, drink-and-drugs, erotica, new-adult, read, read-in-2014, realistic-fiction, series-or-companions

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

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 defence 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.

Deeper is a book that has had a lot of really rave reviews and as someone wanting to check out the offerings in the recently highly popular New Adult genre, I knew that this would have to be one of those definite to-reads for me. Deeper is a book that deals with and portrays what seems to be a real problem today, an issue known as 'Revenge Porn'. 

Deeper explores the life of Caroline, a college girl who has had sexual pictures of herself posted all over the internet, thanks to her ex-boyfriend, Nate. This behaviour is known as 'Revenge Porn'. I've never read any books on this subject before, but it seems like a very modern issue that we really should be reading about - it's certainly not something that is rare in our technology-obsessed society. I can't say that I've ever thought about the issue of revenge porn, but this book really brings to life how it easily it can happen and how easily things are shared amongst people. Caroline finds all of her life has been negatively affected by the photos, and we see how near-impossible it is to remove one post from the internet. I think that the author, York, has done a fantastic thing by bringing this topic to life and writing it realistically. 

As you'd expect, Caroline isn't having the best time at college, but things start to change after she sees a guy she doesn't know all that well, West Leavitt punching Nate. Despite his shady reputation, Caroline is intrigued by West and begins to spend time with him, their chemistry building each time they meet. We learn more about West, and it's easy to see why Caroline is so attracted. We find out that West is from a poor, unstable background and works his hardest to ensure his young sister is safe and cared for, he is absolutely devoted to her, their relationship feeling more like one between a father and daughter. When West is at college, working on making a better life for his sister, he makes bread during the night and sells home-grown weed with freshly baked muffins. West is absolutely irresistible, both physically and personality-wise throughout this book and it's completely understandable why Caroline is so attracted to him. We get to read from West's POV throughout the book, which I found equally as interesting as Caroline's POV, if not more. 

As for Caroline herself, I neither loved nor disliked her, she was a character that seemed like an average girl of her age - I don't think that she had any extreme personality traits or eccentricities, but I think that this actually benefits the way that the issue of revenge porn - it was easy to connect with her and imagine her situation. I did admire the fact that she was proactive and did something about her situation, and didn't just shy away from reality. I liked her to-the-point contributions.

I have to say, there were a few things that I had to adjust to in this book - I can't deny that I found some of the phrases/sentences quite cringe-inducing at points, but after adjusting to the book and York's writing, it didn't bother me so much. Naturally, being a new adult book, the book is full of sexual tension and well, the rest, and I really don't think anybody will be disappointed in that aspect - York really has excelled herself there! Again, some of the phrases felt a little crude which put me off, but I did adjust to the writing. 

Overall, I can see why Deeper is already globally popular and I for one have certainly been left wanting more West! I admire York for both tackling such a big issue and creating a story that I could really engage with. I will be looking forward to learning more about Caroline and West and sharing their new experiences in the next book!

I hope that you enjoyed my review and that it's made you interested in this book! Below is a list of the previous and upcoming spots in the UK blog tour for Deeper.

Thank you to Piaktus for providing the material for me to participate in this tour!