Fiction Fare

Deeper by Robin York
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Caroline Piasecki never imagined the guy she dated for several years and trusted implicitly would ever do something so ... horrible to her.

What she thought was an uneventful breakup ends up being anything but when her d-bag of an ex decides he isn't happy with Caroline's decision to end things.

When Caroline wakes up to find pictures of her ... ones she trusted the man she thought she loved at one point with... all over the internet, she feels like her future is destroyed. The plans she had for her future are in jeopardy and there is nothing she can ultimately do.

West Leavitt isn't exactly the person he's made Caroline think he is. Known around campus for dealing pot and random hookups, he's doing everything he can to not get involved, but he can't keep his fists to himself when Caroline's ex starts making comments about what he's done.

West and Caroline aren't friends though... even though she makes her way to the bakery that West works at on her sleepless nights and they talk and they listen and they learn about each other.

West's history is complicated though. He hasn't had the life that Caroline has and they can't pretend that it doesn't and won't impact their future.

Enough about the plot though! York has created amazing characters full of depth and passion in this first book in the series and I was blown away by how much I found myself caring about them.

West's circumstances, while dark and heavy, definitely weigh on you, but that didn't change how I felt about him at all. His determination to survive and to help his family are things that made me care even more than I expected.

And Caroline's story is hard to swallow. The fact that this man... no wait... this asshole that she trusted could do something so heinous to her and then not even care or think about the repercussions it could have on her and her future ... it makes me angry just thinking about it again while writing this.

I haven't told him about the pictures. I can't.

I'm a mouth with a boy's dick in it, a body to look at, legs to spread."



yeah... I definitely want to murder someone and his name is Nate. And the sad thing is, this isn't something that the author made up... it happens a lot. (you can read about it in her author note at the end of the book)

Not only is Caroline dealing with the backlash of fellow students, random strangers are now harassing her and the way York portrays Caroline's story felt so spot on for me. Her journey from the start of this book to the very last page was amazing and so wonderful.

The security she finds through West... so completely unexpected, was lovely.

That's how it looks to me. Like the stars are in Caroline, and the whole world is just me and her.

But he doesn't just help her hide, he pushes her to get back to her life... to stop letting him victimize her over and over.

And of course that trust and friendship evolves and the pacing of their relationship was done so perfectly. It wasn't instant love and to be honest it wasn't even instant friendship, but you see the evolution of the actual relationship, you can see why they start to care for each other and along the way you can't help but cheer them on... and of course the sexy moments between these two were amazing to read.

I didn't plan this, but her lips shape the welcome I've been waiting for my whole life, her arms are the anchor I need, her body is my home.

We're right together, Caroline and me. Even if I'm doing this wrong, completely fucking wrong, it doesn't matter.

We're right.

Now... I will say this. The end of this book is very open ended. Not a cliffhanger at all, but you're not sure where York is going to take it in book 2. I have every confidence that I will eventually be happy, but be forewarned... you may have some tears



If you're looking for a story that is beautifully written but tackles a tough issue, a story that is filled with some swoon worthy moments and wonderful chemistry, a story that has some angst and sadness wrapped in a story of love and friendship, then you need to pick up Deeper when it arrives in January.

Now.... GIMME BOOK TWO!!


Thank you to Bantam and Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

All quotes are taken from an advance copy and could change in publication.

This review will be posted closer to release on my blog, Fic Fare:



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