In Robin York’s provocative new novel, two young ex-lovers find themselves together again in the shadow of tragedy—and an intense, undeniable attraction.
Caroline still dreams about West. His warm skin, his taut muscles, his hand sliding down her stomach. Then she wakes up and she’s back to reality: West is gone. And before he left, he broke her heart.
Then, out of the blue, West calls in crisis. A tragedy has hit his family—a family that’s already a fractured mess. Caroline knows what she has to do. Without discussion, without stopping to think, she’s on a plane, flying to his side to support him in any way he needs.
They’re together again, but things are totally different. West looks edgy, angry at the world. Caroline doesn’t fit in. She should be back in Iowa, finalizing her civil suit against the ex-boyfriend who posted their explicit pictures on a revenge porn website. But here she is. Deeply into West, wrapped up in him, in love with him. Still.
They fought the odds once. Losing each other was hard. But finding their way back to each other couldn’t be harder.
5 Deeper and Harder Stars
You have to let yourself want what you want as hard as you can, as deep as that goes, even if it scares the fuck out of you.
Wow. Just wow. As much as I loved Deeper, Harder managed to absolutely blow me away. It shattered my heart into a million pieces, and then slowly mended it back together, piece by piece, managing to bring a captivating and emotional story a full circle. Robin York’s writing is both poignant and uplifting, and she has easily moved to the very top of my favorite NA authors. I do not recommend reading this book without having read Deeper first, it will simply not be the same. So let’s move on to the review, shall we?
It’s been some time since where Deeper ended, and although it’s not made clear what happened, it’s obvious that Caroline and West are not together anymore. Their relationship is stunted at best, tumultuous at worst.
In Deeper we saw West take a broken Caroline, and help put her together. He was her rock, her shoulder, her everything. But when Caroline put herself back together she was stronger, and this book paints that picture perfectly.
I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to read about a heroine in a NA novel that is as emotionally strong as Caro was. Because that’s precisely what she was. This was not a girl that flew off at the rails, she knew what she wanted and she fought for it…even if she may never win.
Yes there’s an event that happens here that had me screaming and raging in anger and devastation. But as I read more, I understood why it happened and the choices that were took place. I may not have liked it, but it fit the story. It fit THEIR story.
Caro’s reaction to this was something that really made me think. She did not react in a typical way that you would expect. She showed an immense amount of emotional maturity and intelligence, which was truthfully a first for me. I think I loved her character all the more for it. It was obvious that she knew West suspected a certain reaction from her, but she knew why he did what he did, and she knew what he needed.
What I can’t do is pretend I don’t know what you did,” I say. “Or pretend I don’t still care about you.
If in the first book West was Caro’s rock, then in this one it came a full circle. The depth of Caroline’s love for West was evident in every word and action.
As for West? My beautifully broken, hurting, fucked up West. As much as I wanted to hate him for what he did, I just couldn’t. My heart hurt for him. The more I read, the more it hurt.
He was so lost in the first half of this book. His heartbreak is palpable. What he does to push Caro away is terrible, don’t get me wrong. But you can tell he felt he had no choice. And while he succeeds in one thing, he fails in another, because Caroline refuses to give up on him. Caro was the strong one here, she needed to be, to help West find his way out of the dark
I want her
All the time, like a virus, a disease I caught, except the other way around- like a a cure I caught a year ago, and it’s inside me, winding through my veins, pumping through my heart.
His hope and hopelessness is swallowing him whole. He wants, but he doesn’t think he can have it. He doesn’t deserve it. But it doesn’t stop his yearning.
The whole time, I was trying to convince myself that the flame didn’t look like hope, didn’t feel like it, but I’ve never been any good at that kind of deception.
That spark in the dark, that wavering flicker- Caroline. Hope.
For me, they were always the same thing.
The first half of the book was an emotional roller coaster. The feels, the pain, the heartbreak, it was devastating. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and the second half was the light.
What I truly loved about the book was that Robin York didn’t throw in any more additional drama in the end. There was no unnecessary angst, the angst that was there was intricately important to the plot, not excessive. She manages to take the story a full circle while painting a love story that’s emotional and touching.
If you loved Deeper, you will love Harder. There are events here that may take you out of your comfort zone and make you question what you feel. It will capture you and draw you in. It will break your heart and then put it back together. I’m in love with Robin’s wring, story telling, and her words. I really hope she continues this series with another couple…like perhaps Bridget and Krishna? (Hint, hint. Nudge nudge) LOL!
Highly recommended read. If you want a NA romance that’s unlike any you’ve read before, this is a must read.
**ARC courtesy of publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
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