Review: Into the Deep by Samantha Young

Posted August 26, 2013 by Holly in Reviews | 0 Comments

itdHolly‘s review of Into the Deep (Into the Deep, Book 1) by Samantha Young

 

Live young. Live hard. Love deep.

Charley Redford was just an ordinary girl until Jake Caplin moved to her small town in Indiana and convinced her she was extraordinary. Almost from day one Jake pulled Charley into the deep and promised he was right there with her. But when a tragic incident darkened Jake’s life he waded out into the shallows and left Charley behind.

Almost four years later Charley thinks she’s moved on. That is until she takes a study year abroad in Edinburgh and bumps into none other than Jake Caplin at a party with his new girlfriend. The bad-boy-turned-good attempts to convince Charley to forgive him, and as her best friend starts spending time with Jake’s, Charley calls a truce, only to find herself tumbling back into a friendship with him.

As they grow closer, the spark between them flares and begins playing havoc with their lives and relationships. When jealousy and longing rear their destructive heads, Charley and Jake struggle to come to grips with what they mean to one another.

And even if they work it out, there is no guarantee Charley will ever trust Jake to lead her back into the deep…

I enjoyed Young’s On Dublin Street and fell in love with her during Down London Road, a book I’ve read and re-read. When I read the blurb for Into the Deep I was intrigued. I wish I’d known going in it ended on a to be continued…I would have waited to read it.  I’m not a read who likes to wait. I need my HEA now. Though the book doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, it does leave a lot of unresolved issues. I’m okay with that as long as I don’t have to wait months and months for a resolution. Let this serve as your warning.

The characters are younger in this book than in the others of Young’s I’ve read. The main reason I don’t read YA is because I don’t care to read high school romances. With the bouncing back and forth from the past to the present, that’s what I felt like I was reading. That’s not to say I wasn’t completely wrapped up in the story as I was reading it. I definitely fell into the push-and-pull of Charley and Jake. I wanted them to work through their issues, and yet I wanted them to walk away from each other and not look back. Except I wanted them to work through their issues. Obviously, I was invested.

I loved the way Young wrote the external relationships. Charley’s friendship with Claudia, her best friend, was a good one and I like that she got close with Jake’s crew. I especially loved that Liam, one of Jake’s best friends, saw how hard Charley struggled to keep her cool around Jake and his new girlfriend and was angry on her behalf. There’s just something about the outraged male…

I am glad he wasn’t a love interest for her, but instead a solid friend. It doesn’t happen often enough in romance novels that women develop friendships with members of the opposite sex without the expectation of their being more.

I did enjoy the book, but not as much as her Dublin Street series. I do plan to read the next book. I just wish I could read it now.

3.5/5

 

This book is self-published. You can buy it here or here in e-format.


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