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.
ABOUT ROBIN
Robin York grew up at a college, went to college, signed on for some more college, and then married a university professor. She still isn’t sure why it didn’t occur to her to write New Adult sooner. Writing as Ruthie Knox, she is a USA TODAY bestselling author of contemporary romance, including RITA-finalists About Last Night and Room at the Inn. She moonlights as a mother, makes killer salted caramels, and sorts out thorny plot problems while running, hiking, or riding her bike.
Jaime’s Thoughts
Harder by Robin York
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Harder picks up almost 3 months after the end of Deeper. The West & Carolyn that we fell in love with in the previous book is no more. West is determined to leave his hopes and dreams of what could have been behind and start living his life in reality and that means no more Caro. But then he reaches out to her in the middle of the night when something tragic happens and Carolyn feels she has only one choice… she goes to him and finally sees him in the life that he never wanted her to see him in.
To say this book put me through the emotional shredder would be an understatement. Things happen and are said and done here that completely gutted me and had me on the verge of tears and my heart shattered for these two. (No spoilers here but PM me if you need a heads up) But despite all the emotional trauma that York has had me endure, I’m not sorry I read it, and I will read these books back to back very soon. Ultimately this story is one of redemption and love and hope. Feeling worthy of the love that someone has for you despite a history that may make you feel like you don’t deserve anything good.
God West… My heart breaks for this man. There were times I just wanted to punch him in the nuts and run away and I wanted Caro to do the same, but then there are the times that you see how his past has affected his feelings of self-worth and all the things that he does make a sick kind of sense. He’s this completely different person when he’s back in this place he grew up and it’s so heartbreaking to see the difference.
Caro is an amazing character. Normally you guys know I’m all about the boys in my books, but to be perfectly honest I have a total crush on her. She’s so strong and determined and she’s absolutely a bigger person than I could ever be. I love the continuation of her story from Deeper and how she deals with the revenge porn lawsuit and ultimately the resolution she decides on… but in addition to that, you see her growth as a character from the start of book 1 and just how mature she’s had to become and ugh… there is this one scene that completely blew me away and when you read this book you’ll know which one I’m talking about. It’s just a reflection of her love for West and her maturity and it was perfection.
Robin York is an amazing story-teller, she gets inside her characters and shares every single nuance with us readers. You can’t possibly walk away from any of her books feeling like you didn’t know these people she’s sharing with us. She is one of the few authors who I have come to count on to blow me away with deep, meaningful, layered stories. (If you didn’t know her adult pen name is Ruthie Knox & you must read her entire backlist) Deeper and Harder fall into the NA category, a category that I’ve become hesitant to pick up as of late, but once again, Knox reminds me why she’s on my all-time favorites list.
I picked up this book and didn’t put it down until I turned the last page. If you’re looking for a story that has amazing characters and a deeply emotional and layered story you must pick up this series. If you haven’t read Deeper yet, please do so ASAP. Harder is out in July and I can’t wait to put a copy on my bookshelf right next to book 1.
I have to add that I kind of hope we’ll get some more in the form of Krishna and Bridget… *crosses fingers*
Thank you to Random House/Bantam for the advance copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
Harder is book two in the Caroline & West series and I have been waiting patiently for this next book not only because I grew to love these two characters and wanted to know what happened to them after they separated but also because I love Robin York’s writing and was excited to have more of it.
Book two picks up months after book one ended. West is back in Silt and they have been apart for a little while. Add to that, they haven’t even spoken since West told Caroline he was seeing someone else…about 2.5 months ago. So of course, Caroline is surprised when West calls her to tell her that his father is dead. Despite this, she decides that this is her opportunity to go to Silt and find out what is really going on.
Immediately when Caroline meets West outside the airport, she knows something is off. He isn’t his normal self and he is closed off from her. No matter what she tries to do to get him to talk to her, he does whatever he can to distance himself from her. I can’t say what happens (and it wasn’t ok) but eventually West gets what he wants (or says he wants) and Caroline leaves Silt.
Caro is a strong character and willing to do what she thinks is right even if the end result has the potential to impact her negatively. She has grown so much over the course of these two books and I really enjoyed seeing the change in her. Let me interject here that Caroline is definitely a better/stronger woman than I am. Based on her response to what happened and how I imagine I would respond, she is absolutely the better person. I don’t know that I could have come back from that and everything would be fine but kudos to her.
As the story progresses, West finally decides to get his crap together. Where he originally felt he would be trapped in Silt so that he could care for and protect Frankie, he realizes that Caroline was right. He can do that and get an education due to the scholarship Dr. Tomlinson was offering him. Because of this, he decides to go back to Putnam which puts him back in the vicinity of Caroline. While it is true that there were times I was thoroughly pissed off at West, I also felt so bad for him. He clearly had a horrible childhood and it was evident that his family was a disaster. I completely understand why he didn’t want Caro pulled into that life.
With all of that said, this book is ultimately about hope and forgiveness. Robin York pulls you into the lives of these characters and absolutely pulls you through all the emotional ups and downs they go through….and I loved it. There is sadness and pain but there is also love and friendship and these are the things that make me love York’s writing. She seamlessly ties all of these things together to create a story that I couldn’t put down. If you like the New Adult genre I recommend you check out these books. I admit that Robin York is on my auto buy list (including her books under her other pen name – Ruthie Knox) and if she isn’t on yours, you should put her there immediately!
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the review copy.
Recent Comments