The follow-up to Deeper was released yesterday. It’s called Harder {obviously}, and Beth & I are doing our best to review it without spoiling it. I think we did a good job, but I’m pretty biased. Remember there was a preview of Harder at the end of Deeper, and Robin herself told us the book was… well.. Harder. It’s true. After the review we’re giving away a few copies so don’t miss it.
Harder by Robin York
What we thought about Harder as a New Adult book
Beth 1. Fewer cliches than your regular NA, 2. Stronger heroine than hero, 3. Emotional fuckstorm
Bekah What what you said.. Plus Robin does a GREAT job at writing cliches without them feeling like they are cliches- both in her romance novels and now in her NA
How we felt about Caroline
Bekah She was so strong. Even Jamie, who thought she was too weak with her picture scandal, might like her in this book
Beth Robin was able to take a heroine who should have crumpled at her circumstances and make her the toughest emotional decision maker I’ve seen in a New Adult book. She takes the time to plow through her positive and negative emotions and comes out on top. It’s empowering, and I’m a decade older than Caroline
Bekah Yes! I really believed she would be okay without West. I believe that even when I’m convinced the WORST is going to happen.
Okay. Let’s talk about West now
Beth I have to be honest, if there is one thing that character needs to do to make me hate him in ONE FELL SWOOP, West did it. I spent the majority of the book feeling sick and angry. But that being said, somehow, Robin still made me come back around to him.
It made me sad because I loved West in Deeper, and I never wanted to hate him that much.
Bekah Yeah… he did some pretty effed up things{one in particular I believe you’re talking about} I’m not gonna say I was like “okay West.. I forgive you..” right away… BUT… there were reasons. TERRIBLE ones..but reasons for his decisions
Beth Like I said, I came around to it. In a lesser book, I wouldn’t be able to do that.
Bekah oh yeah — if that happened in Deeper.. NO WAY but.. I feel like that showed the strength and maturity in Caroline.. that’s probably all we can say…
Beth Caroline has a whole lot more emotional maturity than I do in how she handles it.
The Sex
Bekah A huge part of why I loved Deeper was Sex.. Without giving anything away.. we know Caroline & West aren’t together in Harder… so…. let’s tell our fine readers who read NA for the most important reason- sexy times- if there was sex and HOW the sex was…. no matter who it was between…It’s Robin York. Aka Ruthie Knox. People: The sex. Was. Good
Beth I don’t remember. Honestly.
Bekah hahahah. There’s one scene I remember pretty vividly.
Beth I have to be honest, I don’t remember the sex at all in this book. I’m sure it’s good because it’s Robin and she’s one of the best, but it’s not sticking with me like some of the scenes in Deeper did.
Bekah I agree… i mean.. I re-read Deeper IMMEDIATELy… and have gone back multiple times to my favorite scenes (like.. umm the bedroom when they “touch/kiss/whatever” for 45 minutes and it gets super steamy the first time. YEAH) I only read Harder once.
So that brings us to:
Deeper vs Harder
Bekah It doesn’t matter to me. Harder was a continuation of Deeper and there was no way I was NOT going to read it. I loved the continuation of the story. I am positive about where she went with the characters overall & I’m glad I read good NA for the first time in my life. I’m a forever Robin York/Ruthie Knox fan and I TOTALLY forgot to gush about her new series Truly… I read book 1 right before reading Harder and OMG good
Beth For me, while it’s definitely two books and the characters, even though only months apart are going through different things, it feels like one story. I don’t want to compare. Harder hurt me a bit more, but left me feeling satisfied. Deeper was gentler but it hurt me to turn the last page. Either way, Robin is on my forever read list.
Bekah Forever (ps read Truly when it comes out in August- I’ll talk about it soon)
Okay Go Buy Harder: A Novel (Caroline & West) Or…
Win a copy of Harder
Hopefully we convinced you Harder is a must-read. All you got to do to win is Like us on Facebook, Comment with a title for the would-be third book (there isn’t one). We have Deeper then there’s Harder… What do you think Robin should call the 3rd book would there to be one? Extra points for Tweeting! Enter through 7/4 and 11:59 pm ET. 18+, US only. Yadda Yadda…. It’s easy! Complicated contests are the worst. GOOD LUCK:
