Review: Into the Deep by Samantha Young

 

Into the Deep by Samantha Young

Expected Publication Date: August 13th 2013

About the book: 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…

My Thoughts:
A second-chance-at-love story always tugs at my heartstrings.  Not only did Into the Deep tug at my heart strings it settled in and gave my heart a great big crushing squeeze!  It was filled with painful longing, lusty attraction, and a once-in-a-lifetime-love.

Charley and Jake fell into love while they were both sixteen.  They were very young, but sometimes life works out like that.  Unfortunately, tragic circumstances cause a rift and Jake leaves Charley without any explanation shattering Charley’s heart. She’s never been the same.  Three and a half years later Charley has moved on as best as she could and is fulfilling her goal of studying abroad in Ireland.  Shock, pain, and disbelief strike Charley when she finds Jake also attending school there, as well, with a girlfriend in tow!  Avoiding him and his girlfriend is near impossible as all of their friends hang out together.  Plus, Jake can’t seem to stay away from Charley and asks her to be his friend.  She knows that she should avoid him and refuse but she just can’t tell him no.  Their mutual attraction and deep connection comes through loud and clear to everyone around, causing drama and angst. 

Into the Deep started out bittersweet because when Jake and Charley meet again he’s moved on with someone else! This crushed Charley’s heart (mine too!) throughout the story and it was painful to read Charley emotions. 

Part of me still felt for Jake and all he’d been through, and the other part hated him for breaking all the promises he’d made me.  From the moment we’d met, he’d dragged me into the deep, swearing to me he was in there with me. It was a lie.  He’d waded back out to the shallows and left me to drown.  Worse, he’d found a new deep elsewhere with some other girl.*

I’m fully in Charley’s corner.  The story alternates chapters flashing back to the past, and then going back to the future, revealing slowly what went wrong with Charley and Jake.  While I felt bad for what happened to Jake, I don’t understand why he just left things the way they were as time went on. Not only did he just leave things, he goes out to school where he knows Charley will be attending and gets a girlfriend!!  Not okay with me Jake!

Charley is an awesome girl trying to hold it together and respecting what she thinks is Jake’s happiness with another girl, all the while being his friend!! You know this can only last for so long before things explode.  Things end on a high note, but just like Charley, I don’t know if I’ll be able to trust and forgive Jake.  The story does not end in a cliffhanger, but it’s far from over.  The next installment will be told in Jake’s POV and I’m hoping he’ll win me over.  This will largely depend on how steadfast he is, where he lays his priorities, and how he handles Melissa.  Groveling wouldn’t hurt either!

With all my uneasiness over Jake I still want nothing more than a HEA between them.  Their chemistry, steam, and attraction are felt profoundly throughout the story!! Samantha Young always manages to suck me in with her addictive and brilliant writing, making me feel a whole range of emotions: soaring highs and crushing lows.  I’ll leave you on a high:

“Please. Please try because every time I look into your face, all I feel is…so in love with you. Then two seconds later, every time without fail, it hits me like a sledgehammer in my gut that you’re not mine. That I’m not allowed to reach out to you…I thought I could accept that, I thought I’d come to terms with it, but I can’t. We’re not over.” Tears shimmered in his beautiful eyes. “We can’t be over.”*

4 Suns

 

 

 

 

A copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!!

*Quotes taken from an uncorrected proof and may change in the final copy.

 

About the Author: Samantha Young is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author from Stirlingshire, Scotland. She's been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Author and Best Romance for her international bestselling novel ON DUBLIN STREET. Connect with Samantha on her:

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