5 Star Review & Giveaway: Harder by Robin York

HARDER Synopsis:    

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.

 

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Advance praise for HARDER:

“Bursting with chemistry, emotion, and heart, Caroline and West’s story will take your breath away!”—Katy Evans, New York Times bestselling author of the REAL series “Robin York writes exceptionally real characters in achingly real situations. Harder had a hold on my heart and didn’t let go until the very end.”—New York Times bestselling author Cora Carmack And don’t miss the first book in the Caroline & West Series….DEEPER!

Advance praise for DEEPER:

“The perfect new adult story . . . West will make you swoon!”—New York Times bestselling author Monica Murphy

“Beautifully written and full of swoony tender moments, toe-curling chemistry, and delicious, twisty angst . . . Stop whatever you’re doing and read this book.”—Christina Lauren, author of the Beautiful Bastard series 

What I Thought about Harder

Harder picks up right where Deeper, the first book in this series by Robin York, left off.  When West calls Caroline from Oregon after two and half months, she listens to her heart and goes to him. But what she finds in Silt is nothing like she thought it would be. She's shocked when she sees him in the flesh. Whatever is going on has made him hard inside, and it translates to everything about him. He isn't nice to Caroline and he keeps pushing her away until he finally accomplishes his goal of getting her to leave. What he does is just awful, and it (almost) made me hate him for it.

There's lots bad stuff in the first part of Harder, and it's coming from all directions, pushing Caroline and West in ways that truly test their relationship.

When West shows up at Putnam a few weeks later, he keeps his distance from Caroline. More pain all around, and it's not just West and Caroline, but West's friend Krishna, and Frankie too. It isn't long before West's young sister reaches out to Caroline, to West's dismay. Much like in Deeper, it takes some time for these two characters to dance around each other before letting the other one in. They essentially have to repeat their courtship under a totally new set of past experiences and feelings they don't know how to navigate.

The story then returns to Caroline and her revenge porn lawsuit against Nate. She's got some thinking to do and decisions to make. Stand up to Nate as anonymous victim Jane Doe, or go public and push for legislation to prevent this from happening to others? It's interesting to see how the incident with Nate and West has shaped her life and decisions.There's a lot of that in Harder.

I finished reading this book three days ago and my head is still thinking about it. It's that good. I love a book that doesn't just lay it out all in front of the reader, but instead lets the reader draw their own conclusions, and Harder does a fine job of that, at least for me.  I read and review mostly New Adult titles and this series ranks as one of the best. It has messages but doesn't get preachy about it. The writing is lovely, the main characters interesting and complex. And two books in the series is the perfect size for this story.

Definitely recommended! If you like a darker love story, great characters and lots to think about, this series might be for you.

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  Robin York Bio: 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-finalistsAbout 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.        

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