Review: Harder by Robin York

Series: Caroline and West Book #2

Format: Paperback

Pages: 339

Rating: 5 Stars

How I Got It: Purchased

Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance, College

Publisher: Bantam

Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads

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.

 

Review

I have an unofficial list of books I plan on giving my future kids-especially a daughter. And not because I like them, but because they have a profoundly important message. This series, and this book in particular, is on that list.

Deeper was incredibly well written, but this one was so beautiful. I found myself re-reading certain sections because they were so great. And this book was heavy on the narrative which I don’t generally like, but enjoyed here. Based on the quality of the writing alone I want to read more books by Robin York.

Then, there’s Caroline and West. I love them as individuals and a couple. Ms. York paced their relationship very well. She made me care about them and then rewarded me with some adorable coupleness. They both grew and became self-realized adults in this story. They aren’t perfect but that’s ok and they are working on it and that’s good enough.

There are a lot of messages to take away, but I think my favorite centers around being honest about what you want. Caroline and West need to be honest with each other and other people in their lives. But even more importantly, they need to be honest with themselves. I know this is something I struggle with and I think a lot of people do. I wish more people could take the chances Caroline and West do.

Do you know what else I liked? How family was handled. There’s the obvious with West and his sister Frankie. I love this kind of relationship I am a complete sucker for. Being a parent/guardian is a challenge for everyone and it was nice to see how West had to deal with this. And there are other little family bits throughout the books. Some are more dysfunctional than others, but there is love in all of them.

This was an amazing book and series. To me, it’s the kind of book that transcends a genre because there is so much going on. I completely recommend this beautiful series.

Thanks for reading!

Holly