Review : Harder by Robin York

Summary (from Goodreads) 

Title : Harder (Caroline & West #2)
Author : Robin York
Publication Date : July 1st 2014
Publisher : Bantam
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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.

Personal Thoughts

As soon as I finished Deeper, I jumped into Harder because I couldn't get enough of Caroline and West and I wanted these two to get the happily ever after that they both deserved, preferably together. I had doubts at the beginning of the book, when an event occurred that could (and should) have marred my entire experience, that I would love Harder as much as Deeper, but Robin York made it so hard to remotely dislike this book.

As much as Deeper was Caroline's story, Harder belonged entirely to West. After months of leaving college and returning to his hometown, West contacts Caroline in the middle night, completely distraught after his father's death. Caroline rushes to meet West, only to find out he is a different man: broken, isolated and in dire need of emotional support. West, gosh. My heart ached for this guy. He has endured so much throughout his entire life and he has had to tolerate the pain all by himself because he had a little sister to look out for. When Caro went to meet him, he did everything to push her away despite knowing that he needed her emotional support. He can be an infuriating man, but it's difficult not to fall head over heels over him. Thankfully, he didn't mope around for too long because he had to think about his baby sister when gained custody of her. I've always loved how devoted he was to his sister. Their bond was strained in this book what with him moving her to another town and to another school, but she was also going through normal phases that teenage girls go through. Despite his frustration with her, he stuck by her and provided her with all the love and care that he possibly could. Caroline has also blossomed into this beautiful character. She was no longer that innocent, broken and naive girl that she was in Deeper. She has grown out of her shell and has learned to stand strong despite everything that has happened to her. Caro was the perfect girl to be around West. She understood him and was his pillar throughout his difficult moments. I didn't think it was possible to love her even more than I did in Deeper, but I did. I think this series might be the only one where I care a lot more for the female character than the male character.

The romance in Harder was wonderful. West and Caro have that sort of relationship that is just constantly bursting with sexual tension. West did something at the beginning of the book (not cheating), that angered me and should have made me hate him, but honestly, Robin York made it very hard to dislike him and stay furious at him for a long time. Caroline was definitely a bigger person than I was and to be honest, I wouldn't have forgiven him, but West needed someone as stubborn and headstrong and Caroline to set him on the right path and to ground him from time to time. My only disappointment when it comes to Harder is that we didn't get to see much of Bridget and Krishna. There was something going on between them for sure, but they weren't given much screen space which was a bit of a let down, because I loved the friendship between the four of them in the previous book. I'm hoping that that means that we are getting a book for the two of them because I would seriously love that, especially because they are an interracial couple. As with the first book, York's writing was fabulous. It has an addictive quality to it that makes it incredibly hard to put down.

The wonderful part about this series is that the author hasn't only crafted a story about romance between two well-fleshed out characters, but she also tackled themes such as hope, growing up and making better individuals. It's touching, deeply romantic and not to be missed out!

Rating 

Cover : 3/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 4/5
Writing : 4/5

 

 Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the e-ARC of Harder.