Deeper

Lifeguards #1

by Blue Ashcroft

Rain Wilson isn’t ever going to love again.

It’s a promise she made the day her boyfriend died in a water park accident, one she still blames herself for. Now she’s a senior lifeguard in a new town with a new pool and she’s just going to keep her head down and everyone safe.

Until a mysterious guy follows her into the waves at the pre-season bonfire and kisses her senseless. It’s just one mistake, and Rain is determined to put it behind her, until the dark haired, blue eyed hottie turns out to be her new co-supervisor Knight Mcallister.

Knight is hot, tatted, and carrying baggage of his own. He’s not happy about having Rain for a co-supervisor, and he’s even less happy about his attraction to her.

But between lifeguard drama, hot underwater kisses, and a growing attraction between them that can’t be stopped, Knight and Rain are being pulled deeper into their pasts, and realizing that sometimes too much broken can make a relationship impossible.

Then again sometimes it’s the broken parts of us that fit together best.

Genres: Romance, New Adult, Contemporary, Young Adult, Contemporary Romance, Ebooks, Fiction

172 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

I finally have something new coming. Something with a billionaire, three hot guys, a pro gamer...and oh yeah, it's a serial with a cliffhanger at the end of every episode.

Each episode will be more than half the length of one of my typical novels, and should come every 2 to 3 weeks. It helps that two parts are fully written and I'm not releasing number 1 yet.

You'll want to click here to sign up for my newsletter because...

I'm not giving official release dates. I'm just getting this out as quickly as I can and allowing myself to be flexible, so if you want info on the series, you'll want to be on my newsletter.

Not only because the minute an episode is ready they are the ones who get the first notification, but because I also may do early releases, ARC offers and flash sales for loyal readers.

I just want to have a lot of fun with this series.

I'll also be watching out for potential readers and reviewers I may want to offer an early ARC of the next episode to. You are welcome to write me at blueashcroft(at)gmail.com if you are interested in being an early reader, but I give priority to active reviewers, so your best chance would be attaching or linking to your review so I can see your style.

Now I gotta go pull some teaser excerpts!

Reviews

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★ 3.5 "Lifeguarding has never been so hot. Or so awkward." STARS ★★★

Deeper by Blue Ashcroft is a perfect summer read! It's a sweet, sexy and fun story that consists of some emotional, heartbreaking moments but overall it has a very light feel to it. The fact that most of the story takes place in and around a waterpark made for an original and interesting setting and added all the more to the "summer-holiday-vibe" I got while reading this.

*

Rain has made a promise to herself to never love again.

After a horrible waterpark accident a year ago, in which Rain's boyfriend William died a horrible death, she has decided to set some rule for herself. As a penance for being part of the accident that killed her boyfriend she's decided to never allow herself to fall in love again.

Now, she's decided to make a fresh start. This year she'll be working the summer in a new waterpark as a lifeguard supervisor. Which means more responsibility and more chances to save others. There will be no more freak accidents happening in a waterpark she's working at, at least not if she can help it.

♦ RAIN ♦

"She's beautiful and she's waking me up when all I've wanted for four years is to be asleep. I'm not sure I like it. But I'm not sure I dislike it either."



On the night before orientation starts, she runs into a handsome, dark haired, tatted bad boy named Knight. When she goes out for a late night swim, he follows her into the water and they share some heated kisses among the crashing waves.

♦ KNIGHT ♦

"He's as changeable as the ocean, and probably just as dangerous and powerful. But, like the ocean, he draws me in and I can't pull away."




Before things can get any further, they break apart and not soon after, Rain discovers Kinght is going to be her co-supervisor for the summer. When Kinght finds out he's going to have to share authority with a slightly younger girl, he's not too happy about it. At first, they struggle to work together and keep things professional after the night they shared right before the start of the new season.

They try to appear unaffected by the strong connection they share, but as the weeks go on they start to get to know each other better and better. And soon, Rain finds out she's not the only one with a broken past. But is it their past that will keep them apart or will their brokeness be the exact thing that keeps them together?

"It's like the broken parts of us seem to fit together so well that we are both willing to fall into this and not question it. I don't want to question it. For once I just want to go with something and worry about it later."

Overall, I really enjoyed this debut novel, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise and it was a perfect, lighter in-between-read that you can easily finish in a couple of hours. Lately I haven't been enjoying many YA novels and I'd say this was more of a YA than a NA story BUT that didn't prevent me from enjoying it any less! The story was written in alternating p.o.v.'s, first person tense and ended with a HEA. The reason I'm rounding it down to 3 instead of up to 4 is because I would have like the story to have a little more depth to it, and for it to be a little less predictable, but all in all it was an average, enjoyable read.

"It wouldn't be great for some people. They could drown, or hate the cold and wetness around them, and the solid silence of the ocean floor. But some of us were meant to kiss underwater.
For some of us, it's better there."

*

**ARC courtesy of the author via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

[Ellis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received an arc in exchange for an honest review. It's honest, all right.

Stars sub zero. For an NA title. Shocking.

How to even do this... This book made me sick. It honestly did. I haven't read any of the "great" NA titles à la Beautiful Disaster, Thoughtless, Hopeless, or anything by Abbi Glines, but I sincerely hope it doesn't get any worse than what I just read. There will be spoilers in this review, but, as was the case with The Edge of Never, if you still want to read this, this review probably isn't for you. In addition, this review is long, because I need to address many issues.

Trigger warning for rape and suicide.


So, Deeper. I don't even know what the tagline/blurb would be.

"For fans of Evermore and Beautiful Disaster?"

"Fallen meets The Edge of Never?"

"Abbi Glines, the "clean" version?"


Probably an amalgam of all three, because even though Rain practically orgasms when Knight sucks on her thumb or stick his tongue in her navel, good old bow chicka wow wow isn't on the menu here. To be honest, I don't even mind it. The problem is the reason she doesn't want to have sex.

For about half of the novel, we have to hear about Rain losing her boyfriend and being responsible for his death. Okay... If you're even a bit familiar with the NA genre, you'll probably assume that her responsibility will be denied at some point, preferably by the love interest, and all will be well in the world again. Yay, rainbows all around.

Not really though.

So in honour of her dead boyfriend, Rain decides to never love again. Since "love" is obviously synonymous with "sex", she decides to fasten her purity girdle indefinitely. I'm already losing my patience there, because however hard this book tries to push a "we no do no sexism" agenda, the truth is that I find such behaviour problematic.

It gets better.

After some random flashbacks that naturally need to add sympathy to the already "tragic" lives of our main characters, we learn that William never even was Rain's boyfriend. He was a guy who'd been lusting after her for months. She finally agreed to "date" him moments before he crashed to his death. However, the moment he is dead, she refers to him as her boyfriend and every inkling of sexual desire she feels is a betrayal to him.

To recap: they never even dated but because she feels responsible for his death (a part I'm not even going to comment on because it was handled so cheaply), she vows never to have sex because it wouldn't the fair to the guy she might have dated had he still been alive.

Just when you thought you'd read it all... Logic, amirite?

But before we get to the good rape culture stuff, I'll need to discuss the character of Amy for a bit. I already commented on how Deeper seems to be confused about what sexism really is. You can't just have a "strong" heroine go around screaming at the """"hero"""" that he's sexist, when you portray every guy as a horny rapist on steroids. These lovely specimens of the male variety all body- and slut-shame each other and take bets on which "score" they're going to land for the night. Sexism works all possible ways. Don't worry though, the girls don't mind calling each other skanks, whores, and bitches either.

Phew, you gotta check those misanthropic boxes.

Amy is introduced to us as a queer character. She identifies as a lesbian but then declares she could possibly be bisexual. I had so much hope for her. Her parents are lesbians, so she claims she doesn't know what she is because she's used to love between same sex couples. I don't really think sexuality works that way, but I can appreciate the attempt at breaking heteronormativity here.

However. (You knew this was coming, right?)

Amy fills the role of the boy-crazy best friend. Nowhere in the story does she show an interest in girls - besides from some awkward flirting with the female lead, which of course - but she jumps every guy she sees. This is harmful for lesbian and bisexual girls everywhere, since their sexuality is already so often seen as a "gimmick" to get a guy's attention. Believe me, I've had my fair share of friends who made out with one another as some kind of twisted foreplay with the boys they really wanted to spend the night with.

And now we've arrived at the main course. Je vous présente: rape culture at its finest.

The central setting of this story is a water amusement park or a pool or something. They used both terms a lot. The point is, Rain and Knight are life guards. However, this particular amusement park seems to be the hotspot for rapists and sexual offenders everywhere. A common occurrence is "the whirlpool", a practice where a bunch of (teenage) boys pull a female guard into the water and grope/sexually assault her.

Knight, our Lord Protector of (to be) raped girls everywhere, thus advises his female staff to stay away from the edges of the pool and call a male employee when they see a guy allegedly drowning.

Of course, Rain gets into this situation. It was actually Amy who was pulled under and harassed first, but Rain jumps in to help her, gets her out and is assaulted herself. The only guards on duty are women and because they've been instructed to not intervene lest they want to be assaulted themselves, no one helps her. Conveniently, Knight jumps in and saves the day.

This part actually made me cry. Sure, you could say that he's trying to protect his female colleagues, but let's think this through for the moment. The reason these guys get away with "the whirlpool" is because no one will help the victim, if there are only female guards around.

In Rain's case, there were six women on standby, but they've been so thoroughly frightened with what might possibly happen to their bodies if they want to help, that they are forced to see a friend get raped. What about the other people in the pool? Do they not possess the moral compass to intervene when they see a group of assholes gang up on a girl? Is this suddenly an all-girls pool (going on the logic here that girls can't possibly protect/"save" other women from sexual assault)?

No, we need the male lead to rescue her from these perverts. Personally, if you need the whole world (because Rain is repeatedly harassed throughout the story) to assault your protagonist because it serves as a good prelude to the couple being close and engaging into banter of failtastic proportions, that's just sad. That is really, really sad.

What's more, their male colleagues consider the female guards "free game". They roofie them on parties and try to rape them. In reality, these women aren't safe from anyone. Men will only help them if they care enough, i.e. when there will be a display of "gratitude" later, and otherwise, they'll just take what they want. In addition, Knight voices the ever so lovely opinion that he can't sue for sexual harassment because he's a guy. Seriously, this is not how assault works.

It gets sadder better though. Moments after he so heroically """"saved""" her from the umpteenth rape attempt, Knight thinks it's a good time to coerce Rain into dating him. Reason? If she says yes, she will be his and he will have a say over what she can and cannot do. If she says yes, he has a right to tell her not to go after sexual offenders, because she might get hurt and then he will be in pain. If you ever needed an explanation on the concept of "manpain", Knight's your guy.

Remember when I said Amy was the initial victim of this gang assault? Yeah, that happens a lot. Amy is "careless" and guys force themselves on her, Rain tries to help or goes to find help and then they shift their focus on her. However, she can only count on Knight's protection if they are currently dating.

This is so messed up.

Okay, I didn't get that completely right. Rain can always be sure Knight will protect her, because he desires her. Amy though, she just needs to be lucky that Rain can call on her true love for them to get away. Here, I cried again, because it's such an accurate depiction of all those men who need to imagine their sister(s)/girlfriend/wife/mother/daughter(s)/etc. getting raped before they can conclude that rape is not okay.

Rape is not a subjective crime. Rape is never okay. It's not "honourable" that you only start to care about rape when it happens to someone you love. However, these characters seem to argue that this is indeed how life works. This is why rape will always be treated as a "lesser" crime of minor importance.

So, yes, Knight does live up to his name, in that he perfectly embodies everything that's wrong with chivalric norms. Rain is safe, because she is the Courtly Lady worshipped by the knight who has sworn her his protection. I guess that makes the other 99.99% of the female population peasants, because they're not worthy of men taking an interest in their battles.

How could anyone not see that the ideology that a woman needs to be desired/desirable in order for her to "earn" male protection, is the clearest form of sexism and misogyny?

In combination with the pool scene, this is saying you'd be better off ignoring a rape if it's happening right in front of you, because better her than you, right? Now that we're on the topic, let's also just make clear that rape only happens to "traditional" women (because it certainly doesn't to people who choose to identify as female, or, you know, men) and that it simultaneously marks the end of your life because you're "damaged goods" now.

Yes, rape is a real problem for women, but not all men are rapists and it doesn't mean your life is over. The last part brings me the other reason why Knight will never be an appealing love interest character to me, and that's putting it lightly.

Knight's ex-girlfriend was raped and committed suicide because of it. This is seriously used as one of his defining character traits. Since this review is already ginormous, I'm not even going to go there. Somehow, he still manages to make that traumatic experience all about him. Camille feels horrible that she can no longer give him the same level of intimacy, but he's more concerned with the identity of her rapist. Ideally he would track down the bastard, kill him (I'm not even kidding about this being the plausible outcome) and that would make Camille's rape better for him.

Camille refuses to go to therapy. It's alluded that she chooses to embark on a string of suicide attempts instead. Can I just say that it's highly unlikely doctors wouldn't refer a girl who visits the E.R. so many times in row to a therapist? This is why people have medical files. Of course, why involve accuracy when you can just make this the backbone of Knight's attraction to Rain's "innocence"? Unlike Camille, she doesn't look as if anything bad ever happened to her, and, being the insult to a human being he is, Knight sexualises that supposed purity.

Anyway, the message here is that rape will ruin your life to the point that you better kill yourself, since it will never get better. This is really bad news for every female character in Deeper, since I don't think any of them will make it past twenty-six then. Honestly, it baffles me how these elements are still perpetuated in literature.

I don't care how many times Rain cries "ZOMG sexism!" or Knight pretends to be the force that will eradicate rape from this planet, their self-important actions and inconsistent behaviour ensures that this is still one of the highest concentrates of rape culture I've ever had the displeasure of reading. I cannot in good conscience recommend this to anyone. Rose asked me if this was worse than The Edge of Never. In my opinion, it is, because this story was just vile to me.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 SWEET SUMMER STARS!!!!!

This book was...summer. Warm skin. Sandy toes.



It’s hasn’t been years, only a summer, but I truly feel like I know her. She has become a part of me, and she’s soldering herself to my soul with each sigh and each touch. I’ll never be able to break away after this. I’ll say with her forever. Protect her forever.

Knight and Rain are both lifeguards. They meet at a bonfire and share a sexy kiss in the ocean, but Knight doesn’t know that Rain is going to be his partner in supervising the other lifeguards. As soon as he discovers this, he is cold and distant (love it!). Rain is offended and thinks Knight is just being sexist, but both Knight and Rain have their own secrets…their own brokenness.

My Knight:



(I know. His name is Knight. No, he’s different than Kristen Ashley’s Knight. But I like this Knight too!)

She wakes me up when all I’ve wanted for four years is to be asleep.

I love this man. He is just that…a knight, he has an inner-desire to protect people, especially those he cares about. Knight’s girlfriend committed suicide after she was raped. He is so broken from this experience and just trying to keep his head above water.

My Rain:



I love her. She is broken, but she is strong. She has principles and sticks to them. She also has lost someone and takes the blame on herself for this person’s death. After losing this person, she makes a promise to herself to keep the walls around her heart because she doesn’t believe that she deserves happiness...love.



Most worthwhile things are painful babe. Most things worth doing have the potential to hurt like hell. We just have to dig in and hope for the best.

They have both experienced a death very close to them. It eats at them constantly and keeps them from moving forward. At first, they hate each other (my favorite type of chemistry!). The attraction is unbearable and they soon begin to give into each other physically, stealing kisses, touches. They find solace in each other. Eventually, love finds them.

Just give me what you can, and I’ll let it be enough.



It’s okay to be happy. It’s okay to feel wonderful, and it’s okay to love and be loved. Just for this moment.

This book was sugary sweet, and I ate it up!! I don’t know why this book is getting low scores at all. I think it goes back to your expectations. This book reads like a young adult romance. But it’s a really good young adult romance! Don’t expect a new adult romance. I really liked the writing, the story, the characters. Most importantly, this book made me FEEL. I also LOVED the dual POV!!!

He puts his hands against my head and the small of my back. “Take a deep breath.” He covers my mouth with his in a tight seal, then, with a cold whoosh, he submerges us both, deep in the waves.



Go on Rain. Tell me you don’t love me. I dare you.

*ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

[Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

At this point in time, I've read enough books classified under the heading of New Adult to know a bit about what many of them contain and pertain to in the scheme of love stories. There are some that have managed to catch me very well ("Sea of Tranquility", "Unteachable", "Reason to Breathe," etc.) while others have been either in the middle column of "Ehh...it's okay but not my cuppa" to the lower column of "Are you serious?"

I think Blue Ashcroft's "Deeper" would probably go in the latter column/category. This book had me cringing, and it commits rampant sexism at the very same time it speaks against it. What on earth happened here?

I'll admit my interest in this book was primarily for the sea/swimming theme that it has (being a girl who grew up 30 minutes from the beach most of her life and taking frequent trips, swimming and stories set on the water naturally draw me in), and for the cover. I love the models and lettering on this one. I wanted it to be as good as the cover showed. I wish it had been.

It really wasn't, far from it. This was a short galley of only 155 pages, but it took forever to get through.

Let me introduce Rain: she's a lifeguard with a tragic past. Her former boyfriend (not really) is dead and she feels she can never love again, at least until she sees the mysterious stranger staring at her with the blue eyes from across the bonfire. Said stranger kisses her upon meeting initially (Ba-da-da-da, I'm an instalove machine...and I won't work for nobody but yooou...).

Turns out that said stranger is Knight (As in White Knight? As in the hero who is supposed to do all the saving and he's a lifeguard to boot? I have no words. No points for naming creativity because that's FAR too obvious. Plus the explanation of his mom liking too many romance novels made me groan).

Knight and Rain do not hit it off very well when they realize they're working with each other to manage other lifeguards in training for the summer. Matter in point, Knight's thoughts pretty much center on ways to possess Rain at every chance he gets, and his claims to her of "Oh, you shouldn't make that kind of save in the water because someone might sexually harass you in the process" made me want to virtually toss his misogynistic rear overboard. Several times. And the attention to how they felt each other up during training exercises left me feeling quite uncomfortable in the scheme of things, but I tried to read through the story without raging as much as I could. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt to see where the story would actually go.

There's a lot of heavy handed assertions that the two leads will be together - there's a point where I think Knight says they're "inevitable" and I'm mentally going "I don't want to hear this, I would rather find out if you two end up together on my own. STOP selling that point to me every other page!" And given that it's inevitable that Knight would start punching people - namely guys - over Rain...yep, typical New Adult formula put in full swing. Argh.

The "tragic pasts" subsection of this book is threadbare and formulaic - I couldn't connect to it at all. Rain's former boyfriend wasn't even her boyfriend - they weren't dating, never had a chance to. She had it in her mind that she wanted to ask him out and then tragedy struck. And her mental messaging shortly becomes "I never wanna love or trust anyone again!" In the same vein, Knight also has a loss in his past with a girl who suffered from depression (and the way that mental illness is treated in this book made a small part of me weep for the mishandling).

That's not even the worst thing though - the near rape scenes in this book? Not just one but the multitude of them? Dear goodness, no. Amy, a young woman swimming in the water - is whirlpooled by a bunch of teenage boys who rip off her clothes in the water. Rain tries to save her, but gets manhandled in the process and she can't get out as they rip and claw at her, dragging her under the water.

And her thoughts are along the lines of "I wish Knight were here to save me, I would rather take seeing his sexist face saving me than deal with these guys on my own."

Amy gets pushed out of the way, Rain gets rescued by Knight, and then he has the audacity to think "How can she do that to me? How can she put herself in danger when I told her what would happen?"

...I can't even. A part of me laughed because if I didn't, I probably would've been crying for how bad this was portrayed. It's among the worst I've seen in New Adult so far. Just utterly ridiculous and so unrealistic.

The scene with the little girls though made me utterly sick. I wasn't laughing then, I was mentally just...gone from that point in the book. I couldn't believe it went in that direction. Not enough to have teenage boys nearly rape a girl in a pool or take advantage of a drunk girl and puts herself in "compromising" positions, but to have a creepy pedophile touching little girls in the pool in this as well? WTF?

And you have the typical bitch-slamming, slut-shaming antics that pepper some of the worst titles in New Adult in this book as well. At that point, I just read to the end and felt like when I finished the galley, I was glad to be done with it for good.

0 stars. Because I'm very certain I've read better titles in this genre that don't make a mockery of others' suffering than this book did. I would've much appreciated a realistic viewpoint of the trials and tribulations of being a lifeguard and two individuals who fall in love naturally than being forcefed this the whole way through.

Overall score: 0/5 stars

Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, from the publisher.

[Lia Angelidou · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 star!

I am not even sure why I started reading this one but it was absolutely boring and annoying. I will start with the fact that both Rain and Knight have a dramatic past and they both lost their loved ones.

Ok I can handle one of the main leads to be in pain because of a traumatic past but when they both happen to find each other and actually try to "fit together their broken pasts" then it bothers me.

Not freaking realistic at all.

Rape, abuse and sexism... I am not going to start anylizing them because of my lack of knowledge in the matter and because of my poor english. I will just say that everything that was written in that book didn't feel right while reading.

Every male in the story feels the need to assault Rain and of course our Kinght (in shinning armor) comes for the rescue. How is that possible? And how is possible for Knight not to like her and yet like her? He doesn't even know what he wants.

Disturbed characters in a weird storyline is really repulsive.

And I won't even discuss about Amy, Rain's lesbian friend who's actually not so lesbian at the end. It's like the author at first desided that Amy is a lesbian but regretted later. Anyway Rain and Amy's relationship is kind of messed up and I can't make sense in whatever I am trying to say.

Well it was a sick book and I need to express myself more but I feel like it's not worth my time. I better go and find another book to read. Maybe one that the leads have normal names.

[Devon Ashley]

Oh, boy. I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to rate this one.



First, let me just throw out there that I too was a swimmer and lifeguard. I began U.S. swimming when I was just four years old, so I spent my entire pre-adult life swimming two to four hours a day. I also know water polo pretty well and made my first trip to the Olympic Training Center when I was just fifteen to compete for a spot on the 17 & Under team. I was also the supervising head lifeguard by the time I was eighteen. So I know the water world pretty well. The author says she's a water baby and lifeguard too, so that's what drew my interest to this novel. I felt a little camaraderie, so I really wanted to love this one.

In hindsight, after coming across a few things this author put into writing, I think she's more a recreational or summer league swimmer, but that's really neither here nor there.

Sadly, my interest for Deeper went downhill fast. Rain might just be the most frustrating character I've ever read about. Yes, more so than Bella Swan.



I know, right? I couldn't stop shaking my head. She made no sense to me, and that's the main reason I can't determine a rating for this novel. Is it just ludicrous to me? Or are there people out there who really think like her? Because God help us if they do.

First off, she's traumatized over what happened to a fellow co-worker. Totally understandable. She and a bunch of other water park workers were supposed to be training, but they were screwing around on a ride instead, trying to make a really long chain to go down the slide in. William was in front of her, trying to help the girl in front of him who couldn't hold onto her tube, leaving Rain to hold hers and his. Duh, she couldn't hold that much on her own and inevitably let go. Long story short, William was knocked over and fell to his death. Don't get me wrong. That. Totally. Sucks. I understand why Rain feels responsible. But so were the other numbnuts pulling off this stunt. So was the girl who needed help in front of him. So was management, who turned a blind eye so ...they'll know the limits of what is safe for patrons without being sued. And all this one year AFTER another worker fell to his death on the same ride because he was also trying to run and jump into his tube. Stupidity all around.

Guilt is okay in my book. I could even see her being so traumatized she could no longer work at water parks and develop a passion for avoiding risks. What I do not find plausible is moving forward in her life and never allowing herself to fall in love or have sex. Yep. You read that right. She decided that because this kid asked her out one minute before his death, that she was obligated to let the part of me that I gave to him die with him, so that we both lose.



What exactly did she give to him during those sixty seconds that's worthy of cutting love and sex out of her life? LOVE and SEX!



One year later, Rain has moved and is working in a new water park, co-supervising with a guy who shoved his tongue down her throat before even getting her name. Classy. Then he threw a hissy fit when he found out who she was. Gee. Guess you should've said more than three sentences before becoming so familiar.



Doesn't matter, because Rain seems to be the jam to Knight's peanut butter and both find themselves attracted despite their horrific first encounter. Here's the weird part. Knight actually grew on me. His POV chapters flew more smoothly for me, and though I felt he was a little over the top obsessive at parts, he genuinely seemed to care about her. Rain, however, strung him along so much I just wanted to smack her. After all, she's no longer allowed to fall in love because it would be a betrayal to William, so she continually breaks up with him. Remember, no love, no sex. No betrayal.

But...

I've never met anyone like him.

But...

Life has been confusing lately.

And...

I guess this is what chemistry feels like. William and I never had that. Uh, are you really surprised you didn't feel that way about him? You never dated him, even allowed him to flirt the entire summer and only agreed to go out with him because he was nice and she wasn't strong enough to just reject him sooner.

I could have grown to love him, given the chance. Awesome! Super! Totally logical thinking. Kick the guy you actually do love to the curb because you feel bad about NOT rejecting the guy you never actually got to date!

If I move on, if I go on to care for someone else, to eventually give everything to them, doesn't that just prove I'm a murderer? It's like I've killed [William] so I could be with someone else.



I'm growing closer to him, caring more. It's not love yet, but how much further can I go before I have to call it off? Before I betray William?

CERT-I-FI-ABLE.

If that wasn't bad enough, as her relationship intensifies with Knight, she suddenly starts referring to William as her boyfriend. Seriously! And she becomes more and more selfish.

These promises I made to myself, they're the first things I've been able to keep, no matter who pressured me to change them. I can't give up on them. They hold me together. They make everything make sense. So basically, since she can't love a man like EVER, she's decided to ...stay with them until they fall in love and leave them when I need to. Does that sound like a sane person to you?

Or how about this: I want you to love only me, and I want it to be okay if I don't love you.



GAH! RIPPING MY F*CKING HAIR OUT! Because apparently, if she admits she loves anyone other than William, she'll die from betrayal.



Another aspect of this novel I just didn't get? All the almost rapes that kept happening around the water park or these people who work and hang out together. Seriously. WTF? Does anyone ever do a background check, or is there something in the water? Because suddenly everyone is a freakin' molester/rapist. In this book alone, Rain is involved in four different types of molestation. It's apparently common for groups of teenage guys to gangbang girls in the water so frequently that it's referred to as 'whirlpooling' (to which Rain falls victim to); two lifeguards roofied one girl, and when Rain interfered, they tried to rape her; a guy accused of molesting two little girls tries to drag Rain into the bathroom when she tries to stop him, and then she gets dry-humped by a drunk co-worker who won't get off her. And oddly enough, none of this ever seems to affect her because she's living a life she no longer deserves after being responsible for William's death.



I don't know whether to smack her or just hug her until the darkness slips away. The girl seriously needs mental help and refuses to get it. Her biggest reaction of the four attacks? Thinking the guys who molested her in the water could've given her diseases from their scratchmarks.



Uh...they're perverted little men, not werewolves.

And what's up with her friend Amy? At first she's lesbian and jokingly hits on Rain to find out her preference. Then she's suddenly bi and drooling over all the guys. Not a single girl in the bunch. WTH? Is no one sure of themselves in this novel?

I think I'm gonna stop my rant there because I'm getting a freakin' headache and I ran out of liquor.



And because I don't know what the hell to make of this character, I'm not sure how the hell to rate her crazy ass, so I'm skipping that I think.

Will I read anything from this author again? IDK. Maybe. I was fine with the writing and I'll admit there was plenty of angst to keep my attention. I just couldn't connect with Rain's way of thinking and all the unnecessary, repetitive rape encounters. Knight had a legitimate reason to be damaged, and I grew to care for him, despite his remaining character flaw that all women needed to be protected all the time. So maybe I'll read her again, if, AND ONLY IF, the characters have legitimate suffering going on inside their heads.

And coming from someone who was a competitive swimmer for way too many years of my life, I can't help but remark on these things:

- Oh, how I wish this were true! I would've been way more interested in my sport in high school and college if it were. :D I move upwards, over the cut eight pack that's standard with swimmers.... Sorry, but swimmers don't have a standard eight pack. Not even six. They have great arm and leg strength, but unless they're Olympic bound and spending five hours in the gym on a daily basis just to make themselves a hottie, they're abs are usually nicely toned, but nothing resembling ripped.



...still nice to look at though, right? I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Ryan Lochte for taking the time to give us this gorgeous view. Effort well spent.

- Somebody please tell me what a chubby, post water polo body looks like, because although I'm not exactly sure what that is, I'm afraid I might have one. lol

- My skin is still warm from the fire so the waves are shocking in the cool night air. Actually, the opposite is true. Take it from a person who used to stand in a hot shower for five minutes before diving into the pool because the coach never ran the pool's heater in the wintertime. Heating your skin up actually keeps the chill from shocking you. It's hardly a blip on the radar when you dive in.

[Jess · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do you know that horrible moment when you leave your noodles on the stove too long and they soak up all the soup and stick together, going gloopy? Sadly, this was just what happened with Deeper. It started off with tasty promise, but then went into gloop.


Excuse me if there are any spoilers, but it isn't exactly like you can't predict the whole story line from the first few words anyway! So... on with the complaints.

I loved the premise, and the ideas. It has just enough interesting back story and romance until, like, one hundred teaspoons of pepper was added, ruining everything. I mean, how many times does someone need to be saved from the same situation? As if those sorts of situations ever happened that many times in such a small time frame in reality. It was like the worst part of a video tape stuck on replay, when you just want it to work out like you know it should! Look at me go with these similes.

I disliked all the characters, it was like all of the world's deranged, abused, depressed, perverted people happened to have jobs together. A goat could have made me feel more emotions even if it just stood there chewing.

I get where Rain's troubles originate from, but they weren't even going out properly! It's not like she had confessed her unfailing love for him six seconds after he asks her out. I get the guilt and the worry and stuff, but seriously? With the rate Rain was going with Knight (yes. Yes, they are their real names), she was never going to have a stable relationship with William anyway. We get the whole on again, off again, stupid time-wasting Knight in shining armour saving the princess hardyharharrrr. He should have just treated her like a dragon and sliced off her head while he could. For all our sakes.

You'lld think this book would be deep like its title suggests, but its purely shallow. Even still, I almost drowned. On the positive side, it was quite short.

So enough, with that. I'm tired and no one's probably reading this but Anna (shout out to you banana), so au revoir ducklings.

Thanks to Blue and Netgalley for providing a copy for me to review!

[Beeg Panda · Rating 1 out of 5]

NOTE TO SELF:
Main focus is H and his dead love's (Camille) relationship.
In chapter one, he calls h by his dead love's name. Eww.
Ow is mentioned more than 54 times, right up until last page of last chapter.
The choices he makes is based on ow.
I prefer my couples in love with only each other.

Excerpt:

“But she makes me think of Camille. I should have known from the moment my eyes found her at the bonfire, and it felt like a part of me was waking up after a long nightmare. And then when I followed her into the water, like she was a siren.”

Creepy.....shudder.....

[Books & Vodka Sodas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had so many eh, and negative reviews that I was very reluctant to read it at first. I held off and it sat alone and neglected in my pile on NetGalley. Finally, I was in the mood for New Adult angst and I went for it.

Now, a few things I noticed straight off, was that the writing voice was very strong. The characters had every well define dialogue and developed personalities. The story starts with an intriguing hook to it, and you are pulled into this world and the tragedies that Blue has created. Every element of this book tugged at my heart. Where Rain was a very strong and independent personality, there was also a vulnerability inside her that projected due to her parents lack of paying attention to her and any real adult guidance in her life. And although this does seem to be a problematic theme in Young Adult and New Adult fiction, it is a reality. As the mother of a female I see so many adults take a back seat to their daughters lives and would rather them be 'cool' or 'work it out on their own' that they actually have no clue who their children are. They say flat out "My daughter won't talk to me at all, I have no clue what is going on with them." Ummm and you think that is ok? They do because they laugh about it in the next sentence. So yes, there are parents like me that FORCE information out of my kid, lol or rather make it ok for her to tell me, there are parents the total opposite, so its not like it is a made up concept.

Anyways, back to the book.

As a male, and a seemingly Alpha male, Knight is a well constructed character. He has his own issues, but I believe he has come to terms with them more than Rain has her own. I believe he knows how to cope slightly better, but the whole driving focus of the story is two very broken and lost people happen to find one another and attempt to take on a relationship.

Now, the part of the story that bothered me, I actually had very little sympathy for it was why Rain refused a relationship. Now, I know we all handle loss in our own way. But it was a bit over the top and I know that the author was attempting to make the tragedy similar for the two characters so they related on a bigger level--it failed. Knight had far more reason to be emotionally damaged than Rain. Yes, someone died pretty much in front of her, but Knight had his girl friend and long time childhood friend die over something horrible.

The whole story pushed boundaries and took us to a place that was actually quite dark. The themes in this story happen to so many people, and they have soap box to voice it and honestly don't understand how to. Society doesn't make easy for a female to admit she has been sexually assaulted and Knight in a position where he wants to right all the wrongs done to women. I respected that even if he wanted to put Rain in a bubble. She was a strong women and they both needed an outlet and how the book ended actually made me very happy with the story as a whole, even if I thought Rain's plot device was weak.

I connected and cared for the characters, and Blue true is a strong writer in the New Adult Genre.

*I received a copy of this book from Blue Ashcroft via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Source: I was able to view a digital galley of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to Blue Ashcroft and Netgalley.)
19-year-old Rain is just starting a new job as a lifeguard at a waterpark. She’s worked at a waterpark before, but this is her first time as a superior, and it seems like her age is going to be an issue with her partner lifeguard Knight.

Knight is wary of Rain because she’s so young, but somehow she worms her way into his heart and becomes the princess he wants to rescue.

Rain and Knight are both damaged though. Rain swore never to fall in love after her almost-boyfriend died at the last waterpark she worked at, whilst Knight is still trying to get over Camille, his girlfriend who was raped and then killed herself.
Can Knight and Rain look past their losses? Can they learn to love each other? And can Knight live with the constant danger that Rain seems to find herself in?


This was a really good YA contemporary romance, that really got my heart racing!

Rain and Knight were both quite complex characters, and both were sticklers for the rules. I thought that Rain was being a bit hard on herself over what happened with her almost-boyfriend William, whilst I understood what Knight was going through, and why he was so protective of Rain. Both were quite emotional over what had happened to them, and both had trouble talking about what had happened.

I liked the storyline in this book, and felt like it was a bit different with the lifeguard storyline. I did think that Rain was a bit hard on herself, but the storyline really worked.

I loved the romance in this one, I loved how Rain and Knight were attracted to each other, but didn’t really act on it, and I liked how much they came to care for each other. When they did get together it was really steamy though, and the romance between the two was just lovely. They really had my heart racing with their encounters, even though they didn’t actually have sex, and I loved how right they were together.

The ending of this one was pretty good too, and I liked how both Rain and Knight managed to work through some of their problems.
Overall; a good NA contemporary romance.
7.5 out of 10.

[Shanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I've had this book for a while, and I decided it was time, and I want to kick myself cause it was so great, I wish I'd read it earlier. I have to say that the author did everything right in this book, and what better way to say that than to list the top 10 reasons why Deeper was Awesome.

1. Lifeguards - so hot on tv but why aren't there more books about them?
2. Broken souls - two people who have both been struck my terrible and tragic circumstances (great set up for a great Plot).
3. Wonderful pacing - I never felt like this book was slow, or fast or in between. It was perfect for pacing.
4. Kissing underwater - the way its described, I don't know why anyone would ever want to kiss over water lol.
5. CHEMISTRY! - The two leads had chemistry that was exploding off the pages, and again it felt super organic.
6. The Banter - Everything about Knight always felt like a 20-24 year old, he was so flirty, and so unsure at the same time, it was so great, and when Rain let her guard down she was pretty awesome as well.
7. The Names - One of the main reasons I think this book will stick with me, is those names, Rain and Knight, I loved that.
8. Plot - overall, I think the author had a solid plot line and she ran with it, I like when we get to see growth in characters, and we definitely saw that.
9. Dual POVs especially when you have two people who are so apprehensive about sharing about themselves and their pasts, it was great that the reader got to know way before the other person, it just helped to manage the angst a little bit better.
10. Unpredictability - So about a quarter way through I saw something in the plot, and kinda made me sad, I thought the author was going to go this super predictable route. But she didn't instead the book continued in a way that I didn't see coming. I.FREAKING.LOVED.THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

***ARC provided by author via NetGalley ***

[Claire Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blue Ashcroft
Deeper

I found myself searching for books, despite promising myself that I wasn’t allowed anymore until my 15+ review pile was gone when I came across this book. I clicked away, but found myself completely drawn back to the book and eventually couldn’t stop myself – but I’m so glad I caved.

Emotional turmoil doesn’t even come close to describing what Rain and Knight have been through in the past, and some parts of the book are difficult to read without being overcome by that emotion. Survivor’s guilt left Rain making a promise to never fall in love, but after meeting Knight, keeping that promise gets harder and harder. The author managed to completely captivate me with the writing style, descriptive nature and character development. I was so caught up in the whole story from start to finish, that I felt every high and low the characters felt. The title of the book is very apt for the story, it’s a very deep book that can be read on so many levels above love, loss, guilt and what if’s but somehow feels lighter (until you reflect back on the book after finishing). This is definitely a book that won’t be forgotten.

I received an e-copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Meg]

Rainn Wilson called. He wants his name back.

[preppea · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 5 star review for me is a feeling – it goes beyond meeting certain criteria I deem to be important and creates that indescribable feeling I get reading certain books that take me to another place. It makes me feel, and makes me never want to finish but unable to stop reading either. I cannot tell a writer how to create that feeling any more than an author can tell me how I should feel about a book. DEEPER did that for me. DEEPER for me is about broken people who are struggling to stay afloat, barely living, until they find someone equally broken who finally allows them to feel again – and maybe, with any luck, to one day heal.

I loved how possessive Knight was – how controlling. You see this in plenty of adult novels these days, but not so much in New Adult, and I adored it. I thought it was the perfect amount of assertive sexiness without going over the top. Knight couldn’t help but want to protect Rain – and Rain couldn’t help but put herself in danger in order to protect everyone else. Perfect fucked up combo. And I’ve never really noticed how great swimmers bodies were before – but now it’s all I can think about!

Why did I spend all of my college weekends at football games when I could have been at swim meets? What was I thinking? Why were my priorities so out of whack? The way Rain described Knight and his ken doll lines made me swoon!

Sorry, where were we? Oh yah, I’m writing a review of DEEPER, not just thinking about perfect male abs. Another thing I loved about this book were the lines (not the ken doll lines - though those were definitely a favorite - but the quotes) - they were angsty, deep, touching and romantic.

She’s trying to cut me loose to protect me. But it’s like she’s running me over with a small train to avoid possibly running me over with a bigger one.

Some things are worth fighting for. And even though I know the price of a fight fought and lost, I want to fight this fight for her.

I felt every emotion these characters expressed – I believed it, lived it, knew it like I knew myself. I could completely identify with their pain – and why they made the choices they made. And I absolutely fell in love with their love story. Their broken, twisted love story. I also really liked the two points of view – I thought it flowed well and was a perfect way for the reader to embrace both characters and their feelings/emotions equally.

I wouldn’t have minded if the intimate scenes were a little more descriptive. I’m not asking for a lot, I thought it was really well done and I could feel the heat – but if Rain is asking if what they just did could be considered sex and I thought the lowest he got was kissing her belly button, you can see where I might be confused. A few extra details might have clarified some of that for me.

All in all, I thought this was a spectacular display of a broken love story – call me a glutton for punishment but this angsty, dark love story was the perfect read for me and I’d love to spend more time with Rain and Knight!

**Copy provided by the author/publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

**Reviewed by preppea on I ♥ Bookie Nookie Reviews.

[Alisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Find this review and more at http://www.thereadingobsession.blogsp....

ARC received from Netgalley. This review is not biased in any way. There was no money, gifts, discounts, or favors exchanged for this review.

I'm still confused of why I'd read a book called Deeper. I know that the first time I saw it on Netgalley, I began laughing. Curiosity overcoming me, I clicked on it, and it turns out that it's about life guards. I don't know why, but I've always had this interest in them. I mean, you see them near all the pools, lakes, and oceans, but rarely do you ever actually speak with them. I expected this book to give me an inside look into the world of life guards. Ignoring that insanely overused cover type and the completely terrible title, I decided to request it. And I got accepted.

On the first page, I realized something was wrong. But I've been wrong about these things before. So I kept reading. And I got progressively annoyed. Around halfway through, reviews popped up from Goodread friends giving it a one star. I should have stopped reading, but I have this annoying OCD thing where, if I'm halfway through with a book, I have to finish it.

Yesterday, I talked about how The Sea of Tranquility gave me hope for New Adult. Deeper is the sort of book to rip that hope away.

Rain's boyfriend died, and she decides to never love anyone again. This had so much potential of making the story amazing and intriguing, but it somehow makes it worse. And then you find out that he wasn't her boyfriend after all, just a guy who asked her on a date.I don't know what I was expecting; this is New Adult, after all.

Anyways, she sees this guy across a bonfire, and she immediately forgets about him and goes on her merry way.



This wouldn't be a New Adult if that happened. Instead of not having any feelings about him, she does the completely logical thing of falling in love with him.

This guy starts kissing her, and then she leaves.

This is the part where she could have continued with her life, and this story would have never been written.
But it turns out, that the guy is Knight, her new co-worker. He gets annoyed because she's new, but it actually sounds like he's angry because she's a girl.

Oh, and he also has some secret and tragic past, completely unlike the rest of New Adult books.

Inexplicably, they start dating, even though they "hate" each other. Knight is still an annoying jerk, and Rain's an idiot.

There was one time I admired Rain, because she stopped a rape attempt. Knight immediately becomes furious with her for putting her life at risk, and she basically apologizes. I'd be slightly okay if he was worried about her, but instead, Knight thinks, "How can she do this to me?" At that part, I stopped making fun of the book and began mentally strangling it, instead.

This isn't even the worst part. There's a scene where there's a freaking pedophile in the pool with the kids. It's barely written as serious, but just like it's an everyday occurrence. Rain chases after the guy, and Knight thinks, again, "How can she do this to me?"

How can she do this to him? What about the girls that are mentally scared? What about the fact that maybe Knight should actually respect someone who tries and help other people? He's a life guard; he should understand that there are more lives important than his.

Along with this complete disaster, you also have no plot. Well, there's the "romance", but that literally is it. Maybe, maybe if there was another plot, I might have liked it the tiniest bit more.

Character develop isn't even barely there in this story, apart from the fact that Rain and Knight fall in love.

The names in this story were just awful. It didn't even have the excuse of being a gothic, like Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, or having a crazy mother, like in Angelfall. This is the least horrid thing in this terrible piece of writing that doesn't even deserve to be called a novel.

Will I be reading any more writings by this author? God, no. I read this thing, and I wanted to rip my eyes out. I'm not standing it again.

[Hilda · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel started off fairly surreal with Knight seducing a complete stranger (Rain) in the ocean. Err...yeah, pretty sure that is very unlikely to happen...I think this first scene kind of threw me off for the rest of the book. The whole lifeguarding aspect was pretty cool as it got fairly descriptive in terms of the different types of rescues and what not.

What really set me off was how stupid Rain's character seems to be. The fact that she foolishly puts herself in situations where she's taken advantage off makes her stupid and not heroic/brave in my books. Maybe that was the point--maybe Rain is supposed to be brave to a fault. Personally, I don't find this attractive...but I'm not Knight. The first situation she got herself into, it was unfortunate...the second time was unlucky...by the third time, it was just getting overplayed and somewhat annoying. It seemed like all that was happening in the book was Rain getting into trouble and Knight swooping in and saving the day (damn, that sounds super cheese). By the end of it, I didn't even really want to read about why she *couldn't* ever love Knight, I just wanted him to walk (yup, I said it...I didn't want a happily ever after here!!)

Rain's fixation on "not ever falling in love" and Knight's "I'm going to love her no matter what" attitude seemed a bit much at times. The two are very stubborn and butt heads quite often because of this. There is so much of the back-and-forth/he-said-she-said that there wasn't much focus on any other characters. This made the story a bit dry (hah, the entire story practically takes place in the water) but perhaps that was the point--to really just hone in on how two messed up people (each in their own ways) try to save each other and find their own ways to love.

I found the events in this book a bit repetitive but there were definitely some neat elements at the same time (re: lifeguarding stuff). I am, also, definitely still wondering--can you actually kiss under water (not that I'd every try...)?

[Farrah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad read, but I had trouble connecting with the characters. Deeper was a nice New Adult read. It was okay and, while I didn't love it, I did enjoy reading it.

I had a big problem connecting with Rain. I understood her guilt, but I think she took it too far. Because she felt she was responsible for her almost-boyfriend's death, she decided she didn't deserve to truly live and she was going to continually put her life at risk and be totally reckless in the name of saving others. It just didn't sit well with me. And I couldn't understand why she kept calling Knight sexist. For example, when they were training the new lifeguards, he didn't want the girls to practice on the bigger guys since it would be more difficult for them. While that's not gender equality, it is kind of true. Girls are, on average, physically smaller than guys, so they would have more difficultly rescuing a guy. I consider myself I feminist and that didn't bother me. But Rain went on a rampage about it. Several times, I just wanted to tell her to chill out. In the end, I was okay with her character, but I can't say that I liked her.

Knight fared better for me. I understood how his past affected him more than I did with Rain. I connected with him more as a character. He was sweet and a genuinely good guy. He was the best part of the book. Though I didn't understand why he put up with Rain. But, I did like his character and I thought he was great.

The romance was sweet. There wasn't much spice in this, though there was obvious chemistry between Rain and Knight. They were a cute couple.

The plot was okay. I was kept interested the entire way through. And, though I wasn't riveted, I did enjoy the story. And the ending was great.

Deeper was a nice New Adult romance. Though it's not one of my favorites, I did enjoy reading it. If you're looking for a quick read that nice and enjoyable, then you should give this book a try.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the author for a copy!

[Niccisbookblog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deeper is a sweet sexy heart felt romance that just leaves you warm inside.

Knight was a genuine, nice guy that had a deeper side to him, a relationship isnt all about getting into a girls pants to him. Knight was a true hero in my mind i loved his character right from the start. Knight has an inner-desire to protect people, especially those he cares about, his name is so fitting for him.

Rain is another great character, shes so very broken but she is strong, she doesnt cower away from anything. After a tragic accident Rain doesnt believe she deserves to have a life or love or happiness, so she dedicates her life to saving as many people as she can to make up for the life she couldnt save, she feels that its her penance, to right the wrong.

Knight and Rain have both experienced the death of someone close to them so at times it eats away at them and keeps them from giving in to the slowly building feelings they have for each other. The more time they spend with each other, the little touches and soul deep kisses eventually love catches up with them. They find solace in each other.
Knight and Rain are like magnets drawn to each other, the moon giving way to the sun, they are just meant to be.
This book is a great young adult romance that is written so well, it makes you feel every emotion, the characters are well developed the plot and story telling are just fantastic. I do love a duel POV book it just adds so much more to the book to get both side of the story.

This book is a good solid four starts for me its a great read to pass a few hours.

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't care for the story and thought the characters were superficial. Rain and Knight are the most self-centered and illogical people on the face of the planet. Thank god they're pretty though, right?

I'm sorry, but I don't find anything appealing about a book in which the main female character is groped and grabbed by male co-workers and customers over and over again. If Rain experienced several unwanted or suggestive comments by men because she's a pretty young woman, then I would find her experiences to be somewhat believable because we live in a society that objectifies women and sexism remains a very real problem.

However, the number of times Rain is almost raped is not only unbelievable, but it's a completely sexist depiction of men. It's incredibly offensive that Knight is the only "decent" male character in this book - and it's only because he's traumatized by the rape of his ex-girlfriend. One look at Rain and men lose all their senses. Apparently Knight is the only one who can protect her.

Most of the men I know are very protective of women and even if they notice (and appreciate) a beautiful woman, they don't act like sex fiends who are unable to control themselves.

It's demeaning to men and women alike. I don't like it one bit.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for permitting me to read an advance readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 1 Star

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fair warning, this book is focussed on some heavy issues: death, rape and suicide.

Unfortunately, it doesn't deal well with either issue. What could have been a gritty, emotionally compelling read was instead boring and a little ridiculous. I felt no connection to either character or to the story. The lifeguard training was probably the most interesting thing about the book and that wasn't even all that interesting.

Her reasons for keeping her distance from everyone made little sense past a superficial level. His need to protect and save made a little more sense based on his past, but wasn't written well. Instead of coming off as a bit damaged and over-protective, he read as chauvinistic..that she allowed - even encouraged - such behavior in him killed all her claims of being 'strong' and 'independent'.

The hours I spent reading this are ones I can't get back, and that makes me sad.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh to be a teenager in love, sounds fantastic, but when those two people have there own demons and deep seated flaws how do you convince them they are good people and deserve to live and love?
How to make a relationship work in the here and now when still feeling guilty about past events that were out of their control and the after effects causing emotional turmoil.
A story about lifeguards was a new theme for me, when reading the synopsis I felt in touch with these characters and while reading I just wanted the heartache and guilt to be released so they could teach each other to love and be loved again.
As stories go I think this was thought out well, greatly researched and incredibly written, capturing the characters emotions and their reactions immensely.

I just have to say the intensity of the underwater kiss was electrifying, I so wish i had my own 'Knight' to do this to me as it was intimately hot and mouthwatering.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have enjoyed this book had it 1) been a little longer. it was great up until the last of it, then it was like rushrushrush a month later this happened and now im doing this and rushrushrush. it woulda been nice to go more into the therapy, also more detail of how she switched schools, and that sorta thing, I don't think I ever really understood why she was at the park in the first place, why she moved "just for the summer" 2) there wasn't as many sex related drama..like 3 times almost getting raped or killed or molested or whatever, jumping into three separate scenes that have some sort of sex problems that trigger Knights antirape feelings..bit glaringly obvious. I think one huge one at the end woulda done it.

the potential to be awesome was there, but it just didn't quite reach it. a little more would have been awesome. still captivated me and kept me reading tough, so bonus for that

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

This wasn't an amazing book. I definitely had some issues, but I also really enjoyed it for the most part.

My main issue was the way the men were portrayed in this book. Which is a weird thing to say because usually it's the other way around. Every man except Knight (The Male love interest) was looked at as a sexual predator. In an extremely over the top way. I know that sexual assault happens frequently, but every male character that was introduced was a complete dick and Knight had to "protect" her from all the scary guys. While sexual assault and rape are important topics, I felt it was handled wrong in this book. It was overdone.

However, I liked the story line and the two main characters. I usually don't like dual perspective especially in romance, but I appreciated it in this book and liked hearing from both of the characters. I felt that the good outweighed the bad.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I'm still not really sure what to say about this book. It most definitely was not a light, happy, fun read, but at the same time, it was cute. I felt Knight's pain with the loss of his girlfriend, but I never could drag up any sympathy for Rain. To me, her "guilt" was totally pointless and it was over this guy who wasn't even her boyfriend or good friend. They hadn't even been on a date yet when he died, and yet she has this pact to never love again with herself. Made no sense. However, I LOVED the main characters' names, but there were some major proofreading errors. Since I read a unfinished copy, perhaps that will change. Either way, not much to say about this book.

*Received an ARC for an honest review.*

[CD Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the best relationships are the love/hate. The friction draws them closer and builds an understanding others can't feel. Rain and Knight are suppose to share supervising positions but they are also frustrated with each other and the attraction they have for each other. The secrets they have keep them from each other and it also causes the story to deliver to much. The romance and rape stories didn't fit together or flow with the story. I felt like the watermark scenes were trying to hard. This in addition to Rain's refusal to love again because of the guilt over a boyfriend that was never her actual boyfriend is again to much.

Thank you Blue Ashcroft and NetGalley for an ARC.

[Julie (Bookish.Intoxication) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this novel from NetGalley.

I didn't expect to like this novel as much as I do, and that pleases me! The plot, although seemingly a little cliche' is well thought out and constructed, as are the protagonists, in all their youthful glory. The reasons for their sorrow and their progression through it is so real, it resonates within the reader, as something horrible, yet freeing. That in itself makes for a great read.

This novel definitely fits into the YA genre, romance fans, you too will enjoy this baby. A great little read, something that makes you think, long after the final page has been turned, reading about the progression from depression to ultimate happiness is always something that moves a reader, and Ashcroft has done so brilliantly. A great little read.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ups and downs of Rain & Knight is beautifully done. Two separate tragedies in their lives bond them in a way no one really would chose to be entwined but, the path you choose will ultimately take you where the fates had planned for you to be all this time. As lifeguards for a waterpark for the summer they both think they know best and will challenge each other the entire summer always keep your eyes on the water. If they can't work together and fight the emotional, physical need to be together people can die. They both make personal silent promises to never let that happen ever again. "Most worthwhile things are painful babe. Most things worth doing have the potential to hurt like hell. We just have to dig in and hope for the best."

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is not easy to please me when it comes to a book. Very rarely do I get bored of it. This was another book that was very pleasurable to read. I loved Rain and Knights characters. They find love and help each other get through a tough time while working at a pool. They hit so many snags that summer though but you could definitely see that it wasn't going to separate them. I've never seen so many things happen at a pool before where life guards have to deal w do much from molesters to kids playing a game and almost drowning someone. Blue Ashcroft did a beautiful job w this book.

[McKayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rain and Knight are both the bearers of horrible tragedies and feel that they are responsible. They find each other but can it work? This story is told from both perspectives, which is always nice knowing what the other thinks. This was nice short read for when you only have a couple of hours to devote.

[Hbeebti · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good. I did really like their names. Knight and Rain. I enjoyed the whole life guard thing with the water park. It was sad because Knight and Rain have a lot of pain in their past and they struggle to move on from it and finally be happy. Overall it was a decent read.