Gracie survived an emotionally abusive relationship that wrecked her. Her ex, Noah, systematically chipped away at her self-esteem through intimidation, humiliation and infidelity which left Gracie unable to trust her own perception of his intentions. But after falling head over heels for Jake, her best friend and the man who stood by her through it all, she is ready to experience life in the way it was meant to be lived. However, Gracie may find it impossible to simultaneously heal from the trauma of abuse while navigating a relationship with Jake. Can she put her heart on hold in order to heal her soul? The sequel to the five-star debut novel, In Too Deep, chronicles Gracie's steps toward healing as she falls deeper in love, reaches out for help, stands on her own, steps out of her comfort zone, faces her biggest fears, and reconnects with a sensual, talented soul from her past all in hopes of finding herself on solid ground.
A copy was given to me as part of the On Solid Ground tour.
Well, I read the book that came before this and, if you’ve
seen my review for it, you’ll see I was incredibly unimpressed, especially
considering all the hype that was around it.
The same pretty much goes for this book.
The only reason it gets two stars instead of one is because there were
moments in it that I actually, genuinely enjoyed, but I found myself frustrated
at that because I had already decided that it wasn’t that great of a book, so
to see that the author is capable of actually entertaining me made me feel like
the effort had been wasted in an otherwise bland story.
When I reviewed the first book, I mentioned that the dialog
was really stiff. Well, that’s changed
in this book. Instead of sounding like
bad actors reading from a script someone who doesn’t understand the conventions
of casual English wrote, it sounds like everyone’s either a Shakespearean actor
or they’d be more appropriately put into a daytime soap opera. The dialog is honestly so melodramatic that
there’s no way the author ever actually listened to how college students in
their early twenties communicate.
Related to that, literally all they ever talk about is
Gracie’s former relationship. She and
Becki have weekly lunch dates and the first time they’re shown having one, they
talk about Becki breaking up with her own boyfriend, and then a big deal is
made out of how she shouldn’t be complaining because of what just happened to
Gracie. And then they talk about what
happened to Gracie. Gracie could be in
bed with her new boyfriend and she’ll just be laying there, flashbacking to
what Noah did to her. I realize the
entire point of this book is Gracie healing after an abusive relationship, but
come on. We get it. She’s emotionally scarred. Does she have nothing else in her life that
she needs to think about?
Well considering her parents are willing to pay her rent and
any and all living expenses (which apparently includes four-hundred dollars
spent at a furniture store so she can remodel her apartment) apparently she
really doesn’t. That part irked me,
too. It just made me see her as a
spoiled brat. Which is about the only characterization
we actually get, considering like the first book, everyone says what a free
spirit she truly is, but nope, we don’t see it.
The attempts to actually show it are just as stilted as the dialog
is. When she was standing up on stage
with Calon and started rapping as a warm up for the show, I was groaning
instead of laughing. I also feel like
times that should’ve been shown were really glossed over, which just means we
have a lot going on but very little actually happening.
That’s another complaint I had about this book. The ending was really rushed and I felt
Brownlow could’ve gotten a whole other book out of it. The revelation about the sex tape and what’s
on it should’ve been a big deal, but we get so little on it. Gracie finds out, breaks down for a few
pages, then goes to the police. The frat
house is shut down and some guys are dragged off, and apparently that’s that (I
guess there’s no such thing as due process in this world). Again, I feel like the process could’ve been
an entire book of its own. The fact that
it’s in there just made it seem to drag out unnecessarily.
There’s also the fact that it’s inconsistent. For instance, at the start of the book it’s
mentioned that Alternate Tragedy had gotten big and would be going on their
first real tour when summer ended, so they were in town just chilling out and
performing at Mitchell’s because they wanted to. And then later we find out they’ve been put
on a tour at the last minute as the opening act for another band and Gracie’s
angsting about Calon and the rest of the guys leaving town. Editing is a thing you should do.
And of course there’s a ton about Gracie and Jake we find
out that we should’ve already known from the first book. I realize that not everyone is expecting to
do a sequel to their book, but we don’t even find out Gracie’s major until this
one. Which is kind of an important
detail for a book about a college student.
To sum it up, I just… had no sympathy for this book. Because the first book gave me no reason to
sympathize with Gracie or see why she would want to stay with Noah, all the
talk about how badly he hurt her and how she must heal just comes off as
melodramatic for me. And the fact that
it only takes her a couple months to “get over it” makes me facepalm really
hard. I only wish that whatever possessed
Brownlow during those good passages could’ve been more consistent. Another disappointment.
