Series Review: Into the Deep by Samantha Young

Series Review: Is this series worth your time? Does it get better as the novels progress? Or does it get worse? Find out below:

Into the Deep by Samantha Young | Into the Deep Series

Series: Into the Deep
Author: Samantha Young
# of Books: 2 (Into the Deep, Out of the Shallows)
Book Order: Chronological
Complete?: Yes
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Heat Rating: warm
Point of View: First Person, Single
Publication Dates: August 2013 – April 2014
Source & Format: Own–eBook

**This post was originally posted as a Fresh Friday review of the first book of the series. It has now been updated to reflect my conclusion to DNF this series. It will not be further updated.**

While On Dublin Street (the series Samantha Young is most well known for) has been on my reading list forever , I decided to buy Into the Deep mostly because it was significantly cheaper than the Dublin series and I could use my coupon 😛 Don’t get me wrong, I was interested in reading it, but I wasn’t overly excited to read it.

And I wasn’t overly excited when I was reading it either. Everything in this book is a little blah when I compare it to the other New Adult reads that I have read in the past year.

Jake isn’t really a “bad boy”–yes, he’s a bit of a player but there are “badder” boys out there, that’s for sure! And Charley is just pain boring. Of course she is the typical “not overly pretty” heroine that every boy is in love with and they only bother trying to make a move on her once she is with someone else. I don’t know why they like her other than her looks–she doesn’t exactly have a winning personality to me.

As for the plot, I found it predictable and–not surprisingly–dull given my impression of the two main characters. While I liked trying to figure of the mystery of the “incident” by having the flashbacks to the past, it just wasn’t enough for me to be overly impressed with this book. The plot is also slow which I found frustrating considering I knew where it was going to go the whole time–at times I just wished it would get to the point already. I enjoy drama in my novels (not over the top soap opera drama but drama nonetheless) and this didn’t have a lot going on–I felt like the book never really climaxed. I think if we had an alternating perspective between Jake and Charley I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

One highlight of the novel is Charley’s BFF Claudia. Now Claudia is an interesting character that I would love to read more about! Her story often overshadowed Charley’s and I often wished I was reading about Claudia instead.

I will read Out of the Shallows just for the sake of getting some closure but I won’t be pushing it to the top of my To-Read list ASAP.

It’s been a couple of years now and I’ve already forgotten this story, so DNF it gets.

Series Rating: DNF

Into the Deep 3/5 | Uut of the Shallows N/A

This book is slow in my opinion but if you enjoy reading about reunited loves who are trying to find themselves as they navigate their relationship, this is probably one for you. A nice jump into the New Adult genre without the (often) over the top drama usually found in the genre and not as sexy-time focused either. So if you enjoy high drama, bad boys or characters touched by tragedy–avoid this series and pick something else up!

• Keep Me Still by Caisey Quinn (Keep Me Still Series #1)
• Falling into Infinity by Layne Harper (Infinity Series #1)

Synopsis for Into the Deep (from Goodreads):
Live young. Live hard. Love deep.

Charley Redford was just an ordinary girl until Jake Caplin moved to her small town in Indiana and convinced her she was extraordinary. Almost from day one Jake pulled Charley into the deep and promised he was right there with her. But when a tragic incident darkened Jake’s life he waded out into the shallows and left Charley behind.

Almost four years later Charley thinks she’s moved on. That is until she takes a study year abroad in Edinburgh and bumps into none other than Jake Caplin at a party with his new girlfriend. The bad-boy-turned-good attempts to convince Charley to forgive him, and as her best friend starts spending time with Jake’s, Charley calls a truce, only to find herself tumbling back into a friendship with him.

As they grow closer, the spark between them flares and begins playing havoc with their lives and relationships. When jealousy and longing rear their destructive heads, Charley and Jake struggle to come to grips with what they mean to one another.

And even if they work it out, there is no guarantee Charley will ever trust Jake to lead her back into the deep…

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