Ruthie Knox

I love Ruthie Knox's work, so that's what led me to her NA series-- and Caroline and West don't disappoint. One thing I like about Knox/York's writing is that she doesn't rush her stories or her characters. It takes a long time for these two to get together, and then it takes a long time for them to understand each other, and then it takes them a long time to understand themselves-- and it's all worth it. The main plot of the book is about revenge porn and at first that was overwhelming to me-- the scenario of Caroline's sex photos circulating through her college and overshadowing everything she did was horrifying and I didn't want to think about it or even know about it. But York gets Caroline through that-- and us as readers too, I guess. It's an impressive feat -- all the while creating great characters and hot sex scenes. An amazing piece of writing!… (mais)

I loved Deeper -- and Harder is almost as good. BTW, the titles may seem crude, but they actually relate very well to the themes of Caroline and West's relationship, as York makes clear. So hold your assumptions about these books and these characters. York will shake them up (in a good way). Both characters change so much over the long course of the two books and their long relationship. York makes that credible and moving, even without a lot of other plot going on. That's the only reason I prefer Deeper over Harder, in fact. The first book has more plot. The second book is crucial to the story, to the longer narrative arc, but it's slower going. I'm not sure, even, if they wouldn't have been better off as one condensed book? But these are quibbles -- both books are great reads.… (mais)