Oh and spoilers!
Out of the Shallows by Samantha Youngself-published April 2014
Somehow, after everything they’ve been through, Jake Caplin and Charley Redford made their way back to one another. But finding each other and staying together are two completely different things.Genre: New Adult
When Charley’s world is flipped upside down, she begins to question the choices and decisions she’s made since her arrival in Edinburgh, and in an effort to grip onto what she holds most dear she believes she must sacrifice her love for Jake.
Returning to the States for her senior year, Charley struggles to find peace and happiness. While everyone else seems to be finding themselves in college, Charley is terrified that, along with almost everything else that’s important to her, she’s lost herself.
While friends and family deal with their own tumultuous lives, there is one person resolved to uncover the reason behind Charley’s sudden defection and unhappiness. Refusing to give up without a fight, Jake believes he is the only one who can truly understand what Charley is going through, and this time he’s determined to prove he’s there for her no matter what obstacles are thrown in their way.
However, as Charley strives to make it through the biggest personal journey of her life thus far, there is no guarantee that the woman she is becoming will still need Jake as much as the girl she once was did...
Series: Into the Deep #2
Ames: Even though I wasn't over the moon for Into the Deep, I was letting some excitement build for the sequel to Jake and Charley's story. Big mistake. Out of the Shallows was not the book I was expecting. What about you?
Rowena: I felt like this book was a big let down. There was a lot that got on my nerves with Into the Deep (Jake was a big one) but I was still invested in what these characters were going through. So at first, I wanted to read Out of the Shallows but then you started reading it and I started losing interest. But I had to read it for this review so I dug my heels in and holy crap did I ever understand what you meant every single time you emailed about your progress through this book. It's like Charley took every single nerve in my body and set them on fire. I wanted to punch her in the face so many different times. So much so that I need to gather myself before my blood pressure shoots through the roof, again. :)
Ames: At first when I started, I had some real anxiety going on! Like, what happened to Charley's sister? Was she dead? And then all the jumping around got on my nerves. And then stuff with Charley just kept getting worse. I'm sorry I emailed you but I had to vent as I was reading. And then you did the same so we're all good. LOL
And I agree with what you say about Charley and your nerves. I found her so incredibly selfish in this book. I was annoyed with Jake in book 1 but Charley honestly took the cake in book 2. She took the cake and smashed it into our faces and laughed gleefully about it. Ugh.
Rowena: Ha! And to think that we thought Melissa would be the one to bring the drama in this book. Oh how wrong we were.
This was the book that was supposed to be about Jake and Charley working through all of the drama that wasn't resolved in Book 1 but instead, we get a whole lot of stupid Charley, her family being incredibly selfish and stupid then anxiety thinking someone is dead...and THEY'RE NOT. WTF? And all of the woe is me shit going on with Jake? Ugh, just ugh.
Hell, even Beck and Claudia got on my nerves in this book. And all of the jumping around, six months ago, last night, two weeks ago, that pissed me off too. Stay in one place and time, this isn't a freaking time travel story.
Ames: I really wanted Melissa to pop up and cause more drama. But nope.
I felt bad for Claudia. She really got the shaft from all the adults in her life. I did like how things progressed between her and Beck and I honestly wished we got more. There was a lot of times when Charley did not want to discuss how things were going with her best friend and Beck and there's yet another example of her being selfish. However, I would like a Beck and Claudia book. If he becomes a rock star and how they deal with that. I think that would be nice. And give her some damn resolution with her bio dad! That was one plot point that was kind of left dangling and them made me wonder why even bother if that's how you're going to leave it?
But through all this, the worst part of Out of the Shallows was Charley. She breaks up with Jake for the dumbest reason in the world and then doesn't talk about it with anyone. Why did she have to be such a fucking martyr? UGH
Rowena: Amen!
Beck's back and forth crap with Claudia got on my nerves because with everything that was going on in her life and the way that she was treated by her parents, she didn't need his indecision. He knew what she was going through and yet he kept right on hooking up with girls left and right. I will say that when he finally jumps all in with Claudia, I came to love him. I would definitely want more of their story, instead of getting their story told through Charley's dumb ass POV.
Everything about Charley drove me batty in this book. Her reasons for pulling away from Jake, her reasons for letting her parents dictate what she did with her future and then the way she uses Lowe. Claudia wants a distraction from Beck so Charley's answer is for Claudia to start hanging out with Lowe. He's the perfect distraction. You can get drunk with him, you can cock tease the hell out of him but you don't have to have sex with him and don't worry about putting him in the middle of your relationship with HIS friends. Don't worry about any of that. She's so full of shit that I don't remember why I even liked her in the first place. All of that made me want to punch her in the face. The thing about all of it though, is Lowe let her get away with all of that and Jake just kind of lets her run all over him with absolutely NO explanation. Seriously, just UGH.
Ames: I hated how poor Lowe was treated in this book. He was such a good character and I rooted for him on one level to get Charley in the end. But not after this book. Charley needs to grow the hell up. The way she reacted to everything was extremely immature and I wondered at the end how could Jake even want her with the way she acting?
And I get why he let her walk all over him. He had to prove to her that he'd changed. He pulled the same crap on her and broke her heart. But Charley had him waiting for her for a whole freaking year. Seriously bro, he needed to move on. The back and forth was awful. And honestly, I hated the crap where they'd all hang out (like Claudia and Charley going to that birthday party) knowing how hard it would be to see each other. Especially if they were flirting with others.
Rowena: Was there anything that you did like about this book?
Ames: As much as I love Samantha Young's writing, I have to say no. I don't even like that Charley and Jake ended up together. He deserves better. LOL What about you?
Rowena: Yeah, I didn't like a hot damn thing about this book. But I still love me some Samantha Young. I give this a 1 out of 5. You? Anything else that you want to add?
Ames: Not really. Just that I really enjoy Samantha Young's writing and its such a shame this one didn't work for me. And I agree with the grade you gave, a 1 out of 5.
Okay, Wena and I haven't chosen a book yet for May but wish us luck that it won't be another dud!
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