LIVE YOUNG. LIVE HARD. LOVE DEEP.
What to say about this book??? In the beginning I thought: well, whatever happens between Charlie and Jake they will end up together in the end. But as I delved into the book I started to have doubts. I wasn’t so sure of the happy ending… and the end… well It wasn’t what I expected… It was better!
But lets start with the beginning. Like the previous book, this story is told in two different time lines, one starts right after the end of Into The Deep, where Jake and Charlie are starting to date again in Edinburgh; and the other is six months after, where they are no longer together. We know something happened with Charlie´s sister but we don´t know exactly what.
In this book we see Charlie struggles between what she wants out of her life and what her parents want for her. They are not only against her relationship with Jake, but also they don´t want her to become a cop, which was always her dream. Back in Edinburgh we see Charlie standing up against her parents, and fighting for what she wants. But when we go six monthss forward, we find a different Charlie, a Charlie who is scared and who gave everything up in order to make her family happy, even at the cost of her own happiness.
“Somewhere along the way I think people got the wrong impression about me. I think I got the wrong impression about me. (…) I think people think I´m this fearless, brave, independent young woman who couldn´t give a shit what other people think. I really couldn´t give a shit what other people think. But I care what my parents think of me. And I´m afraid of losing them”
Jake, what can I say about him??? I admit I have my doubts about him on Into the Deep, but in this book he completely redeems himself. He understands Charlie in a way no one else does, and he is there for her no matter what, giving her what she needs even if is not what he wants.
“Jake tugged me, forcefully, pulling me around so I stumbled into his chest. His lips crashed down on mine, his kiss hungry, desperate, angry… For a moment I forgot everything else but the hard pressure of his mouth on mine, the smell of his cologne, the feel of his body. I was surrounded. Drowning. And I let it happen”
There is a second love story, Claudia's and Beck´s. In this book we find a totally different Beck, now he is determined to have her, but can she really let herself love him? Can she trust him? This is a great couple, the way they are there for each other in the difficult times, it´s moving.
This book is about Charlie mostly, and the way she tries to find balance in her life. She can´t be happy without her family or without Jake, or the possibility of pursuing her dream. Personally, I really hate the way her family treats her, I get that she is young and they want the best for her, but making her choose is just wrong. They never really support her.
If you read Into The Deep you must read Out Of The Shallows! And if you didn´t read it, I think you should do it before you read this one. This book make me suffer, Samantha Young has a way of wiriting that makes you feel what the character is feeling, but it´s totally worth it. It´s a great book, an excellent end to this story, and ending that feels real. I totally recommended Out Of The Shallows!!
“it´s not about going back. It was never about going back. It was about doing something, anything, but standing still. (…) It´s about moving forward and growing up. It sucks at first, but it gets better.”
