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Information:
Title: Knee Deep
Author: Jolene Perry
Publisher: Tribute
Books
Target Audience: Older
YA
Genre: Contemporary /
chick lit
Length: 174 pages
Story: Shawn
is the guy Ronnie Bird promised her life to at the age of fourteen. He's her
soul mate. He's more uptight every day, but it's not his fault. His family life
is stressful, and she's adding to it. She just needs to be more understanding,
and he'll start to be the boy she fell in love with. She won’t give up on
someone she’s loved for so long.
Luke is her best friend, and the guy she hangs with to watch girlie movies in her large blanketopias. He's the guy she can confide in before she even goes to her girlfriends, and the guy who she's playing opposite in Romeo and Juliet. Now her chest flutters every time he gets too close. This is new. Is Ronnie falling for him? Or is Juliet? The lines are getting blurry, but leaving one guy for another is not something that a girl like Ronnie does.
Shawn’s outbursts are starting to give her bruises, and Luke’s heart breaks as Ronnie remains torn. While her thoughts and feelings swirl around the lines between friendship and forever, she’s about to lose them both.
Luke is her best friend, and the guy she hangs with to watch girlie movies in her large blanketopias. He's the guy she can confide in before she even goes to her girlfriends, and the guy who she's playing opposite in Romeo and Juliet. Now her chest flutters every time he gets too close. This is new. Is Ronnie falling for him? Or is Juliet? The lines are getting blurry, but leaving one guy for another is not something that a girl like Ronnie does.
Shawn’s outbursts are starting to give her bruises, and Luke’s heart breaks as Ronnie remains torn. While her thoughts and feelings swirl around the lines between friendship and forever, she’s about to lose them both.
Thoughts and
impressions: At only a couple of
hundred pages, this book is a short read that didn’t take very long to get
through. Despite this, it did drag a little bit in my eyes, but I suspect that
is likely because as of the very start, the reader already knows how the book
is going to finish. It’s merely a matter of finding out what happens in
between. The problem for me was that I was aware of Ronnie’s madness and I wasn’t
making room for her rationale. While I could distinguish right from wrong from
a distance, the character was unable to disassociate the boy she wanted Shawn
to be with the young man standing before her.
This made me stop and
think. Indeed, I had a good long think about my own past. Ronnie is willing to
put up with Shawn’s emotional and physical abuse because she’s latched onto the
boy that the fell in love with. Though I had been aware of the fact that one of
my previous relationships had not exactly been on the healthy side, it took
reading this to really bring to the forefront that I had allowed that young man
to emotionally blackmail me into doing what he wanted of me. Granted, he never
became physically abusive but I don’t believe that physical abuse is really all
that worse than emotional abuse in the long run. Both are devastating to the
sufferer.
Taking this into
account, though, how can I hold it against Ronnie that she was willing to put
up with Shawn’s actions in the hopes that persevering will eventually bring him
back to his senses, when I myself was more or less willing to do the same
thing? I can’t. Emotions are fickle things and when we attach them to another
we’re often willing to put up with a lot before we realise we deserve more than
what we’re being given. In that respect, I found I could sympathise with Ronnie
and it brought me closer to her as a character (though her personality is a far
cry from my own).
There were a couple of
comments in the story that made me feel as though Ronnie measured her worth
against who she was dating. I got the impression that the presence of a
romantic involvement when paramount to her. Honestly, towards the end I was
hoping that she would finish the book alone with the realisation that she doesn’t
need a guy to complete her. I wanted Ronnie to realise that she can enjoy life
to the full without Shawn or Luke, that’s she’s got plenty of time to be herself,
to discover what she really wants from life. I suppose that the author does try
for something similar but really there’s never any doubt that the book will end
with a relationship.
The story is about self-discovery
and breaking the bonds you’ve tied yourself to; of realising that you’re worth
more than he’s willing to give you. It’s an incredibly complicated social image
of forming personalities and problems that arise when those certain things that
stop us from taking steps we know to be wrong are not present in people. There
are some very dark themes in the book and as such I would not recommend it for
younger readers, but I would recommend it for more mature readers who enjoy
this kind of read.
This review has turned
out being rather personal for me. As such I’m going to leave off here.
Definitely worth a read!
Style: Another author who does not know the rule of when to
use “X and I” and when to use “X and me”.
I had all that grammar bashed into me as a young age, so seeing it used
incorrectly (by someone who speaks English as their mother tongue) does bug me.
Also, there was one point where one character says that “did used” to do
whatever. Did used? Oh, how I despair! There are two verbs in a row conjugated
to the same tense there. Obviously I pick up on the little things.
There were some scenes
that didn’t really seem to fit with the rest of the narrative – they just
slotted in around other scenes but had nothing them tied to any of the rest of
the story. These could be a bit off putting for me.
Final verdict: A particularly personal read for me. It wasn’t
perfect and dragged in places, but it was a very emotionally dark story that
kept me glued until the very last page.
Extra notes: Some bad language present. Some themes such as rape
present. I would not recommend this story for younger readers.
The author:
Jolene grew up in Wasilla, Alaska. She graduated from Southern Utah University with a degree in political science and French, which she used to teach math to middle schoolers.
After living in Washington, Utah and Las Vegas, she now resides in Alaska with her husband, and two children. Aside from writing, Jolene sews, plays the guitar, sings when forced, and spends as much time outside as possible.
She is also the author of Night Sky and The Next Door Boys.
After living in Washington, Utah and Las Vegas, she now resides in Alaska with her husband, and two children. Aside from writing, Jolene sews, plays the guitar, sings when forced, and spends as much time outside as possible.
She is also the author of Night Sky and The Next Door Boys.
Jolene on:
The publisher:
Rea, thanks for the review!
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