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elenajohansen's review against another edition
2.0
There were more things I disliked about this than liked, though it did tackle one issue I don't see often enough in NA romance--a character questioning whether or not they should be going to school (grad school, in this case) for a stable career instead of following a riskier but more desirable path. And that's a big conflict this age group faces, one that is usually handled shallowly the rare times I've seen it.
On to the bad things. Pacing. The first half of the book took forever and spent far too much time on petty relationship drama with the lead's best friend, and then everything in the second half rushed by with little time to process it. I was still on board with the plausibility of the plot when Jaeger's ex showed up claiming they had a kid together, but we raced right past that into her setting up the lead with a phony drug charge and the go-between guy who actually planted the drugs also almost killing her with a spiked mocha.
I'm not saying shit like this never happens, or that it couldn't have been a good plot point if it was better-developed, but everything piled up on top of itself so fast I felt like a pinball, careening from one disaster to another.
Pacing also forms the foundation of my complaint with the romance itself. Cali holds out on her attraction to Jaeger for a while, no problem there, I like slow burn, but once they're together, he's instantly full speed ahead. He's waaaay more serious about her than she seems to be about him, and instead of that being a hurdle in her own life she needs to clear, it comes across more as an imbalanced power dynamic. He's not so much older than her that it creeped me out, but he's quite a bit more financially stable, and he's already got himself a successful business, so they're in very different places in life despite only a few years' gap between them. Cali does reflect on this, just a little, which is at least something, but she dismisses those concerns pretty quickly, and no one else seems to care. It left a bad taste in my mouth.
On to the bad things. Pacing. The first half of the book took forever and spent far too much time on petty relationship drama with the lead's best friend, and then everything in the second half rushed by with little time to process it. I was still on board with the plausibility of the plot when Jaeger's ex showed up claiming they had a kid together, but we raced right past that into her setting up the lead with a phony drug charge and the go-between guy who actually planted the drugs also almost killing her with a spiked mocha.
I'm not saying shit like this never happens, or that it couldn't have been a good plot point if it was better-developed, but everything piled up on top of itself so fast I felt like a pinball, careening from one disaster to another.
Pacing also forms the foundation of my complaint with the romance itself. Cali holds out on her attraction to Jaeger for a while, no problem there, I like slow burn, but once they're together, he's instantly full speed ahead. He's waaaay more serious about her than she seems to be about him, and instead of that being a hurdle in her own life she needs to clear, it comes across more as an imbalanced power dynamic. He's not so much older than her that it creeped me out, but he's quite a bit more financially stable, and he's already got himself a successful business, so they're in very different places in life despite only a few years' gap between them. Cali does reflect on this, just a little, which is at least something, but she dismisses those concerns pretty quickly, and no one else seems to care. It left a bad taste in my mouth.
meganmreads's review against another edition
2.0
Review originally published at love literature art and reason book review blog.
Deep Blue had a pretty decent plot and I was definitely in the mood for a light and enjoyable NA romance.
I got the book on Amazon, but it was free. Which always makes me feel conflicted because I didn’t pay for it and I know it’s free to generate some reviews. And when those reviews aren’t positive, that sucks and is totally counterproductive for the author. The best I can do is not post this review on amazon, thought, since I review every book I read on the blog and goodreads.
Deep Blue had a great plot that, with a great editor, time, and effort, could have been molded into a phenomenal story. Like many free Kindle books, it lacked the final touches that makes a book genuinely good. The biggest issue I had was the lack of focus in the plot. I could tell that the author was trying to hone in on some issues and build up some scenes, but it was kind of all over the place and sometimes forced. The dialogue seemed unnatural in some sections and the conflict in the plot wasn’t really one thing, but a bunch of random things that I don’t feel were explored and explained well enough.
I liked the characters and I liked some of the conflict, but Jaeger’s ex girlfriend fiasco came out of nowhere and I felt like more of the novel could have touched on that. Plus, I never felt like I knew anyone well enough. The synopsis led me to believe that Cali’s friend was interested in Jaeger, but it was more like Cali was floundering all over the place and assuming she had no chance because she tried to set them up. While that could’ve been a pretty good miscommunication type of conflict, it still wasn’t as well developed to be believable. I knew she had no interest in Jaeger and that Cali was being stupid.
I always feel like I expect too much from free and discounted books and even from indie authors. But then I realize I don’t. I don’t think I’m being unfair to expect a well written and well developed story and I don’t mind calling out traditionally published books for the same reasons. I don’t feel like books like this are a good representative of what indie books should offer. It’s one of those “meh, it’s free so I guess it’s readable type” of books and I feel like that isn’t the right way to feel about a book. I enjoyed the plot, but I don’t feel like I read a finished product.
Deep Blue had a pretty decent plot and I was definitely in the mood for a light and enjoyable NA romance.
I got the book on Amazon, but it was free. Which always makes me feel conflicted because I didn’t pay for it and I know it’s free to generate some reviews. And when those reviews aren’t positive, that sucks and is totally counterproductive for the author. The best I can do is not post this review on amazon, thought, since I review every book I read on the blog and goodreads.
Deep Blue had a great plot that, with a great editor, time, and effort, could have been molded into a phenomenal story. Like many free Kindle books, it lacked the final touches that makes a book genuinely good. The biggest issue I had was the lack of focus in the plot. I could tell that the author was trying to hone in on some issues and build up some scenes, but it was kind of all over the place and sometimes forced. The dialogue seemed unnatural in some sections and the conflict in the plot wasn’t really one thing, but a bunch of random things that I don’t feel were explored and explained well enough.
I liked the characters and I liked some of the conflict, but Jaeger’s ex girlfriend fiasco came out of nowhere and I felt like more of the novel could have touched on that. Plus, I never felt like I knew anyone well enough. The synopsis led me to believe that Cali’s friend was interested in Jaeger, but it was more like Cali was floundering all over the place and assuming she had no chance because she tried to set them up. While that could’ve been a pretty good miscommunication type of conflict, it still wasn’t as well developed to be believable. I knew she had no interest in Jaeger and that Cali was being stupid.
I always feel like I expect too much from free and discounted books and even from indie authors. But then I realize I don’t. I don’t think I’m being unfair to expect a well written and well developed story and I don’t mind calling out traditionally published books for the same reasons. I don’t feel like books like this are a good representative of what indie books should offer. It’s one of those “meh, it’s free so I guess it’s readable type” of books and I feel like that isn’t the right way to feel about a book. I enjoyed the plot, but I don’t feel like I read a finished product.
gothmomauthor's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty sweet
This was a sweet little story. The protagonist is young and therefore often immature, but she is fleshed out well and made relatable. The story has a lot of "typical romance" tropes I don't like, for example women throwing tantrums over nothing and miscommunications that one conversation would solve, but for once it didn't make me immediately hate the book.
Was the drama over the top? Yes. Were weird situations thrown in randomly to show off how "perfect" the guy was? Yes again. And yet, I didn't hate it. It was charming and cute.
This was a sweet little story. The protagonist is young and therefore often immature, but she is fleshed out well and made relatable. The story has a lot of "typical romance" tropes I don't like, for example women throwing tantrums over nothing and miscommunications that one conversation would solve, but for once it didn't make me immediately hate the book.
Was the drama over the top? Yes. Were weird situations thrown in randomly to show off how "perfect" the guy was? Yes again. And yet, I didn't hate it. It was charming and cute.
lisaluvsliterature's review
3.0
This isn't a real memorable story. It wasn't bad, but I am having a little trouble remembering much about it. I may need to start writing these reviews right after I read some of these, and just saving the post till I decide I'm ready to post it. I do remember how it ended, the bit about his ex-girlfriend coming back and trying to mess things up. And in the end Cali figures things out, but there is a part where she kind of jumps ahead that I think is wrong, but also a part where Jaeger is a little bit off in how he handles it. Again, a quick easy read.
maustin18's review against another edition
2.0
Was there a plot and I just confused it with all the little sub-plots?
rks97's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars
Deep Blue was a quick, fun and decent read that I enjoyed but didn't exactly love. If you do enjoy reading New Adult romances though you should still definitely give it a shot as it might be for you.
I did like Cali as a character and thought she brought humour to the book but at times she definitely started to get quite annoying. That being said, I do believe she was a realistic portrayal of a woman of her age and surprisingly quite mature and thoughtful.
The first few times we met Jaegar I didn't really get much out of him and didn't really see anything in him but as the book went on it started to become more apparent what a lovely guy he was. I really liked his back story and he really made this book for me.
This book was pretty decent but for me, there was nothing exciting about it and nothing that stood out about it. For this reason, it did take me quite a while and several sittings to get it read because there wasn't a lot of motivation and sometimes my mind did wander to other books that I could be reading but the characters kept me going.
I really liked the tone to this book, although this book is quite predictable there's nothing cliche about it when it comes to immature and unrealistic characters in fact the characters in this book were quite the opposite.
*Thanks to the author who sent me a free copy in exchange of a review*
Deep Blue was a quick, fun and decent read that I enjoyed but didn't exactly love. If you do enjoy reading New Adult romances though you should still definitely give it a shot as it might be for you.
I did like Cali as a character and thought she brought humour to the book but at times she definitely started to get quite annoying. That being said, I do believe she was a realistic portrayal of a woman of her age and surprisingly quite mature and thoughtful.
The first few times we met Jaegar I didn't really get much out of him and didn't really see anything in him but as the book went on it started to become more apparent what a lovely guy he was. I really liked his back story and he really made this book for me.
This book was pretty decent but for me, there was nothing exciting about it and nothing that stood out about it. For this reason, it did take me quite a while and several sittings to get it read because there wasn't a lot of motivation and sometimes my mind did wander to other books that I could be reading but the characters kept me going.
I really liked the tone to this book, although this book is quite predictable there's nothing cliche about it when it comes to immature and unrealistic characters in fact the characters in this book were quite the opposite.
*Thanks to the author who sent me a free copy in exchange of a review*
deejaygee's review
3.0
2.5 stars. for a smart girl she's really stupid. for someone who was going to go to law school it's worse that she doesn't even research recourse for being blackballed, attacked, etc. and what hapened to her brother? oh let me guess we'll find out in another book? ugh.
slc333's review
3.0
2-5 - 3 stars. Enjoyable enough but nothing outstanding. Cali & Jaeger were likable enough. Jaeger's ex Kate was a complete pyscho and the stuff with her was a little over the top. I didn't like Cali's supposed best friend Gen much though so I wont be reading the next one. Also didn't like how nothing was done about the blatant sexual harassment, I think this would have been a much more realistic drama to address than crazy Kate and the whole drug thing. Although given Gen also suffered presumably it will be addressed in the next book.
beautyandthebooksss's review
5.0
https://bookbaybeeh.wordpress.com/2016/04/24/deep-blue-by-jules-barnard-blue-1/
love_bookswillbetheendofme's review
2.0
This was like every other typical NA I've read. The girl is sassy and doesn't know she's gorgeous. The guy is perfectly hot. That and there were a lot of grammar mistakes. It was kinda distracting. I also liked Gen over Cali. Maybe I'll try reading Gen's book. If it's free as well.