Knee Deep

 Knee Deep 

(YA Mainstream)

by Jolene B. Perry

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.

From Goodreads
 

My Review....

I have just recently started to read books by Jolene Perry and so far I have been very impressed with her ability to tell stories. 

In knee deep it is a story worth being told so more and more people especially young woman can read and understand abuse. I think the character of Ronnie was wonderfully portrayed and you really got the feeling that you were going through the same journey. I think Jolene did a fantastic job making you to be able to see how people in this situation can logically justify that it is ok even though we all know that it is definitely not ok.  People who have never been in this situation can't understand why it is not easy to walk away and that the victim stays and starts to take the blame.  In Ronnie you see her conflict and her journey to be a survivor from abuse and the notion of love. There is a big difference between the idea of love and being in love and knee deep paints a lovely story.


With Shawn you just wanted to throttle him and hope that he would get better even though his personal demons had taken over. With Luke you loved him from the beginning and were routing for him.  My only point where I wish it was more was the evolution of Luke and Ronnie. I felt it at the end but in the middle I felt it needed a bit more omph to see how big of an issue it had actually became. That being said though I still loved that journey and to see the growth and failures of all the characters.


All in all definitely worth a read for sure and I give it four thumbs up.