In Too Deep [Paperback]

This is such a unique idea for a story! Amanda writes with such emotion and her characters are always deep and have characteristics that are so easy to relate to, even if we aren't in their exact situation. She makes it so that the rumor snowballing is so easy to believe and the circumstances leading up to it are a perfect storm. It really is a picture of what can happen when you tell a lie, which I know I did some as a teenager, some of almost as epic proportions to letting people believe that Carter raped Sam, although mine didn't quite have the same repurcusions as letting people believe that a guy raped you when he didn't, no matter what a jerk he might be.
I guess that I can understand how Sam let it go on, but I just kept crossing my fingers that she would own up and time after time, she didn't. But I really think that she should've seen what would happen to her relationship with Nick if she didn't tell the truth right away but did later.
Speaking of Nick, I really enjoyed their friendship at the beginning. It seemed so much fun and I like to see that sort of comradery with guys and girls without it being romantic. But I guess I saw it coming because of the way she said she started thinking of him differently. Though I have to say friends to a relationship really can work out beautifully in real life when done right, because that is how me and my husband were.
I want to applaud Ms. Grace for letting the ending play out the way it did. I think that given the nature of the book that it really couldn't have happened any other way.

It kept me reading but it is definitely reading material for youngster's..
There is a good lesson for all of us though.

I loved Amanda Grace/Mandy Hubbard's But I Love Him, so I was expecting the same emotional intensity in In Too Deep. And while In Too Deep isn't a bad book, it just didn't measure up to how amazing But I Love Him is, and I found myself a little disappointed.

I really like the whole idea for In Too Deep. I've read plenty of books about girls who were raped and don't know whether or not to speak up, but this shows us the other side of the story - what if you didn't get raped, but everyone thinks you did? I liked thinking about how I would feel if something like that happened to me, and whether I would be strong enough to tell the truth. The plot of In Too Deep is great - you know what's going to happen, but I loved seeing the drama unfurl, and that's what kept the pages turning, for me.

My main problem with this novel is that I just don't get why Sam didn't tell the truth. When she first walks out of Carter's bedroom and a girl asks whether what she thinks happened happened, okay - she was drunk and had no idea what she was talking about. But the first day back at school, I no longer understood. Lots of people come up to her and ask whether it's true, tell her they're sorry, that kind of thing, and she just nods. I just don't get why she doesn't ask what these people mean - she acts like she's emotionally scarred or something like that, but she just had the best weeked ever. And then, when she does find out what people think, she doesn't do anything. I get why she doesn't say anything later on, when the lies have already gotten out of control, but right then? I just didn't see it.

On the back of the book, it says "suddenly new friends are rushing to my side, telling me that Carter hurt them, too." That made me think Carter actually did rape someone and got away with it, and just didn't rape Sam. But really, these girls only tell her that Carter's an ass - and being an ass and being a rapist are so completely not the same thing. I could have seen Sam not telling the truth if she were doing it for other girls, knowing he really did rape someone, but the way it is, I didn't find that argument convincing, either.

Really, that's the main thing that didn't work for me in In Too Deep. Sam is an okay character - the quiet, bookish type - but I couldn't feel for her because her passive ways frustrated me. She keeps thinking it will all work out, that this rumor will just go away, and that made me want to shake her. Just... ugh. Her behavior frustrated me to no end.

One storyline I did like is the romance between Sam and Nick.Their relationship is not all that original - it's the classic story of a girl liking her best friend but thinking he'd never see her that way, and him finally confessing his love to her - but that kind of story just gets me every time. These two are adorable together!

I think the storyline with Sam's dad had a lot of potential. I really liked the set-up, but I wanted more depth to their relationship in order to really feel for their problems.

I loved the idea for this novel, but the main character's passive ways frustrated me, and I didn't find her reasons for not speaking up strong enough. Therefore, In Too Deep turned out to be only an okay read for me. I wouldn't discourage you from reading it, but I don't think it's anywhere near as good as But I Love Him.