Shallow
Going Under Series Book 2
By Georgia Cates
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Formats available: ebook
Cover Artist: Georgia Cates
Book Description:
Nick Hawke likes his car fast and his girls even
faster. He blows through females quicker than his
muscle car races down the drag strip in Collinsville and he wouldn’t have it any
other way. Determined to avoid the devastation he has watched his father endure
in the aftermath of his mother leaving, he believes there is no room in his life or
his heart for a relationship lasting more than one night. He seeks happiness in
things that won’t let him down...fast cars, parties and one night stands. To his
absolute dismay, all of that changes when he unexpectedly runs into an old friend
and is introduced to Payton Archer, the first girl he ever wanted for more than one
night. There’s only one catch...she is completely immune to him and his smooth
talking ways.
Payton Archer is looking for what Claire has with Jessie, but she has given up on
finding it...at least until she leaves for college in the Fall because she is certain that
is where she will find the perfect guy to fit into her perfect world. She plans on
Summer being nothing but three uneventful months of fun, but it turns out to be
anything but ordinary when Payton is introduced to Nick Hawke, one of Jessie’s
old Collinsville friends. She is shocked by her immediate and intense attraction
for “Hawke” because nothing about him is what Payton is looking for. Sure, he’s
hot and sexy but he comes from Collinsville and that is definitely not on her list
of prerequisites. Everything about him makes Payton’s heart speed because he is
exciting and dangerous, but his fast car and the dangerous chances he takes isn’t
what scares Payton the most...it’s the way Nick Hawke makes her feel every time
he looks at her. Can Payton find that moment of total fearlessness and make the
decision to leave the safe, shallow end of love to risk going under completely?
My Thoughts:
As a fan of Going Under I was really excited to read Shallow by Georgia Cates. While Going Under was about Claire and Jesse, Shallow is about Claire's best friend Payton and bad boy Nick Hawke. Cates does a great job of writing novels with wonderfully flawed characters that make you fall in love with them despite those flaws.
Payton Archer has to be the most sarcastic character I have ever had the pleasure to read, and Nick Hawke ate it up and dished it out just as fast. The banter between the two in the first half of the story is so much fun and really kept me laughing. While I really enjoyed the chemistry between Payton and Nick I felt like their relationship progressed way to quickly. I would have loved a bit more of a chase between the two.
Plot: A slightly predictable romance that follows the standard romance novel formula
Characters: The best part of this novel, the characters definitely deliver
Writing: fun, feisty and entertaining
Ending: sweet and then a prologue
Mature Content: This one is definitely for the older young adult crowd. Lots of sexy times and while it's not overly graphic it's not tame either
Overall: I enjoyed Shallow. It was an easy read that kept me entertained. If you liked Jesse and Claire's story in Going Under you'll probably enjoy Shallow as well.
About the Author:
Georgia resides in rural Mississippi with her
wonderful husband, Jeff, and their two
beautiful daughters. She spent fourteen years
as a labor and delivery nurse before she
decided to pursue her dream of becoming an
author.
Blood of Anteros, Book One in The Vampire
Agápe Series, was her first novel and it was
released in September 2011. She decided to
briefly step away from the paranormal genre
to try her hand at a young adult
contemporary romance when she wrote
Going Under, but returned to the paranormal
romance platform to complete the second book in The Vampire Agápe Series,
Blood Jewel.
Her current works in progress are Shallow (A Going Under Novel) which will
release on September 27th and Blood Doll (The Vampire Agápe Series #3), to be
released in January 2013.
Guest Post by Georgia Cates
author of Blood of Anteros, Blood Jewel, Going Under and Shallow. Today, I’m going to
talk a little about what constitutes romantic chemistry between characters.
Characters can be very similar in nature and love the same things, but that doesn’t
make for interesting fictional chemistry. “Conflict. Push and Pull. Desire and
Obstacle.” Do you hear what I’m screaming? Call it what you like, but these are the
basics that make romantic chemistry pop.
There’s always an underlying attraction beyond the hurdle the hero and heroine
must jump. They may believe they hate one another, but the reader knows better and
we can’t wait for the characters to realize it. It’s what we crave, what we need and we’re
just plain pissed when the characters are too ignorant to see what we see, but that’s
what excites us. It’s why we read and root for our characters to fall in love.
For me, the best chemistry is the unwanted kind...the friendship that somehow turns
into more, enemies finding themselves not hating one another as much as they thought
or falling for the bad boy when you know you should choose the good guy. There’s very
little I enjoy more than a relationship with unwanted chemistry. What can I say? It’s my
guilty pleasure.
Whether I’m reading or writing, my choices in heroes tend to lean more toward the
bad boy side. Not everyone would call my bad boy characters “bad” so maybe the
word “troubled” is a more suitable term. I love a tortured hero and who could be a better
match for him than a heroine that can make it all better. Of course, that’s not what he
wants, but I don’t care because I want my chemistry. I want her to have the power to
save him from himself.
Romantic chemistry is attraction that the hero and heroine can’t ignore, hard as they
may try. The harder they try, the more the readers enjoy the chase but in the end, we
want characters that will “fix” one another and find happiness. Otherwise, it becomes a
tragedy.
