Review: Deep Blue – Jules Barnard

When Cali Morgan kicks off her perfect post-college summer in Lake Tahoe, she has everything she ever wanted: acceptance into a top law program, a gorgeous boyfriend, and an incredible summer planned with her best friend.

Confident about her place in the world, Cali makes it her mission to be her friend’s wingwoman over the break and help her meet guys. What Cali doesn’t count on is running into Jaeger Lang, one of her older brother’s high school friends, or the sparks that fly when she’s around him.

Jaeger has changed, and it’s not just the added height and muscle. There’s something about him that’s deep and a little scarred. In spite of the changes, Jaeger becomes a top pick for her friend—if Cali can keep her hands off him.

But when Cali’s boyfriend dumps her and her carefully laid plans begin to unravel, she finds herself questioning what it is she truly desires. In the midst of doubts about her future, one thing is very clear: she wants Jaeger for her own. The question is, has her friend already fallen for him?

Series: Blue Series #1
Release Date: March 11th 2014
Publisher: Self Published
Source: InkSlinger PR
Reviewer: Shannon
Rating:

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Reviewer’s Thoughts

Generally, I love stories where the female lead finds love with someone from her past.  But I had a hard

Cali Morgan finds herself dealing cards in a Lake Tahoe casino the summer before she goes to Harvard Law School in hopes of making some much needed money.  But the plans Cali had mapped out fall through and she finds herself without her boyfriend, without a job and wondering if Harvard is really where she wants to go.  To make matters worse, she runs into her brother’s old friend, Jaeger, and she finds herself drawn to him, making her question everything she ever wanted.

Cali was a very driven person, hoping to make something more of herself and not have to struggle like her single mother did.  So she plans everything.  I could see why Cali was the way she was, but she just seemed to short change herself a lot by pursuing things she didn’t really want.  She was driven to be a lawyer, but didn’t really want to do that.  She dates a guy who basically let her plan out their relationship, but she really wasn’t that broken up over them no longer being together.  And the drawings she did, which were supposedly spectacular, she referred to as doodles.  But there were also moments where she was very self absorbed and I found myself not really liking her.  There was too much “woo is me”.  Then there was the fact that she was trying to set her best friend up with Jaeger, but she wanted him for herself.  In my opinion, not a very good friend if her intension was to set them up.

Jaeger, Cali’s love interest, was a good friend of Cali’s brother.  He was an Olympic downhill skiier who had his dream taken away when he blew out his knee.  He was very quiet and somewhat reserved, but managed to always be around Cali.  It was hard to see that there was even a romance to be had between the two because Cali was so standoffish with him and Jaeger was too quiet.  Don’t get me wrong, Jaeger seemed like a nice guy, but the romance between the two was not one that I could see happening.  There was just something about this quiet guy and the pushy girl that didn’t fit for me.

For readers, this may be a book that connects with you.  For me, my difficulties in connecting with Cali made it hard to empathize with her as she went through her struggles to figure out what she was going to do with her life.  The romance between Jaeger and Cali fell flat for me, but again, I attribute that back to me not connecting with Cali than anything else.