Knee Deep By Jolene Perry Review

SUMMARY

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.

REVIEW

Knee Deep by Jolene Perry is essentially about a young girl in a very intense and very committed relationship, despite her youth, who comes to realize the person she’s loved for most of her life has ceased to be the real person and has become a faraway memory. Her relationship has caused her to lose self-confidence and independence, and her loyalty to her boyfriend, Shawn, puts her in a place to be abused, verbally and physically. 
One of the most powerful aspects of this book is not only how it shows the quickness in the harmless turning into the harmful, but also about how withholding and secreting something as harsh and dangerous as abuse can not only effect the victim but all those he or she cares about. 

I am not usually a fan of love triangles, but the relationship between Luke, Ronnie and Shawn really worked. They have all been best friends for years. Shawn and Ronnie are together, and Ronnie considers Luke her best friend. They all live close together, as well. Sometimes Ronnie's secret nighttime visits to Shawn's house are preceded by a stop at Luke's house just to chat. I could tell right away that Luke and Ronnie had a good, positive relationship. I liked Luke a lot, and knew that there was a lot more depth to him than met the eye.

Shawn, on the other hand, was a different story. I knew he was trouble from the start. As soon as he said something about Ronnie not wearing heels around him (since they are the same height) I knew there was going to be trouble with him.

Knee Deep by Jolene Perry has the author’s telltale charming, expressive writing style and fabulously portrays the struggles of a young woman in an unexpected, horrible situation, and her work to overcomes the scars left behind.