Review: Knee Deep by Jolene Perry

Knee Deep

By: Jolene Perry

Pub. Date: May 1, 2012

Publisher: Tribute Books

Source: Publisher

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.

Knee Deep was an emotional roller-coaster for me.  It is an honest portrayal of the realities of abuse. At the beginning of the book, Shawn hadn't touch Ronnie. But you can see him being possessive and jealous, and Ronnie always trying to make him happy and worrying about him. You can see that physical abuse is in their future.

I hated Shawn. How could you not? Everyone has issues, everyone has problems with their family, but Shawn couldn't handle it. He became angry and took that anger out on Ronnie, hurting her many, many times. While I hated Shawn, I couldn't stand Ronnie. I understand when you love someone it's hard to see their bad qualities, but even before he touched her, she was making way too many excuses for him. She came off as whiny and annoying, and at some points I even debated continuing with the story. Luke was the shining character in the book. He was so sweet and supportive. I'm glad that he was there for Ronnie. As much as I couldn't stand Ronnie, she didn't deserve what was happening to her, and I am glad that Luke was there for her.

Knee Deep will make you cry and smile and the ending was just so touching. I liked the direction that Jolene Perry took. This must have been a very difficult topic to write about and I think she's done a fantastic job with it!