Novel Review: In Too Deep by Coert Voorhees

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Contemporary/Adventure (Romance)

Publisher: Hyperion (Disney)

Release Date: July 2013

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Annie Fleet, master scuba diver and history buff, knows she can’t fight her nerd status as a freshman at her Los Angeles private school. And she doesn’t care—except for the fact that her crush, Josh, thinks she’s more adorable than desirable. Annie is determined to set him straight on their school trip to Mexico. But her teacher has other plans: he needs Annie to help him find Cortez’s lost-long treasure.

Suddenly, Annie finds herself scuba diving in pitch-black waters, jetting to Hawaii with Josh, and hunting for the priceless Golden Jaguar. But Annie and Josh aren’t the only ones lured by the possibility of finding the greatest treasure ever lost at sea. Someone else wants the gold—and needs Annie dead. In deeper danger than she ever imagined, can Annie get the boy and find the Jaguar, or is she in over her head?

Critically-acclaimed author Coert Voorhees delivers breathtaking romance and non-stop action in his newest novel, the spirited and captivating In Too Deep.

The Cover:

I really, really like this cover. I think it's cute, eye-catching, and represents the book extremely well. I also like that the front and back have are an ongoing cover, and they both look really nice. It clearly shows the treasure hunting and scuba diving parts of the book, which are major, while also giving a hint of romance. I think it fits really well, and I like how it looks.

Quotes:

• "When you blurt out something that makes you look like a jackass, you really only have two options. The first is to say nothing, not even if prompted. Your only goal is to not make it worse, no matter how bad you sounded or how tempting it might be to clarify. You shut your mouth and let the whole thing blow over. The second is to try to explain the original blurt, because you figure that your jackassery will disappear if only people knew a little more. The second option never works.” (ARC, pg. 46)
• "Being out of air is like getting a letter in the mail that you’re going to die soon. You have time to contemplate how drowning is going to feel.” (Pg. 114-115)
• "...there was a difference between a famous person and a real person, and that difference was simple. Famous people did things for recognition. Real people did things for the experience.” (Pg. 316-317)

Review:

I was surprised by this book, but I really enjoyed it. It was exciting, which is apparently what I was looking for at the time.

Annie wants to be a treasure hunter. She’s very interested in lost treasure, in ships disappearing and nothing ever found, even if she’s never seriously thought about doing it before. When she goes on a school trip and instead is pushed to help find a hidden statue, she gives in. And finds it to be a much more exciting endeavor than she thought it would be.

I wasn’t expecting the treasure hunting to be so exciting, and it was kind of slow-moving, but I did really like it.Annie was smart, and had already done a lot of research. She ends up getting Josh, the boy she likes, along with her best friend and some classmates, to help her find it, and it was fun to read about it. Annie was legitimately interested and excited by this, and I liked that.

Josh isn’t as excited by it, but he helps and he’s sweet. Their attraction was rather subdued, slow and not given a lot of attention, but I liked their relationship, and I liked how it grew. I also liked Annie’s best friend, and enjoyed meeting her other classmates, whether they were helpful or not.

I wasn’t expecting this to be so much fun to read. It was a little slow at times, but it kept my interest, and treasure hunting is a fun and exciting subject. I really enjoyed it, and actually want to read or watch other stories with similar plots now.