Laura’s Review of Deep (Chicago Underground, #8) by Skye Warren

Synopsis

Dark. Powerful. Dangerous.

Philip Murphy has all of Chicago under his thumb. Except me.

We met in a perfect storm of violence and lust. He saved me and then disappeared from my life. Now I pretend I never knew that kind of darkness. I focus on midterms and campus parties, as if they can wipe the slate clean.

Then he turns up outside my dorm room—wounded and barely conscious. He’s the head of a crime syndicate, a powerful man, but he needs me now. There are traitors in his midst.

I can help him, but I can’t fall for him.

Not again.

What I Loved

          I did something outside my norm for this series, I skipped around. I wasn’t really impressed with Rough (Chicago Underground, #1) but I kept on hearing good things about this one so I wanted give the series another try.  I wasn’t disappointed at all and I could see the definite improvement of writing from book one to book eight. 

          Deep starts with getting to know the character of Ella and how she’s never really fit in with anything in her life especially her family.  For me, it was very easy to became emotionally attached to a character like Ella because she truly has no support from anyone other than her little brother and even that’s limited.  Philip comes into her life as this dark mysterious knight; you know he’s dangerous, he’s helped to save her and there’s an attraction that is undeniable.

          As the story progresses I couldn’t get enough of Philip and Ella, I couldn’t wait for them to be together again and I didn’t want to put this book down until that happened.  The chemistry between them poured off the pages however dark and unhealthy their relationship was.  Philip has built this dark, dangerous empire with many physical and emotional walls around him and I had a lot of fun watching all of those come crumbling down. 

Not So Much

          I know this story is promoted as a standalone and I read it as such even though I have read the first one.  But because I did essentially read this by itself rather than in series order I felt like I was missing a lot of details especially when it came to all of the auxiliary characters. 

I get that you can’t go into massive detail about what has happened in the past but for someone who is picking this book as a standalone, there should be more explanation or more detail of the past. Nothing major, but maybe a paragraph or two to really explain things.  I don’t like feeling that I’m missing something and there were a lot of times that I did.  The plot holes were just too big to pass this off as a true standalone romance. 

To Sum It All Up!        

        Overall, I had an amazing experience reading this book.  The very second Ella senses Philip’s presence for the first time the connection between them was magnetic and although inappropriate at the time it was undeniable and far from over. 

          The physicality Philip brought to this story was awesome and made me emotionally connect 100 times more then I would’ve if he was written any differently.  He’s this man wrapped up in so much mystery because he’s built so many walls and held onto so many secrets I feel like no matter how much you learn about him there will always be more.  I feel like I can never get enough Philip in my life!

          There is a ton going on in this book, Ella finds herself in a desperate situation once again and Philip is the only person who can protect her and solve her problems.  This of course leads to some pretty suspenseful moments that had my heart pounding and my heart breaking a little. 

          I love characters that you know aren’t entirely evil even though they want you to think they are, but they aren’t entirely all good as well. Philip demands Ella’s attention anytime he’s around her and the sex scenes were nothing short of sizzling! It was so great to see these two fall more in love with each other and then watch them grapple with what that means for their futures.  There is a HEA at the end so no cliffhangers, don’t worry about that! I do wish I could get more Philip and Ella though because the other stories in the series got three books and Philip only got one which annoys me a little.  That’s only because I loved these two so freaking much! 

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