Harder picks up right where Deeper, the first book in this series by Robin York, left off. When West calls Caroline from Oregon after two and half months, she listens to her heart and goes to him. But what she finds in Silt is nothing like she thought it would be. She's shocked when she sees him in the flesh. Whatever is going on has made him hard inside, and it translates to everything about him. He isn't nice to Caroline and he keeps pushing her away until he finally accomplishes his goal of getting her to leave. What he does is just awful, and it (almost) made me hate him for it. 
 There's lots bad stuff in the first part of Harder, and it's coming from all directions, pushing Caroline and West in ways that truly test their relationship. 
 When West shows up at Putnam a few weeks later, he keeps his distance from Caroline. More pain all around, and it's not just West and Caroline, but West's friend Krishna, and Frankie too. It isn't long before West's young sister reaches out to Caroline, to West's dismay. Much like in Deeper, it takes some time for these two characters to dance around each other before letting the other one in. They essentially have to repeat their courtship under a totally new set of past experiences and feelings they don't know how to navigate. 
 The story then returns to Caroline and her revenge porn lawsuit against Nate. She's got some thinking to do and decisions to make. Stand up to Nate as anonymous victim Jane Doe, or go public and push for legislation to prevent this from happening to others? It's interesting to see how the incident with Nate and West has shaped her life and decisions.There's a lot of that in Harder. 
 I finished reading this book three days ago and my head is still thinking about it. It's that good. I love a book that doesn't just lay it out all in front of the reader, but instead lets the reader draw their own conclusions, and Harder does a fine job of that, at least for me. I read and review mostly New Adult titles and this series ranks as one of the best. It has messages but doesn't get preachy about it. The writing is lovely, the main characters interesting and complex. And two books in the series is the perfect size for this story. 
 Definitely recommended! If you like a darker love story, great characters and lots to think about, this series might be for you. 
 This review also appears on my blog at: http://redhotbluereads.blogspot.com/2014/07/5-star-review-giveaway-harder-by-robin.html