My Review - Submerged

4.8 of 5 stars

SUBMERGED by Dani Pettrey was a wonderful read, full of action and suspense with romance sprinkled throughout.

Bailey Craig was an out-of-control teen when she left the small Alaskan town of Yancy.  Though she had true feelings for Cole McKenna, she ruined their relationship when she had a drunken one-night stand with another guy.  She had no intentions of ever going back to Yancy, but when her aunt is killed in a plane crash, she has no choice but to return to pay her respects.  The town is just as Bailey remembers it, and though her life has taken a complete one-eighty in the time she’s been away, the townspeople still think of her as the low-class teen that left years ago.  Seeing Cole is more difficult than she expected.  Her feelings for him have never gone away.  And even if she is a new person, she knows Cole is too decent of a guy to settle for the likes of her.

Cole McKenna, the patriarch of the McKenna clan and the family business Last Frontier Adventures, lives for adventure.  Family, friends, and the great outdoors are all he needs, or at least, that’s what he has convinced himself of for years.  However, when Bailey Craig returns to Yancy, he is shocked to find out she still has a hold on his heart.  Though Bailey left a messed up teen, she has returned a different woman; a difference Cole finds very alluring. While Cole tries to figure out his feelings for Bailey, they make a grisly discovery.  People keep showing up dead in Yancy, and Bailey might hold the key.

I absolutely loved SUBMERGED.  Great action, an amazing cast of characters, and a beautiful setting.  What more could you ask for in a suspense novel.  The McKenna family is a great anchor for the Alaskan Courage series.  I only have two small complaints.  I used the term “sprinkled” when referring to the romance in the book.  That’s because it frustrates me when characters in romance novels don’t actually experience much romance until the end of the book.  I also felt some of the overtly Christian dialog seemed stilted and a bit forced.  Other than that, SUBMERGED is a home run.  I’m just glad I will be able to catch up with Cole and Bailey in SHATTERED, the next installment in the series.