Submerged by Dani Pettrey is romantic suspense from Bethany House. The story starts with an adrenaline rush that sets up the story perfectly.

Dani’s main characters, Bailey Craig and Cole McKenna develop some good chemistry once Bailey is back in Yancey, Alaska after a ten year hiatus from her home town. Whereas in the last book I reviewed, Her Good Name, Espy hadn’t deserved what happened to her, it appears that Bailey has done the deeds of which she is accused. Still, even if the rest of the town won’t forget, Cole believes people can change and he sees changes in Bailey.

What I liked about this book was the fun dynamic in the McKenna family. That in itself will encourage me to buy more Alaskan Courage books. The writing was clean and the story well-paced. I particularly liked the backstory to the plot. I always love when history plays into a story and makes me believe the fiction could be real. The whole Romanov Dynasty thread kept me just as hooked as figuring out the mystery of who the bad guy would turn out to be.

I was knocked out of my suspension of disbelief on one tiny plot issue near the end, but since it was needed for the wham-bam ending, I forgive the author for pushing through and asking her characters to allow something I found hard to believe they would have allowed to happen.  Of course I can’t be more specific without ruining the ending for you and I do believe this one you should read.

This story also had a solid spiritual theme of being new in Christ, accepting Christ’s blood for the forgiveness of our sins, and walking in the victory Christ has provided for us. I look forward to seeing Bailey and Cole in a solid relationship in future books about the McKenna clan.