Alaska | Susan Baganz

I needed an actual paperback to read while sitting at the pool and picked up Shattered by Dani Pettrey at the library. Yay for libraries! Shattered is book 2 in Pettrey’s Alaskan Courage Series.

Piper McKenna is the heroine of this tale. When her youngest brother, Reef, is arrested for murder, she is determined to find out the truth, which means finding the killer.

Heroes don’t come better than Deputy Landon Grainger. He has been an unofficially adopted member of the Grainger family and has known Piper for a long time. He knows that sometimes someone who professes innocence can really be guilty and he’s afraid Piper’s devotion to her brother will be her undoing.

When Piper is almost killed, however, he begins to realize two things. One: He loves Piper as more than an annoying little sister. Two: Someone else has committed the murder Reef is in jail for.

To solve a crime and protect Piper become his primary goals and when feelings begin to surface, life gets even more complicated. Will Piper and Landon get past this danger to confess their love? Can they prove Reef’s innocence? And will Landon resolve his mixed feelings towards God?

This was a wonderful story that was hard to put down. Romantic suspense at it’s best and banter between Piper and Landon as they struggled with their deeper feelings for each other was fun to read. Even with a series and a cast of characters that considerable, Pettrey makes it easy to determine who is who and I think this book stands alone well enough. I am enjoying getting to know the McKenna family and those they have enfolded into their loving arms.

I’ve been longing to read Dani Pettrey’s romantic suspense novels for some time and with her new one out I figured this a good time to go and find some older ones and read, since it is a series and I hate reading a series out-of-order. So I picked up Submerged from the public library and was instantly hooked into the adventure of Alaska.

Bailey Craig had never intended to return to the land of ice, snow and long memories. In the town of Yancy she had a beloved aunt but also a tarnished reputation due to her own poor choices. Although a believer in Christ now, her past haunts her. Dragged back to attend to the funeral and estate of her Aunt, she comes face to face with her past, and the man she lost along the way, the one who held her heart even when she had broken his. Her aunt was killed in a plane crash and the investigation tosses her time and again in Cole’s way, reigniting pain and passion while at the same time trying to solve a crime.

Cole McKenna does rescue drives as a matter of daily life as well as leading adventure tours. Nothing however is more adventurous or dangerous than reuniting with Bailey. She had broken his heart once and he had vowed he would never let her do it again. But Bailey Craig is not the same girl who left Yancy years ago, she is an even more beautiful woman with deep pain and regrets and as they work together to solve a murder, his heart once again softens to this woman.

Will they come out of this dangerous quest alive to pursue the adventure of love together? As Cole’s family rally around them, they both find that God does indeed make all things new.

I enjoyed this story and had a hard time putting it down. If you love adventure and romance and want a fresh setting for a romantic suspense, this book will suit you well. I look forward to reading the rest of the Alaskan Courage series by Dani Pettrey.