Hold Your Breath (Search and Rescue, #1)

by Katie Ruggle

[kimbacaffeinate]

Coffee Dates with Hold Your Breath

First Date: I loved the Colorado setting from the mountains to the quaint town. The delightful narrations from Rachel Dulude quickly made me familiar with our heroine Louise "Lou" Sparks and her Resue Team Captain Callum Cook. On this first date, we learn a little about Lou's past and her new position on Field County's Ice Resue Dive Team. The team is going through a training exercise on the lake when Lou discovers a dead body in the water. Lou is inquisitive, and I can already tell that her quest for answers is going to get us all in trouble. The chemistry between Callum and Lou is sizzling but complicated by their personalities and positions. I am all in and curious to see what develops.

Second Date: I love romantic suspense but finding a story that is balanced between the romantic aspect, and the mystery is often hard. Usually one ends up lacking, but this was not the case with Hold Your Breath. Ruggle carefully balanced the two and weaved them skillfully together. Cullum is a bit of a neat freak with some OCD tendencies and I felt his pain. Lou's inner dialogue and spunky personality is a perfect match for Cullum's controlled and quiet manner. I loved Lou's sarcasm and inner dialogue. Her tendency to get verbal diarrhea when nervous led to some laugh out loud moments. Poor Callum. A slashed tire and other incidents lead Lou to the discovery that she has a stalker. This thread escalated throughout the story placing our heroine in danger. We even get a few scenes from the stalker. I picked right up on who the stalker was but enjoyed the thread.

Third Date: The synopsis has a warning about mature themes, but there was nothing overly shocking for an adult contemporary romance here. The romance was slow building and moments took place in the midsts of the suspense thread. I love that despite the seriousness of the situation Ruggle allowed for humor in part due to Lou's vibrant, snarky personality and the fact that Callum is her polar opposite. It was funny and felt genuine. Despite knowing who, we had some hold your breath moments as we moved towards the climatic end. I was delighted we were given a complete story. The romantic thread wrapped up nicely as well and left me removing my earbuds with a smile.

Audio provided by publisher. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer