deep tide
by Laura Griffin
Trigger warnings
TW: The main character was sexually assaulted in her past, but this is only discussed obliquely in the book.
It’s almost laughable at this point that I’m still reviewing Laura Griffin books. I could save everyone time and just write a one-liner: great book, read it. I really like these books.
deep tide focuses on a character I’ve really enjoyed in this series: Leyla Breda. Her brothers were the heroes in the other books and I enjoyed them when they found their HEAs, but in this one, they were often a little one dimensional with some macho protective stuff that I find repellent.
Leyla is bracing, driven, shaken by the event at the start of the book (one of her employees is murdered while on shift), open and truly likable. Her love interest, FBI agent Sean Moran, is NOT all macho protective nonsense. Yes, he wants to protect her and take care of her, but first and foremost he adores her. He also doesn’t stand in her way when she wants to do things. It’s a careful balance that Leyla and Sean maintain.
Sean is in town to very quietly investigate alleged criminals meeting in Lost Beach. There is a possible connection between the murder of Leyla’s employee, a shipment of cellphones, a tech CEO and a cartel or two. As with all of Griffin’s books, the suspense is first class. I particularly enjoyed the tech element of this one as it felt fresh. The suspense plot is a little tangled and at times I wasn’t quite sure where it was going, but it got there in the end.
Honestly, part of what I love about these books is that they’re well-written, have great characters, satisfying plots and a twist or two, but they aren’t going to be so intense that they upset my emotional equilibrium. They are the solid, reliable friend who will never let me down. That kind of consistently engaging and dependable reading experience is a treasure for me.
–Lara
With two brothers on the police force, Leyla Breda is well aware of the rising crime in her small beach town, but she never expected it to show up on her doorstep. When Leyla finds one of her employees murdered in the alley behind her coffee shop, she’s deeply shaken, and as a new law enforcement officer in town begins to circle her place of business, her instincts only sharpen.
Sean Moran is on an undercover The seaside community of Lost Beach may look like a picturesque postcard, but his team suspects it’s a point of intersection for several crime syndicates that the FBI has been investigating for years. Even so, when the brash and beautiful Leyla Breda starts bossing him around, he’s immediately intrigued. He knows her brothers want him to back off, but every time he sees her, he feels more of a spark.
Leyla’s connections in the local community and Sean’s skills allow them to go deeper into the case together than they would be able to go alone. But when a single crime spirals into something much darker, Sean’s carefully planned mission takes a deadly turn.
Romantic Suspense, Romance
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