Hold Your Breath (Search and Rescue)

Hold Your Breath
by Katie Ruggle
Release Date:  April 5, 2016
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Book #1 in the Search and Rescue series
Number of Pages: 365
paperback
Source:  Warren Public Library
Romantic Suspense M/F
Rating:  R
Read 4/16/19

 

As the captain of Field County’s ice rescue dive team, Callum Cook is driven to perfection. But when he meets new diver Louise “Lou” Sparks, all that hard-won order is obliterated in an instant. Lou is a hurricane. A walking disaster. And with her, he’s never felt more alive… even if keeping her safe may just kill him.

Lou’s new to the Rockies, intent on escaping her controlling ex, and she’s determined to make it on her own terms… no matter how tempting Callum may be. But when a routine training exercise unearths a body, Lou and Callum find themselves thrust into a deadly game of cat and mouse with a killer who will stop at nothing to silence Lou — and prove that not even her new Search and Rescue family can keep her safe forever.

As always tends to happen when I have a book from the brick and mortar library and not on my Kindle, this book has been sitting around waiting for me to pick it up for a while. Not only do I not get a back-light when reading a paperback, I also now have to wear reading glasses when it’s such small print.  I do so much of my reading in bed that it makes it much harder to be motivated to pick up a paperback over my Kindle Paperwhite.  Then, when it’s a book by an author I love, I wonder why I waited so long.  This book was so exciting and fast-paced, I couldn’t put it down!

The romance between Lou and Callum is a slow build.  There’s a bit of will they or won’t they and when will it happen.  There’s a lot of chemistry, but they both have their reasons for holding back.  It’s sweet and passionate and touching.  I couldn’t get enough of the scenes these two shared.  On top of that, there is great friend/buddy chemistry between Lou and Derek and some of the other first responders in the area.  They all look out for each other like family, and Lou is no exception.

I would have liked a bit more fleshing out of both Lou’s and Callum’s childhoods, especially Callum’s.  But, to be frank, the story held up even without a deep dive.

Like I said, this story is unputdownable.  I laughed and smiled a lot.  I also yelled out loud and did a lot of gasping.  Good thing I was reading at home so I was only annoying my husband with my spontaneous noises.  There are some tense situations.  There are plenty of shady characters.  There are things you see coming and things you do not know are going to happen.  One of the main plot points is wrapped up by the end, another is not.  It’s going to be fun following that lead into the next story.  I’ll just have to remember to have nothing on my calendar for the day when I read the next story.

4.5 stars