Kicking off with a supposed stalked and a murder . . . One of the strongest openings to a suspense, interestingly. This was one very harsh novel, it didn't focus on the diving side of the police department as much as I had hoped it would but it was all right I suppose. I will say that the cases didn't end like I expected and that I was happily surprised by the ending and who had been behind the murders since I had expected it would be a character I liked. I loved that Ryan's and Leigh's families weren't the normal family that most suspense have. I did dislike that there were so many meetings of affairs, and I recommend this book for 17/18 up since it comes out that a victim was married to more than one woman and because of the murders and the killer. ( )

One of the greatest book discoveries for me in 2020 was the Dive Team investigations series by Lynn Blackburn. I found them thanks to other book reviewers on Instagram and I am so glad I gave them a chance. How did I miss these when they released? They are the epitome of everything I love about the genre of romantic suspense. All of them are full of swoonworthy heroes who repeatedly save the day, but not because the heroines are weak and need rescuing. It is quite the opposite actually. All of the women are smart and independent, but find themselves in some pretty precarious situations. I like that each of the three couples relationships develop throughout the book. Instant relationships would just not be believable given the characters backgrounds and nail-biting situations going on in each story. It's not surprising that my favorite part of the series by far was the page-turning suspense! Each book hooked me from the beginning and I found myself totally surprised at the end! I really don't think I could pick a favorite hero, heroine, or book in the series. I loved them all!
The blessing in disguise with finding this series late was I got to binge read the entire series so there was no waiting in between!

Note: The novella, Unseen Enemy, is available to the author's newsletter subscribers and is a connector between this series and the first book in her new series which releases this spring. Can't wait! ( )

Take a trip to Carrington, North Carolina for lurking danger, a second chance at romance, and a whole lot of tasty treats in Lynn H. Blackburn’s first Dive Team Investigation, Beneath the Surface.

Ryan Parker and his dive-team buddies discover a body in Lake Porter, while Leigh Weston begins to receive stalker-like attention. The subsequent investigating reunites the pair, giving them ample time to discover, amidst the danger, the romantic potential they denied throughout their growing-up years. With plenty of unsettling twists and turns to keep them occupied, do they have a chance at a future together—after catching the culprit, of course?

I so enjoyed Beneath the Surface! A fun, fast-paced romantic-suspense read, it kept me guessing and left me eager to revisit Carrington and all the characters I quickly loved. I think fans of the genre will love this novel as easily as I did and highly recommend it.

Thanks to Revell Reads, I received a complimentary copy of Beneath the Surface and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own. ( )

EXcellent start to a fine new series. Interesting characters, probably the most intelligent team of investigators since Nero Wolfe and Archie. Well organized procedural with logical character development as they pursue who is trying to kill Leigh. Why, would an apparent serial killer target a local female nurse when all of the other known victims are middle-aged males? ( )

I picked up this novel because of the title “Dive Team Investigations Series”. I thought that was a great idea for a story. I’ve been fascinated by forensics and recall reading a magazine that showed pictures of the effects of a body submerged for a day, a week, and a month and how they apply that when solving cases. So I had high hopes for this novel. For a reader that isn’t too wild about romance, I seemed to be reading a lot of them lately. This book is no exception. So let’s start with the negative…

The romance got in the way of the story, in my opinion. It’s not that I mind the start of character relationships, but I was under the impression this was going to be a murder mystery. Though there were moments of danger, those seemed to be overshadowed by does he like me or not story. Even some minor characters had the hints of a starting relationship. I felt like my kids whenever they watch a movie with a lot of talking. I just want to skip the dialogue and get to the good stuff! I know, I’m a baby. But I felt like the characters were just repeating the same thing over and over again. Yes, one of them is in danger. Yes, the other has sworn to protect. We get it! It was too much character and not enough investigating for my tastes.

Now on to the positive…

Leigh seems to be a magnet for attracting danger and the parts where there was danger? Excellent! Exciting! Brake line cut, poisoning, kidnapping and more! This has all the makings of a great suspense thriller novel. And the part where the dive team finds the body was really what I was expecting. I wanted more of that. The investigating portions were good, though there seemed to be more theories than actual facts thrown around by the characters. This book is part of a series, so I hope the author focuses more on investigating, like an episode of CSI or something. There’s great potential here for an exciting series. And yes, even in CSI, I desperately want to skip the character drama.

Readers that enjoy suspense will like this book, but perhaps as long as they know going in that it’s more about the characters, they’ll be happy. Romance readers will love this book because that seems to be the main focus. Damsel in distress who ends up being more than capable of getting out of a tight situation without any assistance. For healthcare workers, they might like the fact that the main character is an Oncology nurse practitioner. All in all, this is a nice read while on vacation or relaxing on the beach. I am encouraged by the synopsis of book two. I’m hopeful that book one was merely to set up the characters with the following books concentrating more on solving crimes. I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest opinion. ( )