mackenzierm's review against another edition
3.0
BELOW THE SURFACE is a book that I had placed on my 'wishlist' shelf in 2009.... and finally, 12 years later, I have read it!
Briana (Bree) and her twin sister, Daria, take their dive boat out to scuba dive to check on the reef where they're performing research on the sea grass found there. When Bree surfaces, the dive boat and Daria are gone. A storm is oncoming and Bree is surrounded by sharks.
A rather terrifying beginning, to say the least. Unfortunately, that's mostly where the story fizzles out. While Bree tries to get to the bottom of what happened to Daria, she begins dating Cole, a boat maker, who is helping Briana discover the truth about her sister.
The romance is hard to believe, lacking in chemistry or any real connection. The writing style felt forced, particularly where the romance aspect was involved. I would have much preferred a mystery/suspense solely. I did find myself becoming invested in finding out what had happened to Daria, but the reveal was lacking. A second narrative to the story was added that I found to be a bit extraordinary.
Ultimately, not my favourite!
Briana (Bree) and her twin sister, Daria, take their dive boat out to scuba dive to check on the reef where they're performing research on the sea grass found there. When Bree surfaces, the dive boat and Daria are gone. A storm is oncoming and Bree is surrounded by sharks.
A rather terrifying beginning, to say the least. Unfortunately, that's mostly where the story fizzles out. While Bree tries to get to the bottom of what happened to Daria, she begins dating Cole, a boat maker, who is helping Briana discover the truth about her sister.
The romance is hard to believe, lacking in chemistry or any real connection. The writing style felt forced, particularly where the romance aspect was involved. I would have much preferred a mystery/suspense solely. I did find myself becoming invested in finding out what had happened to Daria, but the reveal was lacking. A second narrative to the story was added that I found to be a bit extraordinary.
Ultimately, not my favourite!
caitlinxmartin's review against another edition
2.0
Not the best book, but not the worst, either. The Mira imprint does some good authors, but I wasn't impressed with this one.
The premise is pretty interesting - you come up from scuba diving & the dive boat your twin sister was piloting is gone. You're left alone at sea with a storm coming up & sharks coming around. What'll happen next?
Good premise that was sadly poorly realized. I didn't much believe in the romance between our heroine & her knight in shining armor. I didn't much believe in any of the characters, really. It's all sort of perfunctory in a written-from-a-template romance novel sort of way. I did finish it, though & I did read to the end because I wanted to find out whodunit & why. I won't read another of these, however.
The premise is pretty interesting - you come up from scuba diving & the dive boat your twin sister was piloting is gone. You're left alone at sea with a storm coming up & sharks coming around. What'll happen next?
Good premise that was sadly poorly realized. I didn't much believe in the romance between our heroine & her knight in shining armor. I didn't much believe in any of the characters, really. It's all sort of perfunctory in a written-from-a-template romance novel sort of way. I did finish it, though & I did read to the end because I wanted to find out whodunit & why. I won't read another of these, however.
More...