Saturday, June 4, 2016

Review: Hold Your Breath (Search & Rescue) by Katie Ruggle

"Exactly how bat-shit nuts is our local militia group?" - Lou Sparks

Hold Your Breath
Series: Search & Rescue #1
Author: Katie Ruggle
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release Date: April 5, 2016
Source: Publisher for Review

Buy Links: Amazon - B&N - iTunes
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In the remote Rocky Mountains, lives depend on the Search & Rescue brotherhood. But in a place this far off the map, trust is hard to come by and secrets can be murder…

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.


We may only be a book and a half into Katie Ruggle's Search & Rescue series, but I know for certain that I just can't get enough of it. After finishing the opening novella, I immediately wanted to jump right into the first full length book, Hold Your Breath. After meeting Callum and Lou, I needed their story. I loved Callum from the beginning. He's quiet, but all consuming. You feel his presence the moment he walks into a room because his essence demands your attention. He's not pretentious, nor is he full of himself. He's just being Callum. I loved how he not-so-subtly eased himself into Lou's heart. His intentions are clear to the readers, not so much for her. To be honest. I wasn't sure I'd like Lou after the prequel novella. She seemed a little too flighty to be a search and rescuer. Although she does still have some moments where I wanted to slap some common sense into the girl, I will say that she won me over in this book. She's strong, determined, and tenacious. Callum will have his hands full with her. She's willing to put herself in the line of danger to save someone. Together, Callum and Lou are fierce and protective of one another. Loved watching them grow closer together throughout the book.

The one element that most excites me of the series is the unique setting and rescues. If you go back to my review for On His Watch, you'll see that the one thing I hoped to see in a future book actually happens in Hold Your Breath! I was so excited to read this particular scene and it made for a great climax to the book. Katie is quickly climbing the ranks of my favorite romantic suspense authors and I can't wait to pick up the next book in the series, Fan the Flames, which comes out June 7th. YES!!


A fan of the old adage “write what you know”, Katie Ruggle lived in an off-grid, solar- and wind-powered house in the Rocky Mountains until her family lured her back to Minnesota. When she’s not writing, Katie rides horses, shoots guns (not while riding, although that would be awesome), cross-country skis (badly) and travels to warm places where she can scuba dive. A graduate of the Police Academy, Katie received her ice-rescue certification and can attest that the reservoirs in the Colorado mountains really are that cold. A fan of anything that makes her feel like a bad-ass, she has trained in Krav Maga, boxing and gymnastics.



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