"Submerged" by Dani Pettrey

Submerged by Dani Pettrey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really wanted to love this book! I lived in Alaska for around 10 years total, and loved the idea of a book set there. However, I was pretty disappointed. Frankly, it sounded more like it was set in California, Florida or Hawaii than it was Alaska most of the time. "Surfer" lifestyle--in Alaska?!? The story is supposed to take place in a fictional town on the peninsula just south of Kodiak. Um, I lived on Kodiak. Her descriptions do not in any way match what I remember. She talks of Piper and Landon trekking through salt marshes ("the glades") but never mentions mosquitoes. If Landon is complaining of trekking through mud, he would definitely be complaining of the mosquitos!! They're Alaska's unofficial state bird, for crying out loud! lol They would be being eaten alive during the summer! The worst thing is all the diving. At one point they talk of staying in the water for around an hour. Not in Alaska!! My sister's brother-in-law fell in the water in Kodiak and nearly died of hypothermia in 4 minutes!! Nothing was mentioned of special dive gear for the cold water, and even with special gear they would have been seriously limited on how much time they could stay in. For Cole to show up with a dive mask and tell Bailey she only needed a swimsuit (for a moonlit dive--ummm "Land of the Midnight Sun"?!?) shows how badly this book was researched. I wish she had done a lot more research of what the area is really like.

Some of the story line I thoroughly enjoyed. Dani dealt with Bailey's rough past very well. She didn't fall into the trap of being too descriptive, but she didn't gloss over it, either. Cole is almost too good to be true. He is all care and concern for Bailey, seeming to have no trust issues or doubts about her despite what she did to him years ago, but has issues trusting a young man he's been working with that's in a bad situation. The guy has been doing great for months, but he's very quick to suspect him when something goes missing. A little bit of a double standard to me.

The last think is a personal preference. I don't like it when books rewrite history. "Well, everyone THINKS that such and such happened, but what REALLY happened was....."

I struggled with how many stars to rate this. I ended up going with three vs. two for the sensitive way she dealt with Bailey and her story.

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