Stranded (Alaskan Courage, Book 3)
In the third novel in Pettrey’s Alaska Courage series featuring the McKenna family (following Shattered, 2013), adventure and intrigue follow Darcy St. James. She goes undercover, posing as an adventure journalist on a cruise ship while secretly trying to track down the big lead her best friend, Abby, had hinted at. Darcy’s task becomes more difficult when Abby disappears, and none of the crew are willing to answer Darcy’s persistent inquiries. Luckily, the McKennas are coordinating the cruise’s offboard activities, and they quickly join in the hunt. Gage McKenna and Darcy’s mutual attraction reaches an all-time high, but she is much more focused on finding out what’s happened to Abby. Will she and Gage be able to come together, or will her dogged investigation prove too much to overcome? Pettrey succeeds again. Not only does each character come fully to life, readers won’t be able to put the book down as the stakes are raised higher and higher in a case that is much more sinister than it first appears. --Carolyn Richard