BELOW THE SURFACE
Series: On The Gold #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Elizabeth Lee
Release Date: May 12, 2016
Daniella Alvarez and Dylan McKendrie used to be in love. They used to be a team. An inseparable force to be reckoned with. But, when tragedy struck, their relationship sank faster than the ships they used to scour the ocean floor for. Now all that’s left are scattered remains of what used to be.
Dylan, no longer seeking the mysteries on the ocean floor, now goes for the sure things and the guaranteed paychecks. When a longtime friend suggests he has hard proof that one of those legends that used to keep Dylan up at night could be real, he’s torn between going after the gold and maintaining the life he’d built since leaving The Florida Keys.Daniella was always a dreamer. She’s always been chasing what would most deem unattainable—professionally and personally. Everything she’d ever wanted seemed to slip through her fingers the day he left, which is exactly why his return has her seeing red.
Can the two of them put their past aside long enough to figure out a mystery that has plagued them both for years? Can they work together to see what lies below the surface?
There were two things I absolutely knew for sure: finding treasure on the bottom or the ocean was every bit as exhilarating as my father had said it was, and Danielle Alvarez was the love of my life.
This was my first book by Elizabeth Grace and I doubt it’ll be the last. Below The Surface marks book one in what will be a series based on treasure hunters and it’s certainly different from anything I’ve ever read.
I’m a sucker for a second-chance romance, and the story here gave me serious Into The Blue vibes, which certainly didn’t hurt my metal visual…uhem.
It’s been five years since Daniella ‘Dani’ and Dylan have seen each other. Their relationship didn’t end on the best of terms and both still hold on to the resentment and anger of the past. But when a mutual friend claims that he has proof of the existence of sunken Spanish ship that many believed to be just a legend and had been a borderline obsession of Dani’s to find, it brings them back together again.
Dani stayed on the little Florida Keys island and barely making ends meet as a diver on boat tours. Dylan left her five years ago to make a different life for himself in Boston. If they find the ship, it can make all their dreams come true…or shatter them altogether if it proves to be just a legend.
As interesting as it was to read about underwater treasure hunters, I got a little bored with a lot of the details. I wanted a deeper look into the characters and their past. As it was, I felt like it barely grazed the surface. The reader gets bits and pieces of what happened to Dani and Dylan’s relationship five years ago, but it wasn’t nearly enough to make me truly understand why each made the decision they did. I wanted more development on the characters individually and wouldn’t have minded more focus on them as a couple. As it was, it felt like the romance came secondary to the treasure hunting and the rest of the story. I just never connected to the characters or their relationship to really get invested in the story and so I found myself skimming quite a bit.
That’s not to say it still wasn’t a fun read, because it was. The deep sea diving, the history of the sunken ship, the found diary, all of it made for an adventurous little read. I just wish the romance itself was a touch more developed. If you’re looking for something different, definitely give this book a go. It’s well written and the romance is quite steamy. I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for the next book in the series, especially after that tease in the synopsis.
