STRANDED by Dani Pettrey

Darcy St. James is a reporter.  When her friend Abby contacts her and asks for her help, Darcy agrees.  When Abby vanishes from the cruise ship they are working on, Darcy doesn’t buy the story the crew is telling everyone.  Something is very wrong.  After asking questions around, she finds that Abby isn’t the only person to have disappeared.  Gage McKenna and his family own and operate Last Frontier Adventures.  This summer they signed on with a cruise ship line to lead interested passengers on adventure excursions.   Imagine the surprise when Gage finds Darcy working on the ship.  She was hired as a journalist to cover the adventure excursions.  It’s been awhile since Darcy and Gage have seen each other but the emotional pull is still very strong.  Darcy fills Gage in about her missing friend and all she’s found out.  Feeling he must protect her, Gage reluctantly helps her.  As they try to put the pieces together, they discover a whole lot more than they bargained for.

I thoroughly enjoyed this installment in the Alaskan Courage Series.  Stranded finds us aboard a cruise ship where people, mainly women, seem to just vanish.  After watching Darcy and Gage in Shattered, (book 2), I was anxious to read their story.  Gage is one of those great flawed heroes.  You could easily understand why he felt the way he did.  Darcy was a woman of great faith and strength.  Her genuineness really shined through.  It was neat to catch up with all the McKenna’s. Piper and Landon are very involved in the story as well as Kayden and Jake.  It was nice to learn more about Jake and I certainly hope we’ll be seeing him and Kayden in the next book.  There were twists and turns and you’re not really sure just who’s involved until the end.  One thing I appreciated was how the Gospel message was woven into the story in a way that felt very natural.  We see throughout the story how sometimes God uses the difficulties in our life to bring us to Him and that even if we turn away from Him, He is still there with us.  Although you could read this as a stand-alone, this is one series I recommend you read in order.  That way you get all the background of everyone involved.  Looking forward, with great anticipation, to the next installment!

Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (September 1, 2013)

ISBN-10: 0764209841

ISBN-13: 978-0764209840

*This complimentary copy was provided by Bethany House Publishers through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

For more information about this book or the author’s other books, I encourage you to visit her website at http://www.danipettrey.com/