Devil and The Deep
Written by Julie Ann Walker
Narrated by Mackenzie Cartwright
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Bran Pallidino carries a dark secret behind his lady-killer eyes-one that keeps him from pursuing a serious relationship with Maddy. But when she's taken hostage during a trip to the Dry Tortugas, the men of Deep Six Salvage drop their treasure hunt for a sunken galleon and embark on a dangerous mission to save Maddy.
As they fight her merciless kidnappers, they discover this isn't a simple hostage situation, but something far more sinister. Passion boils between Bran and Maddy, but what good is putting their hearts on the line if they don't survive the dawn?
Contains mature themes.
Julie Ann Walker
Julie Ann Walker is the USA Today and New York Times Bestselling Author of the Black Knights Inc. romantic suspense series. She is prone to spouting movie quotes and song lyrics. She'll never say no to sharing a glass of wine or going for a long walk. She prefers impromptu travel over the scheduled kind, and she takes her coffee with milk. You can find her on her bicycle along the lake shore in Chicago or blasting away at her keyboard, trying to wrangle her capricious imagination into submission. For more information, please visit www.julieannwalker.com or follow her on Facebook www.facebook.com/jawalkerauthor and/or Twitter @JAWalkerAuthor.
More audiobooks from Julie Ann Walker
Too Hard to Handle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hot Pursuit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fuel For Fire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wild Ride Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Built to Last Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In Moonlight and Memories: Volume Two Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Moonlight and Memories: Volume One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Moonlight and Memories: Volume Three Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Devil and The Deep
Titles in the series (6)
Hell or High Water Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil and The Deep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deeper Than The Ocean Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ride the Tide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shot Across the Bow Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dead in the Water Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related audiobooks
Shot Across the Bow Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hell or High Water Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dead in the Water Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ride the Tide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Deeper Than The Ocean Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fuel For Fire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hot Pursuit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In Rides Trouble Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild Ride Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hell on Wheels Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Full Throttle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell for Leather Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Too Hard to Handle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Born Wild Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thrill Ride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Hearted Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBuilt to Last Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Back in Black Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMan In Black Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTargeted Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Edge of Danger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slater's Revenge Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Covert Affair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bound to Danger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dark Justice: Hunt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShattered Duty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hard Night Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Collision Force Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5RUTHLESS: A Crescent Cove Romantic Suspense Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5FEARLESS: A Crescent Cove Romantic Suspense Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
General Fiction For You
A Court of Thorns and Roses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/511/22/63: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Omens: A Full Cast Production Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Gods [TV Tie-In]: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Ends with Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Court of Mist and Fury Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Wings and Ruin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beartown Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Idea of You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Gods: The Tenth Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Norse Mythology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Return of the King Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Good Marriage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsider: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Two Towers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Under The Dome: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fight Club Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unhoneymooners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Darker Shade of Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Farseer: Assassin's Apprentice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Bonesetter Woman: the new feelgood novel from the author of The Smallest Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for Devil and The Deep
24 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love this series! Perfect mix of adventure, romance, and hot alpha men. What's not to love?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoyed this romantic suspense. I received this book for free and I voluntarily chose to review it. I've given it a 4.5* rating. Because of violence and sexual content, not suitable for the under 18 readers. This story pulled me in from the beginning and held my attention throughout. The only thing that bothered me was the timing of the sex. While they were supposed to be keeping watch for danger, they were playing around. Lots of action and violence in this story with a happy ending.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/51.5 stars
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Maddy first met Bran when he rescued her and ever since then they have been emailing and calling each other. Their relationship started off as friendly but their connection has grown deeper. With a chance to meet up in person, Maddy is excited but Bran fears getting too close. A kidnapping attempt though might just force Bran's hand. It's life and death and while Bran has the physical courage, he's going to have to decide if he has the emotional as well.
Second in the Deep Six series about a group of veteran Navy Seals searching for sunken treasure, this could be read as a standalone as the only part you would be missing information on is the continuing tale of the Spanish captain and his treasure in the 1600s. The first in the series had amazing action scenes, an area I think this author excels in, but this one, unfortunately, fell short in that regard. Our villains seem very inept and besides two of them, come off feeling very paper thin. The two that were given more background, well, their motivation and explanation for why they wanted to kidnap Maddy was a bit murky; we don't get the full explanation until the very end. The action plot was severely lacking in credibility, understanding, and excitement.
With the action plot failing me, I tried to focus more on our main couple and romance. While Maddy and Bran met, briefly, in the book before this one, the meat of their relationship should have been here in their own book. Again, unfortunately, this fell short for me too. There was talk of how they grew close over their emails and phone conversations; we aren't shown any of them, just told about them. What we do get shown is how much they have the hots for each other, physically wise, although any bedroom payoffs are left to the very end, during extremely awkward life and death situations. Maddy is in charge of the welfare of three teenage girls who are captured by the kidnappers, Bran has been shot in the leg, and they’re running for their lives but oh hey, look how smooth and muscular Bran's back is. There wasn't much depth to this couple and this awkward lusting during fight and evade scenes gave a pretty corny feel overall.
The over exaggerated speech stereotypes of the characters, southernisms, and very prevalent pop culture add-ins added to the hokey feel. Example:
"I might be bluffing, you miserable, vomitous mass!" Bran yelled.
Oh, for heaven's sake. Really? He's quotin' The Princess Bride?
"But if you wanna test me," he added, "I'm your huckleberry!"
And now he's quotin' Tombstone.
This, of course, being said during a bullets are flying action scene; a bit eye-rolling. I never felt like I knew our heroine Maddy as her background consisted of rich girl, has brothers, and a short blonde haircut. Bran had a little more to him but even his deeper abusive father background felt completely overdone and with lack of emotional depth to it, a gimmick to have him try to keep Maddy at arm’s length. As the resolution for his feelings on this came at, literally, the end of the story, 96% or so, it felt brushed over and insulting to use such a heavy topic like this.
The first book fascinated me with its descriptions of a new fun locale and intense action scenes. Sadly, this one fell way short with no building of the main couple's relationship, paper doll secondary characters, lacking action plot, and awkward dialogue. Like I said, this author can write amazing action scenes, but she needs to leave home the gimmicks and awkwardly placed lusting next time. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good book. This one centers on Maddy, who was a secondary character in Hell or High Water, and Bran, another member of the Deep Six team. There were obvious sparks between them previously, ending with a toe-curling kiss, but Bran doesn't follow up the way Maddy expects. Instead, there are three months of friendly email exchanges as Bran helps her through the aftermath of the previous events but ignores the signals she sends. Maddy decides to be a little more proactive and, using a field trip for some interns as an excuse, shows up on an island close to the team's dive site. She then invites Bran to talk to the girls about their treasure hunt.Bran is in a quandary. There is nothing he'd like more than to spend more time with Maddy. But he also has some very personal reasons for avoiding the closeness he knows that she wants. Bran grew up with an abusive father and is convinced that he carries the same darkness in him. He refuses to put himself in a position where he could hurt someone he cares about. He's just about made up his mind to ignore her invitation when Mason and Alex get involved.As it turns out, Bran, Mason, and Alex arrive at the island at just the right time. Maddy is at the center of a kidnapping plot, and she and her charges are held at gunpoint. I had to chuckle a bit at Maddy's reaction as it is happening again. Things get pretty intense as Bran and Mason come to the rescue, but it doesn't go quite as planned, with the three interns still in the hands of the kidnappers.What follows is a good mix of action and romance. Bran, Maddy, and Mason must find a way to free the girls from the men holding them. Bran has his ideas, and none of them include Maddy, but she refuses to be left behind. There is a terrific scene of Maddy standing up to his protectiveness, with information that will give them a better chance of success and the need to help those she feels responsible for. As they whittle down the number of bad guys and regain possession of the girls, there are some moments of down time. Bran and Maddie take advantage of these times as their movie-quote-laced banter is interlaced with some serious conversation. Bran is determined to make it clear to Maddy that he isn't relationship material and she is just as determined to show him that he is. I ached for them both as Bran opens up about his past and Maddy sees just how deep his fears go. Maddy proposes the idea of friends with benefits as a way to get at least some of the closeness she wants with Bran. And though the scene was intense, I thought the timing was illogical, with them not knowing if there were more bad guys out there.There are still a few more twists and turns before Maddy, and the others are truly safe. The final confrontation was not unexpected in how it happened. Even Bran and Mason can see the writing on the wall as the setup reminds them of what happened in the previous book. However expected, the fight is intense and deadly. I ached for Maddy when she found out who was behind the kidnapping attempts.When it's all over, Bran does his usual escape and deny, but something has changed. I rather enjoyed his misery as he fully deserved it. It takes his friend Leo to snap him out of his self-pity by pointing out some things about all of them that Bran hadn't considered. I loved his "aha" moment as he realized the truth. His reunion with Maddy was sweet and romantic and exactly what you'd expect from them.There was also a secondary story going on between Mason and Alex. The two of them have been antagonistic from the moment that Alex arrived on their island. It was fun to see the extremely untalkative Mason deal with the motormouth Alex. Under the antagonism are sparks of attraction that start to burn hotter the more time they spend together. Mason isn't happy about what he is starting to feel, while Alex wants to explore it. I'm looking forward to their story, which should be another good one.We don't get much about the treasure hunt. The first and last chapters are flashbacks by the captain of the ship, and we learn a little more about the wreck and the treasure. In the present day, Alex continues to search the records for more information, while the others find the occasional artifact.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Devil and the Deep by Julie Ann Walker is a 2016 Sourcebooks Casablanca publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is the second book in the Deep Six series. After such a great start to the series, this second installment stumbled out of the gate, but did manage to find its footing after a time. However, it was an uneven and rocky ride until the last few chapters, where it solidified nicely, but was almost too little, too late. Coming from a moneyed background, due to her father’s oil dealings, Maddie and Bran seem like an unusual couple, but after surviving a harrowing experience together, the two forged a tight bond. So, even though the adventure is over, they are still emailing each other, keeping the chemistry alive, but Maddie is hoping for another searing kiss from Bran, so she devises a plan to lure him in for a visit, only it backfires terribly when they find themselves under attack with lives in danger. Bran is addicted to the email communication he shares with Maddie. He knows he can never have more than a friendship with her due to his dark background, but not only that, this is the first time he has ever had a friendship or relationship with a woman and doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize it. But, when he sees Maddie again, face to face, he finds it harder than ever to keep his hands off her. “He was beginning to imagine himself a rodeo cowboy on a bucking bull. And if she kept gyrating, it wouldn’t be long before his eight seconds were up.” Maddie and Bran exchange some corny, but hilarious dialogue sometimes, and I couldn’t help but laugh. But, the tone is just a little too light in contrast to some of the heavier issues addressed in the book and the dire circumstances the couple finds themselves in. With teenage girls in grave danger, the humorous banter and sexual innuendo seemed inappropriate and implausible. “Regrets were like chicken. They always came home to roost. And right now, Bran’s coop was full”Bran’s reasoning for avoiding relationships is understandable since statistics do show a possibility that history will repeat itself, but someone who is disciplined, as a SEAL would be, and who is perhaps hyperaware of his background, probably wouldn’t become one of those statistics. Not only that, it seemed like an excuse to rationalize his promiscuity, which is what I found disconcerting. But, his story is indeed horrifying and my heart did break on his behalf. But, Bran and Maddie are not the only couple featured in this story, as Alex and Mason are battling their own attraction to each other, with Alex in hot pursuit while Mason is playing hard to get. Obviously, this couple will get their own story someday, and I can’t wait to see how that one turns out. Alex is a hoot and I liked her honesty and non-stop prattling which held a few gems of wisdom for us all. However, this thread did take up a little too much space this this installment, especially since their full story is still waiting in the wings. The suspense element was a bit uneven as the action was intense early on, but then fell to the wayside, only to pick back up in the final few chapters, where it really did get pretty intense and emotional. While this story did have some tense moments, some light humor, and was enjoyable as far as it goes, the characters were not as developed as I would have liked, the dialogue relied on banter, movie quotes, and humor, which kept the depth at arm’s length. The suspense level was unbalanced and did not build throughout the story, with the finale being its only saving grace. Sadly, this one didn’t work out for me as well as the first book did, but I am still invested in the series and will see how the next book fares. 3 stars