I really enjoyed the latest installment in the Lost Beach series. It was nice to finally see more of Layla than just quick quick interactions between her and her brothers. The mystery was satisfyingly complex as I've come to expect from Laura Griffin and the way she wove both Layla and Sean into the plot was believable but twisty. The main romance was perfect. Now if we can only make some progress with Nicole and Emmet :)

I am a romantic suspense junkie, and I read a LOT of books each month. That means sometimes it’s hard to remember whose books I’ve read before and whose I have not. Laura Griffin was a new-to-me author with Vanishing Hour, but when it comes to this genre, I’m always willing to take a chance. And with her reputation, I was more than willing to try it and was not disappointed! At this point, I’m slowly working my way through her backlist while simultaneously attempting to catch her new releases. Deep Tide is the fourth book of her Texas Murder Files series, but it can definitely be read as a standalone. It’s the only book in the series I’ve read, and I had no problems keeping characters or previous plot points sorted.

I started this book in the evening and couldn’t put it down, even when I should have been sleeping. The plot was intriguing and relatively fast-paced, the suspense kept me guessing until the end, and the characters were relatable, realistic, and engaging. So far, Laura Griffin is another go-to author in my favorite romance genre.

NICUnurse’s Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭑ (4.5)

***ARC Provided by the Author***

Did I enjoy this book? I definitely did. I always enjoy this author's titles. Ms. Griffin has a unique ability to weave romance and suspense in a way that makes it work and doesn't leave you thinking "wait, a first kiss during a gin battle? Does that make sense?"

Leyla and Sean were excellent as a couple and I really liked the heroine. There was something about her that really made me relate to her, despite the fact that I have never encountered a single murder victim, much less an employee.

Plot wise, there isn't a lot I can say that won't be a spoiler for someone, so I will say that this is yet another solid title by this author. It's a standalone, so if you haven't read her other titles, you can absolutely start here...but warning, you are going to then want to read everything she has ever written.

I enjoyed and recommend this title.

Laura Griffin takes us back to the seaside community of Lost Beach for another mystery. Leyla Breda finds her coworker murdered and its up to the detectives of the small police force to find the killer before he or she strikes again.

Leyla meets island newcomer, Sean Moran but discovers he works for the FBI. Leyla is reluctant to start a relationship with someone but she keeps getting drawn back to the mysterious man.

This was another great story by Laura Griffin. I enjoyed learning updates from the others on the island and was intrigued with the mystery set forth in this book.

You can never go wrong with a sizzling romance and edge-of-your-seat suspense.

Leyla Breda was riding high after the success of catering her brother’s wedding and she had an almost romantic encounter after the wedding with her brother’s friend Sean. Discovering her employee’s body the next morning brought her down in shocking disbelief. Sean kept popping up with vague answers to her questions, making Leyla even more interested in the case. She became involved in his secret investigation into a connection between a tech mogul on the island and a notorious crime syndicate. Sean was already catching feelings for her, and he didn’t need more reasons to become even more protective.

Sean and Leyla had definite chemistry going, but both tried to put the brakes on a bit because of Sean’s half-truths and the fact that he would be leaving soon. The moment they acted on their attraction happened at a time when emotions were high for both of them, but also the reader, making it a fairly intense encounter.

It bothered me a bit that Leyla and her brothers obviously lived close to each other and they spent time together, but they weren’t close at all. I felt that there wasn’t enough of an explanation for that. But then Joel and Owen didn’t hesitate to jump in when she was in danger and I loved seeing them be a part of the action.

Sean’s investigation and Leyla’s participation in it were very well done. The villain’s identity was not a mystery, but the way the action unfolded was a nail-biting surprise. It was hard to put the book aside to do regular life things, and I couldn’t wait to get back to it.

I love Laura Griffin and I can highly recommend Deep Tide if you like romantic suspense. The book reads well on its own, but it’s worth reading the entire series and meeting the other characters.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

While this book was a little slow to take off, it does take off without a hitch!
I look forward to Griffin's books one at a time. (I really need to go back and read more of her backlist that I missed over the years.)
I enjoyed this new set of characters, along with a few I know from past books. This book took me on a thrilling and steamy ride with its mixture of mystery and romance. There are only a few authors that I like who can write a good mystery and romance combo.
Overall, I enjoyed this one and look forward to the next book in the future.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Avid Reader – ☆☆☆
M/F Mystery, Romance

Leyla is a shop owner and caterer who loves her town. She is good at what she does and loves it too – even in the stressful times. When her brother finally gets married and is happy, Leyla helps with the catering and cake. What she doesn't plan on is for her employee to be killed just outside the cafe where she works.

Leyla knows that there is more to Sean than he'd like people to know. Since Leyla is from a family with law enforcement, she knows they can't always talk about their jobs. Sean wants to know Leyla better but can't let his personal life get in the way of his job. People are counting on him.

Leyla and Sean don't have great chemistry for me. It's a miss for the relationship since they could have been really explosive. Leyla is smart, funny, and a great chef and baker, who has a nose for sleuthing too. Sean wants to be the alpha protector but has horrible communication skills.

I really wanted much more from this story and just didn't get it. While I enjoyed the story, it was not like the previous books in the series that I had read.

Deep Tide combines romantic suspense with police procedural and murder mystery to create a really great read. Laura Griffin is one of my favorite romantic suspense authors because she writes a great mystery/suspense plot! The romance is great as well!

Leyla is a caterer who meets Sean at her brother's wedding. Sean is an undercover agent. These two have that insta-lust attraction, but they are both a little busy. However, they are brought together for a murder of one of Leyla's employees. I really liked Sean and Leyla together, and her brothers were great as well! They are protective, but not overbearing. Sean is also trying to determine if this murder has anything to do with his FBI case, and if so, it could be really dangerous!

The plot of the murder mystery is solid and kept me engaged. The hot chemistry between Sean and Leyla was on point! Overall, romantic suspense fans will delight in Deep Tide!

I decided to try Deep Tide because I wanted to branch out a little and read something outside my norm. I do not typically gravitate towards murder mysteries, however, the romance element of the synopsis intrigued me. I was feeling adventurous. One FBI agent, a (seemingly) tough heroine, and overprotective/disapproving cop brothers all seemed to hint at the possibility of strong emotional conflicts. I'm a romance reader at heart, so if there is going to be romance in the story, whether it's forefront or background, I'm going to need it to be well-developed. Unfortunately, I came away from the book feeling let down in that area.

I honestly didn't understand Sean's intense draw to Leyla. The synopsis describes her as brash which is defined as: self-assertive in a rude, noisy, or overbearing way. That's pretty on point. She could be rude at times, distant with her loved ones, and DEFINITELY overbearing. She's the kind of woman who seems to push down her emotions and push those away who try to help or show concern. When she first meets Sean at her brother's wedding, she brushes him off because she perceives him to be a temporary visitor to town just looking for casual fun. Admittedly, she was justified for her concerns. His time there was just temporary until the end of his case. Only, she comes off on page somewhat cold and closed off, so I didn't get why Sean couldn't resist her. They don't spend a ton of time around each other because he is consumed with his undercover work. There aren't any heart-to-hearts or deep, getting to know one another conversations. Leyla was not feeling relatable or endearing to me, but I pushed on.

Sean Moran is in town trying to get information on Luc Gagnon, a tech mogul suspected of ties to the Saledo crime family. When one of Leyla's employees is murdered at her coffee shop, he quickly suspects that the two investigations are somehow connected. He teams up with the lead detective, Nicole Lawson to try to get to the bottom of it. Their investigation did finally pull me in a little bit as it alternated between Nicole and Sean's work tracking down leads.

I was trying to ignore my disconnect with Leyla throughout the book, but there was one point in particular that really bothered me. Not only did she keep trying to pressure information out of Sean about what he was doing there (even after learning he was FBI and on a case), she snooped in his research when he left the room and discovered the man he was investigating. She then proceeds to solicit catering work from the man's secretary KNOWING that he is a seriously dangerous man who could have played a part in the murder of her employee. When Sean is shocked and angered that she is considering taking a job at the man's house, she gets defensive and rude. She's not a trained professional and she wants to go to the man's home for the purpose of digging up information?? This did not make sense to me at all, as a sister of two cops she should know about case confidentiality and leaving the investigation to professionals. Of course, her going there and snooping led to very bad things and she never owns up to her recklessness. Never apologizes to him, and he never even holds her accountable for her immature actions. After that point, she bothered me so much in her actions and personality that I found it really hard to care about her.

I should have felt some emotion towards the romance, but I felt that that aspect was underdeveloped compared to the murder mystery plot line. Even the relationships in general were glossed over-like the fact that her brother didn't like Sean and advised her to stay away from him. He said it was partly because he was working on a dangerous case, but it was more than that. Something about Sean personally bothered her brother but he didn't elaborate. Then it was never talked about again until the end when Miranda basically shrugged and told her in a blasé way that he was over that, but not sure why. There was not much time spent on the connections and feelings of the characters which made them fall flat. Also, without going into detail, the investigation ended in a very unsatisfactory way for me. Maybe it was more realistic that way, but it was frustrating. Not every book is a big winner and that's fine. Overall, I think maybe this author's writing style didn't mesh with my reading taste because it was just okay.

Deep Tide is the latest book in Laura Griffin’s Texas Murder Files series. Once again, Ms. Griffin has written a fantastic romantic suspense book. This installment features Leyla Breda. We have met the Breda family in previous books. This book belongs to Leyla and FBI agent Sean Moran. You do not have to read the previous books to enjoy this one.

Leyla and Sean meet at Joel Breda’s wedding. Leyla runs two local coffee shops in Long Beach and is branching out into catering at her brother’s wedding. When Leyla finds one of her employees murdered behind her coffee shop, the Lost Beach Police Department becomes involved. Sean is already in Long Beach due to an ongoing FBI investigation and suspects this latest one is connected to his case. At first, he doesn’t admit he is there in an official capacity, which causes Leyla to have doubts about him. They do have an instant attraction, but Leyla avoids getting involved with tourists and visitors who are going to be around.

We get the benefit of two strong leading female characters in this book. Leyla runs her coffee shops and is personally involved in this case because of the death of her employee. Nicole, who is fairly new to the Lost Beach Police Department, is put in charge of the local investigation and is out to solve the murder and prove her capabilities. I enjoyed Nicole’s perspective as well as Leyla’s involvement in the investigation.

Ms. Griffin knows how to combine suspense, action and romance into a very good book. Her attention to research adds a lot to the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next book in this series.

Deep Tide by Laura Griffin is her latest standalone romantic suspense novel in the Texas Murder Files. Coffee shop owner and caterer, Leyla Breda and Undercover, FBI Agent Sean Moran’s paths cross when her barista is found murdered. Suspense & romance await you in this coastal tourist town.

All the novels in the Texas Murder Files can be read as standalone and feature a suspenseful case and romance. Here, we meet Leyla Brenda. Her brothers are police officers in their coastal tourist town and one is getting married. She first meets Sean Moran at her brother’s wedding.

After having watched her brother tie the knot and take off for their honeymoon, she enters her coffee shop to discover it in a state of disarray. It appears the barista who shut down didn’t clean up. As she takes the trash out to the dumpsters in the alley, she makes a grizzly discovery.

Undercover Agent Sean Moran may have attended the wedding, but he is here on an undercover assignment. He thinks the recent murder might be related. The suspenseful mystery thread was interesting and involved Lost Beach PD and the FBI. Sean can’t disclose what he is working on, not even with the local cop in charge, because his suspect has deep pockets.

Leyla gets involved mostly because of an opportunity, and it soon places her in danger. The romance is served on the side and despite their initial chemistry; it had a slow burn vibe.

While this wasn’t my favorite in the series, mostly because the pacing felt off, I enjoyed it and look forward to the next one. Griffin writes stories I love to slip into with just enough intrigue and mystery to engage me.

Fans of romantic suspense, crime fiction and well-written characters should check out this series and Griffin’s other series as well.

Deep Tide is a captivating romantic thriller that had me hooked from the very first page and kept me engaged until the very end. This gripping mystery is filled with sizzling chemistry, plenty of action, and pulse-pounding suspense. The chemistry between the characters is off-the-charts, adding an extra layer of excitement to an already thrilling plot.

Leyla’s café has been a meeting place in previous novels and Leyla herself an acquaintance of other characters stories, so I was excited to see that she is getting her own book. Leyla is an interesting character in that she’s a business owner and sister to a couple of officers on the police force. She’s not a stranger to murder since both her brothers are on the force, but she is normally a supporting character. During the opening chapter when she meets Sean Moran at her brothers wedding there was an immediate connection that I found interesting despite a lack of a mystery at that point in the novel. As soon as the murder lands on her back door? This story twisted into a romantic thriller, and one that I was thrilled to be reading.

Laura Griffin has a great style of writing that makes her stories very easy to read and immerse myself in. At the same time her characters are relatable and the reader can easily like them. Leyla has always been a likable character and because I already knew her I was two steps ahead emotionally by the end of the first page. What was going to happen to Leyla? Was I going to like Sean for Leyla? What kind of danger would Leyla involve herself in? So many questions! Laura Griffin quickly moved the story forward and those questions eventually were answered in a way that helped me connect and like her even more. Sean was a little harder to figure out because he was a new character, but I liked his immediate connection and the mystery that revolved around why he was in town.

Each of the books in the Texas Murder Files series can be read alone, although you’ll see characters from previous novels pop up. They don’t really have anything to do with the current mystery and I feel like their presence doesn’t detract or confuse the reader, so feel free to pick up this book, even though it’s numbered four in the series. I really enjoyed Leyla’s spirit and Sean’s efforts in taming it. It was a good mystery too!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review and it was honest!

Hi and welcome to my blog stop for Laura Griffin's Deep Tide! A big thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for making my dreams come true by giving me a complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

I hope you'll stick around for more reviews! Happy reading.


Summary.
An undercover FBI agent and an independent coffee shop owner must team up when a local barista is found dead and danger circles their coastal Texas town in this new romantic thriller from New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin.
​
With two brothers on the police force, Leyla Breda is well aware of the rising crime in her small beach town, but she never expected it to show up on her doorstep. When Leyla finds one of her employees murdered in the alley behind her coffee shop, she’s deeply shaken, and as a new law enforcement officer in town begins to circle her place of business, her instincts only sharpen.

Sean Moran is on an undercover mission: The seaside community of Lost Beach may look like a picturesque postcard, but his team suspects it’s a point of intersection for several crime syndicates that the FBI has been investigating for years. Even so, when the brash and beautiful Leyla Breda starts bossing him around, he's immediately intrigued. He knows her brothers want him to back off, but every time he sees her, he feels more of a spark.

Leyla’s connections in the local community and Sean’s skills allow them to go deeper into the case together than they would be able to go alone. But when a single crime spirals into something much darker, Sean’s carefully planned mission takes a deadly turn.



My review.
When it comes to romantic suspense Laura Griffin is a name I’m always recommending & Deep Tide—out now–is stellar evidence of why.

The mystery had me guessing, the secondary characters are fun to watch & intriguing on their own merit, & the chemistry between leads is so well done—the slow burn was burning slow but hot .

In this book, Leyla Breda, a cafe owner branching out into catering, finds the dead body of one of her employees outside of her cafe.

FBI agent Sean Moran is in town conducting his own investigation but the attraction between them is strong & compelling, even as he knows that his job needs focus.

My fave moments of this book are the softest, like when you can tell Sean is terrified for Leyla’s safety. Also I really enjoyed both leads being a bit of a dumb dumb when it comes to communication toward the end of the book—the payoff is so good .

If you’re looking for romantic suspense, check out Laura Griffin. This one in particular has a sweetness to it that I really loved!

5⭐️. Out now!

CWs: murder, violence, drug trafficking.

[ID: Jess’s white hand holds the ebook in front of an ocean. A blue sky is in the background.]

I love this series. And I use the word series loosely. While the books are set in the same universe, each book focuses on different characters. They can easily be read as standalones.

At one point in my life, I almost exclusively read contemporary suspense novels. And while they are more of an outlier these days, I still love to read a good one. This series definitely fits the bill. And while I am sure there will be a HEA at the end, it’s a twisty journey on how the couple gets there.

Our main characters are Leyla and Sean. Leyla is Joel’s sister and in a little happy news, the book opens at his wedding to Miranda. Their story was told in Flight and I really liked it. Sean came into town for the wedding and isn’t exactly honest in his initial encounters with Leyla. In addition to that we learn he is from out of town, so that adds another layer to their journey. In addition to the main characters, we are introduced to Nicole, a detective on the force investigating the murder. I kinda like her. She’s scrappy. I’m hoping she gets her own book next.

Laura Griffin is really good at mixing the romance with the mystery and even throwing a little danger for Leyla so Sean can ride to her rescue.

I both listened and read this one, as time permitted. And I liked the book better than the audio this time. I’m not sure if it was the narration, the story or maybe even me, but I spent way more time reading than listening and that is not normal when I have both the book and audio.

If you like your mystery with a little romance, I can highly recommend this one along with the entire series. I can’t wait to read her next one.

3.5 Stars
Leyla Breda is a successful entrepreneur at Lost Beach with her coffee/bake shop hopping and now expanding into catering she’s a busy woman. Her life is thrown upside down when a woman is found murdered behind her shop in a back alley. However, she has more than just her brothers to rely on. Sean Moran, her brother’s friend, also in law enforcement, keeps showing up when she’s at her lowest. There’s an immediate attraction between the two, but Leyla’s has rules about getting involved with non-residents as they have a lot of tourists. At some point they go home and she’s not about to be a vacation fling.

Sean Moran is in Lost Beach for his friend’s wedding (Leyla’s brother) but also because of an ongoing investigation into a rich tech mogul with ties to a criminal cartel. Rumor is a deal is going down soon and Sean’s there to intercept it. The murder of the girl outside of Leyla’s coffeeshop has Sean’s red flags going up as there are some suspicious details that might mean it’s related to his investigation. He didn’t count on meeting Leyla, though. Although she continually rebuffs his romantic proposals, he’s drawn to her over and over. Unfortunately, her questions on the case put her in danger.

I’ve been a fan of Laura Griffin’s police procedural/romantic suspense stories for quite some time, but Deep Tide was a little slow going. It was entertaining but didn’t have the intensity or threat of danger throughout that some of her other stories had until the very end. There was a lot of time spent with Nicole, one of the Lost Beach detectives, and she wasn’t the love interest. Maybe this is a setup for a story focusing on her and Emmett in another case? I feel there wasn’t as much time spent with Sean and Leyla together. Even so, I wanted them to overcome any obstacles and find a way to be together. Even with some of these issues, I’d still recommend Deep Tide to mystery/romantic suspense fans. The other books in the series are really good, as well. Particularly Flight and Midnight Dunes which are my favorites so far.

I alternated between an e-ARC and audio copy of Deep Tide and I recommend either. The audio, narrated by Teri Clark Linden, was excellent. I’ve enjoyed several books by her and love her voice, accents, and performance! I listened at my usual 1.5x normal speed.

This was book #4 in the series, and I'd been anticipating Leyla's story! But it just wasn't quite everything I wanted it to be. 3.5 Stars.

Leyla Breda owns a bustling coffee shop in a small beach town in Texas. Two of her older brothers are detectives on the local police force, but she never expected to find the dead body of one of her employees behind her café. Especially not the day after her oldest brother's wedding. What a nightmare!

Sean Moran is an FBI agent, and he's in town for a wedding, but then he sticks around for a secret assignment. He meets Leyla at her brother's wedding, and he's intrigued. But, she can spot a lie on a tourist's lips a mile away, and he can't tell her why he's really in town. What can he do to convince her to take a chance on him?

Leyla & Sean had amazing chemistry & banter, and I loved watching him pursue her, and her fighting her attraction. I just wish we could've had more on page time with them together. There were a lot of POV scenes for Nicole, the head detective on the case, and while I liked her, and wouldn't mind her being the heroine of a future book, I didn't love having her scenes intercutting Sean and Leyla's so much. I get why it was this way, to get her perspective on the murder case, but it just didn't fully work for me. The murder case was very interesting, and I wouldn't have minded getting more of it through Sean's POV instead.

So, the romance part of the book ended up being a little thinner than I would prefer, plus a little less steamy than the earlier books in this series. What WAS there was enjoyable, and I really liked, and believed in, Sean and Leyla as a couple. But, I would've loved a bit of an epilogue, to see them further down the road and cementing their future together. I would still try another book by this author.

Deep Tide is the perfect mix of a procedural mystery and a romantic suspense. When the story opens we meet Leyla who is catering her brother's wedding. It's clear from the start that there is a spark and chemistry between Leyla and Sean, one of her brother's friends. Sean is not only in town for the wedding, but also for work - although being low key about that aspect. When one of her employees is found murdered outside her café the morning after the wedding, Leyla becomes caught up in the mystery. We not only follow along with Leyla and Sean, but also Nicole who is the lead detective on the case, and whom I'm hoping will get her own book at some point. I really enjoyed this one and thought the romantic aspects were a little more front and center than they sometimes are in a mystery and suspense. Although this is the fourth in a series, with the previous two focusing on Leyla's brothers, this reads as a standalone. Despite not reading any of the previous ones in this series I could follow along with no problem and now those books are next up in my to be read pile. Deep Tide is compelling and firmly establishes this author as one of my favorites.

Leyla Breda is beside herself when the body of one of her employees was found behind her coffee shop. Leyla soon meets Sean Moran. He is in law enforcement as are her two brothers. However, Sean is vague about why he is in town and how long he will be around.

Meanwhile, Leyla has every intention at keeping her work going, and this includes catering jobs. One of her potential clients just might be part of the reason that Sean is in town. In fact, as an FBI agent, he is getting closer to solving his current case. There is definitely going to be a conflict between Leyla and Sean as he tries to keep his job separate from his personal life, but that is complicated by the fact that he is very drawn to her.

Perhaps the two will team up, and for more reasons than one. Sean has an important role in this story, but then so does the detective Nicole, who is striving to solve the murder. This intriguing story was an excellent page Turner, with mystery, drama and the chemistry between Leyla and Sean. I look forward to yet another book in this exciting series.

Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Leyla and Sean’s story in Deep Tide by Laura Griffin, book four in The Texas Murder files series, is an enjoyable romantic suspense with a murder, a touch of mystery, and an instant attraction. Leyla Breda is quite busy getting a new catering business off the ground in addition to her coffee shop. She really doesn’t have time for the instant attraction she feels for a guest at her brother's wedding. After returning to her shop after catering the wedding she discovers the murdered body of one of her baristas, Amelia, outside the shop. FBI agent Sean Moran feels the same instant attraction and also wants to get closer to Leyla; though he’s currently on an undercover assignment. Sean has been working for years on a task force, to infiltrate a syndicate of criminals they suspect of having moved into the small beachside community of Lost Beach, Texas.

As her first time acting as lead detective on a case Natalie Lawson, the youngest and only woman on the Lost Beach police force, has few facts to start with, but by chasing leads she uncovers something that the FBI has an interest in. As the clues start coming in, Natalie and Sean know they are dealing with some dangerous people. Leyla is not about to stand by and takes a chance that proves helpful to Sean's case, but his focus is not on the murdered barista. The deeper Leyla gets into this mess, the more Sean fears for her safety. His attraction is growing, and he will do everything he can to protect her. He knows that the murder is just the tip of some very dangerous crimes committed by very nasty people.

Ms. Griffin wrote a wonderful, sizzling and suspenseful story that should not be missed. She provided a tale rich with sizzling chemistry, a dangerous situation, national and local law enforcement working together, and endearing secondary characters giving Leyla and Sean a chance for a future together. I highly recommend Deep Tide to other readers.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.