Watch Your Back

Author: Kristen Hogrefe Parnell
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Series: Crossroads Suspense #3
Pages: 298
Release Date: March 5, 2025
Publisher: Mountain Brook Ink

You can’t watch your own back.

Private Investigator Avery Reynolds leads the charge to expose Tampa's supposedly “extinct” mob. The crime boss responsible for her foster brother’s death is within her grasp—until she hits a wall in the form of Ethan Bridger, a Coast Guard veteran who unknowingly derails her sting operation. When the elusive “Big Eddie” comes out of hiding, he targets their mutual friends about to tie the knot.

Avery sets aside her angst toward Ethan to focus on ending the crime boss’s reign of terror. But working together exposes her trust issues and his PTSD stemming from a comrade's tragedy. When Avery goes solo into a prisoner exchange operation, she discovers her vulnerability too late—and must lean on Ethan and the God she thought had abandoned her. But will that help reach her in time?

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Reviewer: Laura Thomas

Set in Florida, this is an edge-of-your-seat read with a delightful slow-burn romance and a relatable faith element—perfect for fans of Christian romantic suspense!  

Avery Reynolds is a private investigator with a promise she needs to keep and a drug lord she needs to see behind bars. Ethan Bridger is a coast guard veteran suffering from PTSD, whose genuine act of heroism backfires when he first meets undercover Avery.

Prickly, independent Avery and tender-hearted-family-man Ethan are an unlikely couple, yet danger and faith draw them together. A wedding, a kidnapping, shootings, and a race against time—this is one thrilling adventure! 

The third book in the Crossroads Suspense series, Watch Your Back, can be read as a standalone—or enjoyed even more after reading the other two page-turners.

I received a complimentary copy from Mountain Brook Ink through Interviews & Reviews  in exchange for my honest opinion.

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