Girl Underwater by Claire Kells

Author: Claire Kells
Publication: March 31, 2015
By: Dutton
Audiobook: Penguin Random House 
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5 STARS!

An adventurous debut novel that cross cuts between a competitive college swimmer’s harrowing days in the Rocky Mountains after a major airline disaster and her recovery supported by the two men who love her—only one of whom knows what really happened in the wilderness.

Nineteen-year-old Avery Delacorte loves the water. Growing up in Brookline, Massachusetts, she took swim lessons at her community pool and captained the local team; in high school, she raced across bays and sprawling North American lakes. Now a sophomore on her university’s nationally ranked team, she struggles under the weight of new expectations but life is otherwise pretty good. Perfect, really.

That all changes when Avery’s red-eye home for Thanksgiving makes a ditch landing in a mountain lake in the Colorado Rockies. She is one of only five survivors, which includes three little boys and Colin Shea, who happens to be her teammate. Colin is also the only person in Avery’s college life who challenged her to swim her own events, to be her own person—something she refused to do. Instead she’s avoided him since the first day of freshman year. But now, faced with sub-zero temperatures, minimal supplies, and the dangers of a forbidding nowhere, Avery and Colin must rely on each other in ways they never could’ve imagined.

In the wilderness, the concept of survival is clear-cut. Simple. In the real world, it’s anything but.

* I received a copy of this ARC (and audiobook) from the publisher in exchange for honest reviews*

Story: 5 STARS. 

This book was fantastic and would make an awesome movie! 

Compelling, engrossing and heart-wrenchingly romantic, GIRL UNDERWATER is a story of survival, strength and hope. (Colin Shea is one of the best book guys you'll ever meet.) It unfolds through alternating chapters of "Now" and "Then" which are seamlessly woven together, giving readers the complete picture by book's end. I spent the last 1/4 of the book with my heart lodged in my throat, but that epilogue made it all worth it.

One of the most enjoyable things about GIRL UNDERWATER is it's crossover appeal. Avery is 19, putting her in the New Adult category, BUT this story could easily be read---and enjoyed---by readers of upper YA and Adult. 

READ. IT.

Audiobook: I began this book on audio and while I thought Julia Whelan did an okay job, it was not my favorite. I'm glad I had a physical copy to fall back on.