Review: ‘Escape the Everglades’ by Caridad Pineiro


Escape the Everglades
by Caridad PiñeiroSeries: South Beach Security: K-9 Division #2
Published by Harlequin Intrigue on June 25, 2024
SubGenres: Romantic Suspense
Format: AudioBook, Paperback
Pages: 224
Narrator: Frankie Corzo
Length: 6 Hours And 17 Minutes
Source: Everand, Purchased
Audience: 18+/Adult
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His son is in dangerAnd only one investigator and her K-9 can rescue him
Two years after his wife’s death, ex-marine Carlos Ruiz isn't looking for romance. But then army vet and security expert Natalie Rodriguez and her incredible K-9 walk into his life in the Everglades. Before long, the purely professional relationship turns all too personal, especially once Carlos’s little boy goes missing. Now, as they follow the K-9's every lead, uncovering the truth becomes vital to the child's rescue. And to securing their all too precarious future…
Escape the Everglades was another fast-paced, action-packed, emotional read in Caridad Piñeiro’s South Beach Security: K-9 Division series that kept me in suspense while reading it. This time, Caridad Piñeiro takes her readers to the Everglades, where the MMC, Carlos Ruiz, is dealing with the threat of poachers. He can’t risk the safety of himself and his son, so South Beach Security sends in a security expert and K-9 handler, Natalie Rodriguez. Natalie and her K-9, Missy, are determined to investigate the situation and protect Carlos and his son with the help of the rest of South Beach Security.
Due to how descriptive Caridad’s storytelling was, I literally felt like I was in the Everglades with the characters, investigating the poacher issue. Just like with the first book, this was another emotional one where I felt for the characters immediately in different ways, and not only because of the poacher situation. Both characters are dealing with various traumas in their lives and handling them.
The MMC, Carlos, is a single father who lost his wife and is still grieving her while having to protect himself and his son from the poachers. He’s going to be on high alert, and I would be the same, especially when his son is kidnapped, and he’ll do anything to get him back.
The FMC, Natalie, is a military veteran with PTSD, and her K-9, Missy, has PTSD, too. I’m a military veteran who also deals with PTSD, and Caridad tackled a character who I related to when it came to handling PTSD. Caridad also gave me another adorable, lovable K-9 to love because Missy, who was a Labrador, reminded me of my first German Shepard, who was also fired from the police force due to being gun-shy and hated loud noises.
The romance wasn’t the focal point in the book because the book mainly focused on the investigation of the poachers, but I was there for the romance between the characters when it did happen. Both Carlos and Natalie weren’t looking for love but found it, even when there was so much going on around them.
I give this installment five stars and highly recommend it to readers who enjoy Romantic Suspense with a mysterious and action-packed storyline. Caridad Piñeiro is one author who is an auto-buy for me due to her suspenseful stories.

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About Caridad Piñeiro

NY Times and USA Today Bestseller Caridad Pineiro is a Jersey Girl who just wants to write, travel, and spend more time with family and friends. Caridad is the author of over 50 novels/novellas and has sold over 1 million books worldwide. Caridad loves romance novels, super heroes, TV and cooking.
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My obsession with reading started over 30+ years ago when I went to my first Scholastic Book Fair and found R.L. Stine's Fear Street series. Later, I came across Anne Rice's novels at my public library when I was fourteen when my obsession with vampires started. I was the girl who preferred to be a vampire over a princess any day. My husband says I would leave him a heartbeat for a vampire that looked like Spike or Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. (It's true, though, and he's accepted it.)
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