Their relationship develops very naturally, they are both very competitive and it's very fun to follow all their bets and their inner battles. But what I loved the most were the mutual respect and the communication between them. That's on a healthy relationship. I’m not saying that I support murder because I definitely don’t. But this novel lets you really get into the heads of two people who do see that as an option. The author does an incredible job of explaining their thought processes. In fact, there were times when one or both of them thought something through so thoroughly that I could almost believe that murder was the best option, that they were enacting some sort of vigilante justice in their own way and actually doing society a favor. That makes this both an incredibly interesting story and one that is relatively creepy. Understanding the motivations of such characters so thoroughly can definitely be psychologically chilling. But it’s chilling in a way that I can’t help but love.

Featuring a German character and traditional German food, a picturesque setting and a beaut romance…what’s not to love about that! It's taken me around a year to get around to reading Lily Malone's Chalk Hill series. And oh boy, the first book is incredibly sweet! Avery and freaking Luca!! Such an amazing Rivals-to-Lovers. This book had me by the throat, I could not put it down (I was up till 2 am reading the first night)! The banter was so good! THE TENSION! You have to wait a bit for the spice, and they do tease us a bit haha, but when you finally get there it is really good.This made me so excited for their next book! Avery and Luca are great characters and I can tell they meant a lot to the authors. Congrats Kels and Denise on your first novel - can’t wait to read the next! But when Bob Wall rose, his left hand held something smaller than a body. In his hands, he held only a pair of blue jeans. The jeans were covered in silt as gray as ash. If you have to constantly spell it out for the reader that this is grumpy x sunshine/enemies or rivals-to-lovers, you're doing it wrong. Luca has a soft spot for Avery, but cannot seem to do so without putting other women down and comparing them to her. No thanks. They also "compete" with each other, which often just ended in Avery winning because Luca loses all brain cells when she's around. If there's a rivals-to-lovers story, it should be evenly matched.

I am so hooked, from the very beginning, devouring the words, knowing at 11% that I won’t be able to stop until it’s over. The vagueness, the Dive Unit knew, was meant to deter journalists. On the radio, searchers never say they’ve found a body. The men knew the code. And then the helicopter above them, on the other side of the Gorge, near lavish and proud homes, the helicopter suddenly started to descend. Look, I know I complained a little about this book but I must stress that my patience really runs thin with contemporary rural romance. I keep giving the genre another go and thinking I’ll eventually be won over. Maybe one day… Lots of people adore chook lit, however, and if you’re one of them I would recommend this book. There’s nothing wrong with Malone’s writing and I’m sure most readers would give Water Under the Bridge a higher rating. Luca Navarro, the MMC, is an attempt at a grumpy character that again, I don't think was executed well.

Other Books of Interest:

Intelligent . . . insightful . . . will be remembered for years." —Sarah Weinman, author of The Real Lolita Getting both of their POV was perfect, I feel like that really brought the book together as both characters have such strong emotions, it was nice to see how they both felt about things! Kels writes impactful love stories with strong heroines and swoon-worthy love interests with her best friend, Denise.