Whispers in the Water

A Small Town, Second Chance, Romantic Suspense (Deep River, Book 1)

One small town. A love that never faded. And deadly secrets that lurk beneath the surface.

Maggie Sinclair didn’t think she’d ever return to Deep River. The town held too many memories—of her mother’s death, her aunt’s cruelty, and of Ethan Moore, the man she once loved. The man she ran from. But when life in LA begins to feel unsafe, she retreats back to the small town she knows. The same place where Ethan’s also returned. And he’s more of everything she remembers—stronger, more protective, and even easier to fall for all over again.

Former Navy SEAL Ethan Moore is home. But Deep River isn’t the town he once knew. People have started going missing—women, specifically. Some tourists, some local. And when the sheriff can’t be bothered to keep their town safe, the mayor—with help from an anonymous benefactor—hires Ethan and his friends to create an elite search and rescue team. That should be his only focus. But the moment he sets eyes on Maggie Sinclair, the woman who broke him years ago, old wounds reopen, and his heart starts to remember what his mind tried to forget.

Ethan never stopped loving Maggie. But he’s not the only one with eyes on her. Danger followed her to Deep River. As a threat closes in, Ethan will do whatever it takes to protect her. Because he’s not just fighting an invisible threat—he’s fighting for a second chance at forever.

©2026 Nyssa Kathryn (P)2026 Blue Nose Publishing, Nyssa Kathryn

second chance, ex-military romance

Small town, second chance with a side of suspense. Maggie returns to town years after breaking Ethan's heart. Ethan and his group of retired Seals are helping to keep their hometown safe. Love the mix of romance and suspense, with a small dose of OW drama

The audiobook is narrated in duet by CJ Bloom and Walker Williams.They are both great narrators.

"You were all the best parts of me."

I was so excited to hear about a new Nyssa Kathryn series because I have enjoyed every single one. Whispers in the Water, book 1 in the new Deep River series, did not disappoint with its second chance romance theme. Who doesn’t love it when he says “I don’t know how not to think about you.” We met former Navy SEAL Ethan Moore in the last book of Ms. Kathryn’s last series (Amber Ridge – go read it now!). He and his former SEAL team have moved to Ethan’s hometown of Deep River to form a search and rescue team because several local women have gone missing. His long-lost love Maggie has also returned home, and it doesn’t take long for them to realize they belong together. Ms. Kathryn is great at weaving a mystery through her small-town romances and this book has more than one and leaves us panting for Book 2. There was great world-building in book 1 as we learned about this new town and its residents and history. I enjoyed the audio production of this book performed by CJ Bloom and new-to-me narrator, Walker Williams. Let me take this moment to talk about the wonderful talent that is CJ Bloom. I adore her narration and performance skills and for this book, she portrays Maggie’s deep-seated insecurities from a painful childhood with raw emotion and builds up her strength to the very last page. Walker Williams has a lovely, soothing male narration style and I look forward to listening to more books from him in the future. If I had to find one small nitpick it would be that he has some diction issues that occasionally make a word hard to understand…it’s just a matter of crispness sometimes. Overall, a 5-star read, 4-star performances and 2.5 spicy peppers.

Welcome to Deep River!

Nyssa Kathryn kicks off her Deep River Series with book one, “Whispers in the Water”. This audiobook is performed in duet narration by CJ Bloom and Walker Williams and is a second-chance romantic suspense, filled with history and heart.

Maggie & Ethan were young loves who had a future that dissolved before it was able to truly take flight. Eleven years later they have both returned to Deep River, a chance meet-up rekindling the slow burning embers of love that never truly extinguished. When Maggie starts to piece together some unsettling scenarios that creep around her upon her return (not to mention the missing local women), it gives Deep River that Nyssa Kathryn romantic suspense journey we have grown to love.

CJ Bloom is a healed heroine with her portrayal as Maggie. You will learn of Maggie’s past emotional and psychological trauma due to an overbearing aunt — and CJ tenderly gives her a desperation (as a younger Maggie) and of determination as an older a wiser Maggie. My favorite part of Maggie’s own second chance is that she learned to trust again; CJ gives her a gradual release of that trust in her performanc.

CJ has a voice with so much versatility and believability — she is brilliant in this role.

Ethan is a former love of Maggie’s and former SEAL tuned Search a Rescue (SAR) hero. He takes his role seriously, and retuning to Deep River is a painful reminder of what once was and could never be.

I enjoyed Walker’s performance as Ethan so much — his voice wraps so warmly (and ruggedly) around this protective man. As Ethan reacquaints and folds himself back into Maggie’s world, Walker truly gets to flex that tough guy/soft heart vibe that Ethan is a walking definition of.

Nyssa provides a physical representation of a home that feels so real — Deep River is not an unfamiliar landscape and her characters have connections to Amber Ridge). This narrator casting really drove home the immersive feeling this story gave me — they felt as authentic as the landscape.

Wonderful suspense romance

Whether you read and/or listen to this first story in this new series, you will be engage in the plot from beginning to end.
In this story, we are introduced to a group of former Navy SEALs teammates who have moved to town . Thanks to an anonymous donation to the town, these men have enough money to start a SAR (search and rescue) group. One that is especially needed not only since women have been disappearing for years, and the local sheriff seems to care only about himself and not the town.
This first story belongs to Ethan Moore. Ten years ago he unbeknown to him, he broke the heart of Maggie Sinclair, his then girlfriend,
Between what she witnessed and her cruel and belittling aunt that took her in after Maggie’s mom death, she left town to pursue her own dreams.
Neither forgot the other and now that they are both in town, the feelings resurrect.
But can Maggie trust Ethan? Will she tell Ethan the truth of why she left? How about the stalker that seems to have found her in town?
Meanwhile the mystery of the missing women continue and it seems that Maggie’s life is also in danger.
Once again, this talented author delivers another winner that promises to give us more wonderful stories filled with characters that are perfect in their imperfections and plots that will keep us guessing.
Bringing the story to life in the audio version are CJ Bloom and Walker Williams.
I was entrusted copies of this story. The opinions expressed are solely my own.

Ethan and Maggie!!!

We were briefly introduced to Ethan and Maggie in the Amber Ridge Series and now here in Deep River Falls, we get to watch these two navigate their past into the here and now.

Second chance love is a great beginning for this new series and both Ethan and Maggie will drag you into their world! 10 years in a long time to hold onto a love so strong but they did.

CJ Bloom and Walker Williams does a great job bringing these characters together!

Such a great start to this new series by Nyssa Kathryn but we know she always gives us not only a great book but an incredible series as well!