Nicole Flockton is another author I’ve been reading in the lead up to the Romance Writers of Australia conference. I’m glad I found Nicole’s work, as Rescuing Dawn is the second in a series (that can be read entirely successfully as a standalone) that is set in my home town of Perth. Another bonus is that it has a medical theme (love these types of books) and that’s pretty realistic. (I say not 100% realistic because as part of my research for this review, I strolled past an ambulance bay and nobody looked as hot as the hero, Andrew)!

Rescuing Dawn is a romance set in the Emergency Department of a major tertiary hospital in Perth (no name is specified, but I’ve got my suspicions!). Dawn is a nurse on permanent night shift – she’s locked herself into her grief after the death of her husband and son. One night she meets a new paramedic delivering a patient – her first love, Andrew. Andrew (or ‘Drew’) left Dawn broken-hearted after deciding to travel the world. Now he’s back and he really wants to rekindle his friendship (and hopefully more) with Dawn. Drawing her out of her shell is one step forward and two steps back at times, but Andrew is nursing his own misery. Will they ever get it together?

The focus of the book is the relationship between Dawn and Andrew. There’s not a great deal of focus on the medicine (good if you’re squeamish) but there was enough to make me happy. Australian readers might notice that some terms are more American (e.g. Emergency Room vs. Emergency Department vs. A&E) – I presume that’s to reach a wider audience. Flockton also does an excellent job of selling Perth to the reader (especially the café near the hospital – I want to know its name!) and the Margaret River region. I loved the instant familiarity of this book – so much so I know I’ll be looking for Andrew as I walk past ambulance bays for some time…

Emotions run high in this book – Dawn’s grief is dealt with in a careful, sensitive way as is the building of her relationship with Andrew. Andrew’s demons are a little more in the background, but the way he deals with things is in a completely different way to Dawn. It was interesting to compare the two.

Andrew is a great hero – he’s funny, sensitive with just a hint of sadness about him. I loved his determination to get to know Dawn again and his sensitivity – almost intuition – as to what Dawn was feeling. Dawn, due to the way she had walled herself off from life, is a little more difficult to get to know. Once you know her reasons for being the way she is, it’s a lot easier to understand her fear (although sometimes the way she would withdraw was frustrating!).

A sweet romance with a fantastic hero. Perhaps one day I’ll spy my Andrew washing down his ambulance…

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