by Nina Hamilton

Whether our characters are saving the world or surviving the elements, Action & Adventure tends to be a high stakes game. The moment that leaves both the character and reader breathless as we await the outcome of a rope (and character) slipping off a cliff is why I write about the rescue heroes of the emergency services.

My romances, set in Far North Queensland, tend to be grounded in the real world because I continue to be genuinely amazed by the courage that the emergency rescue teams show in their work. When saving lives comes in the job description of men and women, the sexiness isn’t just in the uniform.

Out of respect for the real life protagonists involved in rescues in the area I definitely shy away from depicting real life incidents on the page, However, I do also try to make sure that the scenarios that I create are both plausible and interesting. I regularly read the rescue helicopter updates available through their website and with my mother as part of the volunteer emergency rescue community I often get the behind the scenes stories.

To that end, my brother, a doctor, and my friend Rob, a former lifesaver, often get a call or email late into the night. A few times they’ve laughed and I’ve known I had a little more research to do. Apparently one of the lifesaving techniques I had considered for a scene really, really couldn’t have happened and what I thought was the protocol for cracking a chest wouldn’t have worked out well for anyone… so we work towards the moment where they say,”Yeah that’s cool.”

The best romance is one where both parties are changed by the moment of falling in love and I can’t imagine a more powerful time to do that than in the action of saving a life or in saving each other. The Action & Adventure romance genre is a long established one and millions around the world love a bit of suspense mixed with a love story. Favourites of mine are Nora Roberts Chasing Fire and Linda Howard’s Cover of Night. Looking up Linda’s title just added three more of her backlist to my Kindle’s to be read (again) list. Getting addicted to those thrills is a danger of being a fan of the genre.

What is your favourite romance where the stakes are that much higher?

Hanging, strapped together, ten metres above a sea platform forces a quick intimacy between workmates. For Dr Brigid Adair, dangling from a helicopter wire is an everyday occurrence in her job working for the helicopter rescue crew in North Queensland, Australia.

For former US Army medic Matt Roberts, Australia means a new future; a place to escape from the war zones of his past. Despite his significant wealth, he’s taken a job as an elite helicopter paramedic, wanting to make a positive contribution to his new community.

Matt Roberts knows very well the destruction that romance can reap on a unit, so when he first arrives and sees the gorgeous single doctor, Brigid, assigned to his rescue crew, he’s nervous. Very nervous.

Dr Brigid Adair is going to need more than just her medical training to lead Matt back from his self-imposed isolation. High-pressure situations hovering over some of Australia’s deadliest land and sea and the ignition of a passionate flame might just do the trick.

Opposites attract in this medical romantic suspense set in the high adrenalin world of the Cairns Rescue Helicopter team.

English surgeon Andrew Wentworth left behind a successful career and a failed engagement to join the Cairns Rescue Helicopter team, but it’s not shaping up to be the rejuvenating working holiday he expected.

Rescue paramedic Kate Spears is used to proving herself in a man’s world, so informing the handsome surgeon that all his orders now come from her is deliciously satisfying. But she soon finds that Andrew cannot only take everything she throws at him, he keeps coming back for more.

They couldn’t be more different, from their histories to their personalities to their plans for the future, but the flames between them can’t be ignored. And, in the close quarters of chopper rescue, they’re about to find that there’s no place to hide from love.

We’re giving away one bundle featuring both of Nina’s fabulous Rescue stories. To be in the running, leave a comment, including your email address, telling us your favourite high stakes romance: it could be physical, emotional, or psychological high stakes!