For me…it’s all in the rescue…
If you’re anything like me, then you like your heroes strong, courageous under fire, understanding of self-sacrifice and motivated by the challenge of a metaphorical or actual rescue mission. They can be un-sung or have jobs that put them in the traditional hero role but between you and me—I also love a little (okay, a lot) sexy, confident, and laid-back! They kind of fall harder when they don’t even see it coming, don’t you think?!
But along with all this deliciousness, we do actually need the heroine (who I also like to be strong and courageous under fire etc.) to be able to relate to our hero, right? That’s why it’s imperative for the hero to also be fabulously human, with flaws and imperfections just like the rest of us.
Because then it’s all in the rescue…!
Meet the hero, aka knight-in-shining-armour, from The Love List : Ethan Love.
He walked onto my page with all of the above qualities. And he’s very sexy, confident and laid-back. But don’t mistake that laid-back approach to be right at his core because inside he’s all: I am not the person who needs rescuing—I am the person that does the rescuing!
Except, for a disaster relief worker haunted by his last deployment…he kind of needs *holds forefinger and thumb scant millimetres apart* a tiny bit of rescuing.
That’s where the heroine, aka workaholic Nora King, comes in. She’s all: I do not need rescuing! But despite her determination to prove she’s professional and completely in-control at all times, Ethan has seen enough in his work to recognise this. Because for a workaholic trying desperately to keep the gigantic knot of grief over losing her father deep, deep (did I mention deep) down inside her so that she can keep the beloved family business going, it’s obvious to Ethan she needs someone to bounce her out of her self-imposed suspended state of animation and help her come to terms with her loss.
For Ethan, Nora is the perfect “rescue mission” distraction. But will he get to deploy his laid-back sexy charm to divide and conquer Nora’s wall of defence, all in the name of rescuing her from herself? Or will Nora’s ability to knock him breathless and steel beneath his own protective layers distract him from his rescue mission and have him giving up a few secrets of his own?
Neither is accidentally super-gluing her shoe to her hand right before the biggest presentation of her life! With all the hard work she’d put into securing the family business after her father’s death, Nora has no choice but to accept help from a knight in shining armour.
Disaster relief worker, Ethan Love, is still haunted by his last deployment, and desperate for distraction. He’s in town to ask Nora for a major favour, and swooping in to save her presentation is a sure way to get her on side.
As Ethan sticks around and helps Nora through her grief, her barriers tumble down…but will she dare to swap her To Do lists for a How to Fall in Love list?
And if you would like a quick glimpse of the lovely book itself, I've left you a couple of tasters below. Enjoy...
God, he was tired. The insomnia was getting really bad. But he’d deal with it. No need to make it complicated. No need to dwell.
Angling his head toward the door he went with the job he hoped he would still have after the report was submitted, rather than the job title stamped on his passport. ‘I work for a charity that organises disaster relief. I go to whichever disaster zone I’m deployed to and help provide shelter, water, food, etc.’
Silence.
He wished he could see her reaction. He was willing to bet she was standing on the other side of the door with a sexy little ‘v’ etched into her un-Botoxed forehead, her tempting mouth dropping open slightly in shock.
‘And you’ve come back recently?’ she asked.
‘Via a quick stopover to see my brother, yes.’
‘Where is it you’ve been?
Ethan blew out a breath. ‘Northern Italy.’
‘Where the earthquake was?’
‘Yeah.’ Ethan deliberately kept his eyes open to stop the memories flashing before his eyes.
Even with the business-as-usual façade she wore, he could see the struggle she was trying to survive underneath. How she couldn’t quite hide the fact that grief had stripped her bare and she didn’t know what to do about it. He’d seen that same hollowed-out shocked look on people’s faces when their worlds had exploded and they’d been left to try and rebuild what they could.