Review: Emergency Response by Nicki Edwards

Enjoyable Australian Medical Romance

Amazon Description

Intensive care nurse Mackenzie Jones is no stranger to running. As a teenager she fled her family home, leaving tragedy and loss in her wake. Now, after fifteen years alone in Sydney, with the strain of working in a city hospital wearing her thin, she's tempted to run again.

Mackenzie jumps at the chance to work in a mining town in the Western Australian desert – anything to lift her spirits. Though she barely dares to hope, she wonders if she might find the kind of love that can ease her loneliness.

In the outback, Nathan Kennedy is at a loose end. He's been making money in the mines for years, and pressure from his family to return to the east coast, settle down and get married is reaching fever pitch. The problem is, he hasn't met the right woman.

When Mackenzie turns up in town, there's an instant attraction between her and Nathan, maybe even true love. But tragedy's not done with Mackenzie Jones – the past is about to catch up with her in more ways than one.

Can Nathan convince Mackenzie to stop running, or is this just another tragedy in the making?

My Review

Mackenzie Jones meets the handsome Nathan Kennedy at a wedding, then finds herself on the other side of the country, but working in the same tiny rural town as Nathan. They start seeing each other, but the relationship is cut short when Mackenzie is called back home—her estranged father is dying, and as the oldest child, the unattached child, and the nurse in the family, he becomes her unwelcome responsibility.

The writing was very good. There were some intentionally humorous lines (“she’s got a better backside than Pippa Middleton”) and some I found funny even though they weren’t intended to be (“she had a strong New Zealand accent”. Really. Have these Aussies ever listened to themselves?).

And one part of the story was unexpectedly poignant—a visit to the degazettted town of Wittenoom, site of the blue asbestos mine made famous (to me, at least) by Midnight Oil and their song, Blue Sky Mining. That’s not for the faint-hearted.



Although Nicki Edwards is a Christian, Emergency Response isn’t Christian fiction. This means there is some content you wouldn’t normally see in a Christian novel (e.g. consumption of alcohol), but it is still classified as a “clean read”. Well, except for the blood. But I guess a little blood is to be expected with a medical romance set in rural Australia. Recommended. As long as you don’t mind the blood.

Thanks to Momentum Books and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.