Rescue by Anita Shreve

The car crash should have killed her.

But rookie paramedic Peter Webster takes the emergency call, and helps the young woman, Sheila Arsenault, to survive. After the accident, she haunts his thoughts, despite his misgivings about getting involved with a patient. Soon he is embroiled in an intense love affair and in Sheila’s troubled life.

Eighteen years later, Sheila is long gone and Peter is raising their daughter, Rowan, alone. But Rowan is veering dangerously off course, and for the first time in their quiet life together, Peter fears for her future. He seeks out the only person who may be able to help her, although Sheila’s return is sure to unleash all the questions he has been carefully keeping at bay: why would a mother leave her family? How did the marriage of two people deeply in love unravel?

The story is set in a small town called Hartstone, a town where everyone knows each other. Webster works as an EMT and one night on duty he meets Shelia, a drunk driver who has totaled her car on the side on the 42.

I instantly loved Webster; he’s straight as an arrow, lived in Hartsone all his life, and has no dreams to move away to a bigger city. He falls blindly in love with Shelia, who isn’t a particularly likeable character.  I found it hard to stay interested in the characters lives as they weren’t well developed or explored. Shelia drinks too much but we never really find out why.  I would like to have found out more about Shelia, about why she drinks, more about her past, and the reasons why their love affair blossomed in the first place. Why did Webster fall for this stranger?

I enjoyed reading about Webster’s life before and after Shelia left. He is an extremely likeable guy. He is a hard worker, he loves Shelia, and he adores his daughter.  The relationship between him and Rowan seems real but again, it’s not well developed. We never really get to understand why Rowan is acting out.

Overall it was a nice read, it has romance, it certainly has some exciting, fast paced scenes and I would recommend reading this book purely for Webster :) Rating: 3/5

Two Words: Interesting but Weak