A verdant forest, a chaotic emergency room, a roaring Formula 1 raceway…these settings may not be what comes to mind when one thinks of romance, but they’re the colorful backdrops for these recent swoonworthy Indie love stories.
A good man is hard to find; perhaps that’s why Jane Armstrong, the aging protagonist of D.J. Abear’s The Heart in the Forest, falls for the solicitous sasquatch who rescues her after she suffers an accident in the woods. He greets Jane with a hearty “SAFE!” This unusual opening gambit puts the grieving widow at ease (pickup artists, take note). As the two get to know each other, they notice that they have some things in common, like an appreciation for the poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley. (This is surprising, as Bigfoot seems more like an Ogden Nash kind of guy.) Jane and Oomin, as he is called (almost “human”?), have also both lost mates and are facing old age; finding a soul connection only gets more difficult in the twilight years, and the sylvan sweethearts decide not to let a few extra pounds of body hair come between them. Our reviewer notes the novel’s skillful combination of “compassion, humor, and a dash of suspense”—it’s never easy, is it?
Out of the trees and into the weeds of a 1970s-era emergency room: Rachel Callaghan’s novel Pain Killers follows the travails of Mary Grace Kelly, a young nurse with family issues who overcomes her initial trepidation to embark upon a relationship with brash, arrogant physician David Korn (one assumes his abrasive manner is a defense mechanism stemming from being professionally known as “Dr. Korn”). Mary Grace and David find their burgeoning romance threatened by the ghosts of Mary Grace’s traumatic past as a reckoning with her abusive father looms. Our reviewer notes the effectiveness of the hospital setting, which provides “great opportunities for gallows humor and hint[s] at the social issues medical workers face.” The inherent stakes of medical drama can significantly heighten a love story’s impact (just ask Meredith Grey), and readers will melt as these healers make their own emotional recoveries.
There are few venues more fast-paced and high-stress than a hospital ER, but one that qualifies is a Formula 1 racetrack. That’s the setting for A.G. Starling’s Checkered Hearts, an enemies-to-lovers tale full of hairpin turns and heart-stopping reversals. Rocco Vittori is a fading star of the circuit struggling to reclaim the pole position; Nico Angelini is a fiery young talent determined to prove that a woman can rise to the top of a profession overwhelmingly dominated by men. Sparks fly between the hotheaded rivals as they find themselves on the same team; the two share a passion for speed—as well as scars from past traumas—but can they reconcile their tender feelings with their fierce dedication to being first across the finish line? Spicy dialogue (“Doesn’t Rocco mean dick in Italian?”) and simmering sexual tension fuel this high-octane romance, praised by our reviewer for its “deft portrayal of ambition, its exploration of gender dynamics in male-dominated spaces, and its examination of the redemptive power of trust.”
Arthur Smith is an Indie editor.
