By: Amanda Heger
Releasing April 19, 2016
Diversion Books
Diversion Books
For Annie London, a month in a Central American rainforest means handing out mosquito nets, giving medical aid, and teaching children about the birds and the bees. With any luck, it will also land her application in the “accepted” pile at a top tier medical school. But as soon as she steps off the plane, Annie realizes her bug spray, feeble Spanish, and medical supplies won’t help her deal with her new feelings for Felipe—her best friend's older brother, who's much hotter than she remembers, and who also happens to be the doctor in charge of the trip.
Gawking “volun-tourists” may keep his family’s medical clinic afloat, but Dr. Felipe Gutierrez doesn’t have to like them. Or the way they make snap judgments about his practice and the people he cares for. But when his old crush, Annie, shows up to volunteer, her killer curves and kind smile fan the embers of a flame Felipe didn’t realize he’d been carrying. A flame that makes him question all his preconceived notions.
As ideas and cultures clash, Annie and Felipe must decide how far outside their comfort zones they are willing to go—both for their work and for one another.
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The girl strained and cried out, and it took everything Annie had to keep her upright. Felipe and the midwife swapped positions with every contraction, taking turns at easing the infant into the world. But with every push, Felipe’s face darkened and the midwife’s voice grew shriller as she half cried, half encouraged her daughter.
Annie had no idea how long it had been since they’d arrived in this dim hut, but every second that passed with those arms and legs dangling outside the womb made her heart ache.
In a rare moment between contractions, Felipe and the midwife began arguing. They pointed and stomped and shook their hands as the words flew between them.
Angela sagged in Annie’s arms, pale and sweaty.
“What’s going on?” Annie asked.
For a moment, the arguing stopped and they both stared silently at Annie.
The girl’s mother pointed and nodded at her, shrieking in Spanish, but Annie didn’t understand a word of it.
Felipe held up a hand. “We are having some trouble delivering the baby’s head.”
The midwife yelled and pointed again, and before Annie could ask what she was saying, the woman stood and nudged her out of the way with her rotund mid-section. She looped her arms through Angela’s and took the girl’s weight.
Annie stumbled, her muscles too tired to change position. She squeaked to something that resembled standing, but her back refused to straighten. Felipe looked at her, eyes flashing with fear.
“We need you to deliver the baby,” he said.
Without Borders, a Wanderlust novel. The title alone made me sit up and take notice before diving into this refreshingly, captivating YA novel.
Armed with barely adequate Spanish language skills and a model of a vagina for the sex-ed classes she'll teach, Annie London heads off to Nicaragua to gain the necessary experience to pad out her application to Brown University Medical School. She'll accompany a medical brigade as they travel to remote villages in the jungle to treat and educate the locals. She's excited to reunite with her best friend Marisol and her older brother Filipe, who she crushed over as a teen, only now he's a sexy looking doctor and the one leading the expedition!
Dr. Felipe Gutierrez is frustrated. His mother who runs the Ahora medical clinic where he works allows donation voluntary/tourists from American to accompany him and his team on the medical brigades. They're mostly a burden and he's sick of their criticism and whiny attitudes. He doesn't expect anything less on this next trip, yet the girl he's fantasised about since meeting her during his year-long stay in the US will be on this trip. Only now she's all grown up with a killer curves!
The tension, sexual and otherwise is palpable between the protagonists as they deal and cope with restrictions of living rough as they travel through the jungle to set up makeshift clinics in remote villages. Some of their cases are not for the faint-hearted and I loved the gritty, no holds barred storytelling. I empathised through their cultural clashes and cringed at Annie's naivety of some of the situations, yet she's far from a dead weight on the brigade and is more than capable of holding her own. Felipe's compassion and dedication to the brigades are heartfelt. These arduous trips help him maintain a link between himself and his late biological mother's family. Annie may be on the trip for her own personal gains, yet she's able to offer viable ideas on how Felipe can strengthen his ties to the region, making him sit up and take notice, so he realises that not all 'Americana' are alike!
The supporting characters are fun and likeable too, adding hilarity and witty dialogue to the story. As a début novel, I'm impressed with Ms. Heger's writing style and more than eager to read future books by her.
***arc generously received courtesy of Diversion Publishing via NetGalley***
Armed with barely adequate Spanish language skills and a model of a vagina for the sex-ed classes she'll teach, Annie London heads off to Nicaragua to gain the necessary experience to pad out her application to Brown University Medical School. She'll accompany a medical brigade as they travel to remote villages in the jungle to treat and educate the locals. She's excited to reunite with her best friend Marisol and her older brother Filipe, who she crushed over as a teen, only now he's a sexy looking doctor and the one leading the expedition!
Dr. Felipe Gutierrez is frustrated. His mother who runs the Ahora medical clinic where he works allows donation voluntary/tourists from American to accompany him and his team on the medical brigades. They're mostly a burden and he's sick of their criticism and whiny attitudes. He doesn't expect anything less on this next trip, yet the girl he's fantasised about since meeting her during his year-long stay in the US will be on this trip. Only now she's all grown up with a killer curves!
The tension, sexual and otherwise is palpable between the protagonists as they deal and cope with restrictions of living rough as they travel through the jungle to set up makeshift clinics in remote villages. Some of their cases are not for the faint-hearted and I loved the gritty, no holds barred storytelling. I empathised through their cultural clashes and cringed at Annie's naivety of some of the situations, yet she's far from a dead weight on the brigade and is more than capable of holding her own. Felipe's compassion and dedication to the brigades are heartfelt. These arduous trips help him maintain a link between himself and his late biological mother's family. Annie may be on the trip for her own personal gains, yet she's able to offer viable ideas on how Felipe can strengthen his ties to the region, making him sit up and take notice, so he realises that not all 'Americana' are alike!
The supporting characters are fun and likeable too, adding hilarity and witty dialogue to the story. As a début novel, I'm impressed with Ms. Heger's writing style and more than eager to read future books by her.
***arc generously received courtesy of Diversion Publishing via NetGalley***
Her debut romance, Without Borders, is forthcoming from Diversion Books. The story was inspired by the summer Amanda spent in rural Nicaragua, eating gallo pinto, speaking mangled Spanish, and showing high school students how to slide condoms onto over-sized plantains.
Her stories are represented by Jessica Watterson of the Dijkstra Literary Agency.
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