With my history as an EMT and volunteer firefighter is a small New Hampshire community, SHIVER is a story that was easy to write. Living in the White Mountains of New Hampshire nears rivers, granite cliffs, hunting trails, and waterfalls, my setting just popped into my head. We have even had a few murders in the area, since the woods are a great dumping ground, so writing a thriller was a natural choice. Setting it in a town with a college similar to where I went to school was also a blast.
I was a 911 Emergency Medical Dispatcher before I ‘retired’ in order to write full time. My medical knowledge, especially about winter emergencies, has also come in handy while writing SHIVER, and I would like to share some information. Winter is upon us, and if you live where the temperature drops below freezing, these tips could help.
Let’s talk about Hypothermia, a condition in which the body’s core temperature drops below that required for normal metabolism and body functions. Symptoms include shivering and mental confusion, which I mention in my story. In severe hypothermia, there may be paradoxical undressing, where a person removes their clothing. A victim’s heart could stop, as well.
So what can you to help a victim, as my character, Jacob, helps Destiny? If possible, give the person warm drinks. In an ambulance or in a hospital setting, heat packs and warm IV fluids are used. Warm DRY clothing is important, and the victim should stay active, even if they want to lie down and sleep. If a victim goes into cardiac arrest, CPR is advised until the patient is warm. There is a saying among rescue workers that a winter weather victim is not considered dead until they are WARM AND DEAD. Morbid, but true. Is it any wonder hubby and I moved to the South?
SHIVER Book Blurb
In a quirky college town surrounded by the mountains of New Hampshire new art history professor, Jacob Oliver, hikes a trail on a crisp September morning. He contemplates his life. Divorced and forced out of his job with the Boston Police due to a horrific accident, he spots a naked woman beneath a majestic waterfall. Escaping, he falls and reinjures his knee.
Destiny Blake hears a noise. Someone is on her mountain. She finds a handsome man sitting in the mud. Love blooms and lust consumes them after she helps him to the safety of her cabin. Soon, assumptions pull them apart, leaving her vulnerable to the unwanted attentions of other men.
When Jacob decides he cannot live without her, he must save her from a madman who chases her up her mountain through the cold, snowy darkness of a November night. Ghostly voices push Jacob onward, and urge Destiny to fight back. Pain, hypothermia, and death threaten before the sun rises. Can Destiny and Jacob make it off Destiny’s mountain…alive?
An Excerpt from SHIVER
If I can’t see my stalker coming, then the jerk can’t see me.
Holding her breath, Destiny cocked her head and listened to the dark, filled with the crackling of snapping twigs amid something shuffling through dead leaves.
A light blanket of crunchy snow coated the trail, which added to the bitter cold of a moonless sky. At least a partial moon would have given her a chance to see the man chasing her. Her only advantage over her hunter was that she knew this mountain better. Every twist and turn, every rock and gorge was imprinted in her brain. This was her home, not his.
Gathering her wits, she was sure she had not yet passed her favorite waterfall. Opportunity Falls lay off a side trail, near the top, but offered no caves or overhangs in its cliffs, in which to hide.
If it wasn’t winter, she’d be able to hide inside the pool or even behind the foaming falling waters, but its water would have slowed to a trickle, and the pool was either dangerously cold or frozen over. The last thing she needed was to get any wetter.
Falling snow saturated her jeans even though she continued to brush it off. Her palms were damp from wiping snow from her bare head and face. She was freezing up fast.
Where Can Readers Buy SHIVER?
Print ISBN-13: 978-1502558725
EBook ISBN: 9781310538964
eBooks:
PRINT Books:
More About Nancy Lee Badger
After growing up in Huntington, New York, this Award-winning author attended college, married, and raised two sons in a small town in the shadow of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. She was an EMT and volunteer firefighter for a small NH town. After nearly a decade as an Emergency Medical Dispatcher for the State of NH 9-1-1 service, Nancy moved to North Carolina where she writes full-time. She still heads to the white Mountains each fall to volunteer at the NH Highland Games & Scottish Festival. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, the Celtic Heart Romance Writers, and the Triangle Area Freelancers.
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GIVEAWAY!
One winner will Receive a
Login Locker ® Emergency Info Card
This magnetic card folds open to
List medical conditions; medications;
emergency contacts; etc.
WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN JANUARY 1st
Thank you, Cynthia, for hosting me again. I am thrilled to release SHIVER in both ebook and print while imparting a bit of emergency info.
What a great post! I’ve heard of children who’s body temperature was still low enough that they were brought back to life without damage!
Children have a better chance of surviving hypothermia. The cold can also injure by causing frostbite that leads to finger, toe, or nose amputations. So…button up! Thanks for stopping by!