I’m so frustrated that I haven’t been able to review for this Brook Cottage Books tour for The Long Walk Back by Rachel Dove but my towering TBR pile just wouldn’t allow it. However, I do have an extract from The Long Walk Back to share as well as a giveaway of a signed copy so all is not lost!

Published by HQ Digital on 11th January 2018 The Long Walk Back is available for purchase from Amazon UK, Kobo and Barnes & Noble. 

The Long Walk Back

Does everyone deserve a second chance?

As an army trauma surgeon Kate knows how to keep her cool in the most high pressure of situations. Although back at home in England her marriage is falling apart, out in the desert she’s happy knowing that she’s saving lives.

Until she meets Cooper. It’s up to Kate to make a split-second decision to save Cooper’s life. Yet Cooper doesn’t want to be saved. Can Kate convince him to give his life a second chance even though its turning out dramatically different from how he planned?

An Extract from The Long Walk Back

Kate was in a real mood; Trevor could tell from the way she pounded across the tent to him. He was doing his rounds, and they had had a good night. A good night here was when they still had the same number alive as the day before. A great day was when there were no casualties at all, but Trevor was hard pushed to remember many days like that.

‘Who’s upset you? Neil whingeing about doing the dishwasher again, is he?’ Trevor asked, and immediately regretted cracking the joke when the icicles from Kate’s frosty glare jabbed him in the chest.

‘Captain Cooper thinks he is hilarious. I’m just waiting for him to call me ‘toots’ and slap me on the behind,’ Kate said, seething. Trevor checked the vitals on his sleeping patient, and satisfied, made notes on his chart.

‘So he’s awake? That’s amazing! How is he doing?’

‘Oh he’s doing just fine, for a male chauvinist pig.’

Kate,’ Trevor admonished, trying not to laugh at her furious expression. ‘How are his vitals?’

Kate pursed her lips, taking a breath to focus on the job. ‘He’s stable, the chest drain is working well. I’m still concerned about his leg though. He has limited blood flow to the area, and I’ m worried about sepsis.’

Trevor nodded sadly. ‘So he will probably lose the leg, if we try to keep him alive.’ He rubbed at his temples. ‘Not told him any of this, have you?’

Kate shook her head. ‘I told him you would explain on this morning’s ward round. I wanted to go through everything again, monitor him closely for as long as we safely can before we make a decision.’

Trevor looked at her, his face unreadable. ‘It may not be our decision, it’s up to him.’

Kate looked nonplussed. ‘The evac chopper is coming in two days. At present, he’s too unstable to move. We need to get him home then, leg or no leg. A decision between losing a limb and dying is not a great thing to have thrust at you, granted – but he wants to live, surely?’

Trevor placed the chart at the foot of the bed and started to walk towards the next patient, issuing medication instructions to the nurse as he walked.

‘Kate,’ he began in a tone he might have used to tell his child that Father Christmas wasn’t real. ‘I have worked on men like Captain Cooper since this whole nightmare started. These are army men to the core. Sometimes going home means no family, no buddies, no job, and a lifetime of relying on other people. They are proud, and sometimes, to them, the reality is worse than death. Don’t take anything for granted when it comes to patient wishes.’

‘A boy died yesterday, to save these men. Surely that’s reason enough to want to live?’

Kate ran her fingers through her hair, suddenly feeling tired all over again.

‘Cooper knows that. Better than most, probably. It’s still his decision, he has to live with it. Understood?’ Trevor spoke firmly now.

Kate opened her mouth to argue, but she thought better of it. She respected her mentor, always had, and she didn’t want to argue. Not when the fact that life was so short and precious was evident in every face, every feature she saw over here. ‘Understood.’

About Rachel Dove

Rachel Dove is a wife, mother of two boys, perpetual student, avid reader and writer of words. She sometimes sleeps, says she always has eye bags and dreams of retiring to a big white house in Cornwall, with 2 shaggy dogs, drinking wine on her seafront balcony whilst creating works of romantic fiction. All done with immaculate make up and floaty dresses.

In the meantime Rachel nearly always remembers to brush her hair, seldom has time to look in a mirror and writes many, many to-do lists.

Rachel’s first solo novel, Crossing Life Lines is out now in Kindle and paperback format. She also has horror shorts, published through Bayou Brew Publishing: The House of Sugar Blood and Uni Assassin, out now, and a short story, Mallow Girl.

In July 2015, Rachel won the Prima magazine and Mills & Boon Flirty Fiction Competition, with her entry, The Chic Boutique on Baker Street, out now in ebook and paperback, and the follow up novel in the series, The Flower Shop on Foxley Street.

You can follow Rachel on Twitter @WriterDove, find her on Facebook and visit her blog.

The Long Walk Back Giveaway

For your chance to win a signed paperback copy of The Long Walk Back by Rachel Dove please click here.

(Please note: this giveaway is independent of Linda’s Book Bag.)