Helena Mathews is a nurse about to overwinter at the South Pole. What a great location for a story. I’ve seen romances, thrillers, spy stories, fantasy and science fiction set at the isolated base. Why not a medical drama? Get set for a passionate love REAWAKENED AT THE SOUTH POLE.
 
Helena’s twin brother Owen had a roommate at the University of Chicago fifteen years ago, when the twins studied there. Helena thought she and handsome Carter Simpson might start a relationship, but it was not to be. When Helena arrives at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station as a replacement for an accidentally injured nurse (this would be where the thriller featured an ominous trail of accidents), Dr. Carter Simpson is the other medical staffer. He dropped out of sight and is on his third overwinter rotation in the Antarctic. Well, they have nine months to await the next possible ship and air transport, so they had better get used to each other.
 
Helena has grown up a lot from her over-protective parents’ dutiful little daughter. She may still be small, but she’s been a combat medic in the Middle East, and has the scars to prove it. Carter also has a story, but it’s not nearly so impressive, quite self-absorbed in fact. I wasn’t at all sure he deserved someone as brave as Helena. Still, he’s doing the Antarctic thing. That’s impressive.
 
While the male-female roles are the same as in many other medical romances, it’s notable that the pair carry out much the same work and responsibilities, with no controlling behaviour by the doctor. This is pretty wise, as if he gets sick, there is only one person to treat him. Helena also gets to write up a research paper alone. The isolation of the base is a major factor in the story.
 
What I don’t like is that having arrived, and helped treat an accidental injury, at no time does Helena step outside again. I’d like her to feel the air, see the temperature drop, note how the sun doesn’t rise all day, and experience the wind chill on her day’s hike. Because who goes to Antarctica to sit in a hut? Author Juliette Hyland provides more conversation about Chicago than about the actual setting. REAWAKENED AT THE SOUTH POLE goes onto my Antarctica shelf, but it might equally have taken place on a ship at sea. Try this unusual romance for yourself and decide if you could survive the winter.