Angel of Mercy

She had her entire life planned until the Great War began and everything changed.

April 1914.  Barrie, Ontario.  Hettie Steward is feisty, educated, ambitious and stubborn.  Her fiancé, Geoffrey Bartlette, the love of her life since childhood, has been a patient man.  He waited while she attended nursing school and worked a year, but now it is time to wed.  While Hettie is thrilled to be starting her life with Geoffrey, she laments that marriage means sacrificing her beloved nursing career, and domestic life brings her nothing but drudgery and boredom.

When the Great War begins a few months into their marriage, Geoffrey enlists and persuades Hettie to join the Canadian Army Nursing Service and follow him overseas.  After all, everyone says the war will be short, and it will be their opportunity to have a proper honeymoon.  Returning to work is exactly what Hettie was craving, and she eager accepts.

The war, however, does not end quickly.  Soon tragedy strikes, proving true the old adage "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it."  Geoffrey is killed at the Second Battle of Ypres, and Hettie is faced with a choice.  Return home or stay in Europe and continue nursing?  Moreover, will she discover the person she is meant to be now that her life has been steered onto a new path?

Angel of Mercy is the first in a trilogy following Hettie and her family as they navigate the challenges and heartbreak World War 1 brings. Each novel is a standalone story.

Also available: Those Left Behind, the home front story. Adjustment Year, the homecoming story.

Praise for Angel of Mercy:

"In Angel Of Mercy, we step off the battlefield to the place that those injured men go to either be healed or to die. We see the horrors of war through the eyes of the young nurses who also thought that their stay would be short with a chance for adventure or to meet the loves of their lives. It's a side of war that we often fail to see or look into. I think it's definitely a book that history and romance fiction lovers will enjoy." – Tiffany Ferrell for Readers' Favorite

"Melina creates a very fast moving plot which keeps us riveted throughout the book. I enjoyed the tight pace of Melina's book, the conversations of the people in the book and the picturesque descriptions of those bygone times and places." – Orla Connors for Zavesti