GRR Reviews Fierce Sam by Natalie Ann

Surgeon Sam Fierce chose early on to close his heart to serious entanglements, knowing that he will fail at times, through no fault of his own, and it is better to not get too attached. So he acts carefree and charming, and women flock to him. // Dani lost her little sister and she still felt guilty a decade later, even though it was a car accident. She went through a wild rebellious phase, but she's done with that now. // When Dani met Sam (through his mother's scheming), there is an attraction, but he won't get close to anyone, and she still feels guilty... can they work past their wounds, and toward each other?

I don't get the part about closing oneself off yet still be compassionate. That sort of cognitive dissonance manifests itself in mental stress, and being a surgeon is stressful enough. It just feels like a VERY amateur psychological profile that doesn't make sense. Survivor's guilt, I do get. The rest of plotting and the back-and-forth is pretty good. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews It's a Wonderful Date by Sophia Summers

David regrets giving up his own plans and became the GP doc of a small town, following in his father's footsteps. The town needs a doc, and without the help of a nurse or even an answering service, he's on call 24/7, leaving him no time for social life.  But even he noticed Sarah moving in across the street, doubly so when he found her at his favorite patient Miss Lily's place, ready to redesign the interior. But Miss Lilly is dying and all he can do is to make sure she goes as pain-free as possible. Depressed and wondering did he actually do any good in life, it's up to Sarah to help him see his own worth... and some Holiday magic...

Basically a retelling of "It's a Wonderful Life", it's not bad, but not that good either. 3.5/5

GRR Reviews Best Friend's Boyfriend by Victoria Snow

Poppy, a plus-sized model, is branching into clothing design, with support of her best friend and roommate, (and rich heiress) Thalia. Poppy also felt a connection to Dr. Nate, but Thalia claimed Nate as her boyfriend... They seem to match better on paper as their families knew each other and they are both rich already. Both they were not in love... They just stay together because of family expectations. Nate's attraction to Poppy can't be denied, esp. when their one-time hookup resulted in a surprise that will come due 9 months later...

While the reluctance of roommate / business partner / best friend's boyfriend stealing is a trope, the setup for emotional turmoil is actually quite good. 4/5

GRR Reviews Irresistibly Tough by Victoria Pinder

Billionaire physician Oliver Bentley can't believe his entire family was arrested for alleged scam and to get himself out, he just needed to marry someone. And he needs to get out because his mother needs treatment. He was even more surprised when his intended bride was none other than the one that got away... His former girlfriend, Rachel. But Rachel has a huge secret... She bore him a son five years ago and never told him. Now, married to Oliver, she has to decide whether to divorce him in 30 days and be safe... Or risk it all for forever...

Not feeling much for this one, as this one relies more on plot than the characters. There's only so much a doctor and the secret baby tropes can advance the plot. The rest is basically enemies attack and attack, and suddenly came up with a different attack, only for the good guys to save the day. 3/5

GRR Reviews Now and Forever by Mona Ingram

Jenna is homeless, through no fault of her own. Her "fiancee" stole everything from her, every penny from her accounts, all her photography equipment, and left her months behind on the rent and other bills. She had to sleep in her car. And with no job and no equipment, she had no way to make a living... Then she found a cute boy named Danny had stowed away in her car... // Brett is a surgeon that worked hard to create the perfect family, but things fell apart through no fault of his own. His wife died, taking a secret with her. His son Danny was supposed to be with a housekeeper, but when he found the house empty, and a message informing him that the replacement housekeeper fell through, he started to panic... Just then Jenna drove up to their house with Danny. // Jenna can see the concern in Brett's eyes, but he clearly doesn't know how to show it. When Brett, in desperation, and saw how well Jenna connected with Danny, offered her the housekeeper position... She can't turn it down...

Not the first novel with the plot "down and out woman rescues kid, ended up as nanny and won over single father" but this was very well polished with ZERO cursing and ZERO sex, just a lot of unsaid emotional angst. 4.5/5

GRR Reviews Cooking with the Doc by Jennifer Youngblood and Craig Depew MD

Sam was the sole survivor of his unit from a suicide bomber attack at his field hospital in Afghanistan. He found a quaint small town called Clementine, Alabama, to just be a doctor in, hoping his emotional and physical scars will heal in time. // Harper runs the only restaurant in town and she dares say it's the best restaurant in a hundred miles. Life is perfect except for her nemesis, the real estate agent Pepper, who managed to steal her boyfriend. When Sam, the new town doc, was paraded about town by the mayor and had lunch at Harper's restaurant, Harper felt a connection she never had before. But she's wary of betrayal based on her own experiences, even as Sam wanted to woo her. But Pepper also has Sam in her sights...

Have a bit of a nitpick about the setup, as the suicide bomber attack at the hospital was described in detail. My problem with the setup was... the TOTAL LACK OF TRUST in the senior doctor (Sam), who managed to tackle the suicide bomber. Then someone thinking he went bonkers, wrestled him out of the way to the door, which obviously gave the bomber chance to "pull the trigger", but also why he survived the blast. NOBODY realized it was a setup?  Nobody trusted him that he knew what he was doing? Which only made it less believable when Sam later was unable to recognize an ambush (of a different sort) by Pepper. 4/5

GRR Reviews Kaleidoscope Hearts by Claire Contreras

Elle is still not over her fiancee's death after a whole year. But she had to sell their house while keep running their art gallery. And that's when Oliver came back...  Elle was almost inseparable from Oliver once... but he left her for medical school, and she, in a fit of anger, accepted the engagement proposal from Wyatt, which just went on and on and on... They never did get married. Now that Oliver is back, Elle had to keep him away, because she can't be heartbroken yet again... But Oliver will not let her get away this time either...

Somehow, Elle just didn't grab my sympathy, despite losing her fiancee of several years. And neither did Oliver, who's alpha and possessive, yet he doesn't really have a right to be. 3/5

GRR Reviews Deserving Darcy by Kiara Cawood

Keon, a doctor in London, had not had a good record with love. He met Darcy 12 years ago and married her soon after. Ten years ago, she wanted out of the marriage. Then nine-months later, her parents showed up with a baby and divorce papers. After that, Keon married Sarah, and Sarah was the only mother his daughter knew. But Sarah got alcoholism and left him to live in New Zealand. Then Darcy ended up in his emergency room... and he found to his shock that Darcy's liver is failing and she's refusing treatment. Keon shouldn't care about the woman who destroyed him and left his daughter motherless, but his plan to leave London behind and move to New Zealand (and near Sarah) is working against him... as he has just FOUR DAYS to find out why Darcy is giving up, and so his daughter would have some memories of Darcy, her birth mom. It's just for closure... right?

Okay, this plot gets a bit confusing with who knew what when, and there are too many characters to keep track of. Yes, there's certainly a LOT of emotional turmoil and angst and guilt and shame and more. And it seems everybody is keeping some secrets from someone. This is one of those books where you end up screaming at the characters "no, don't do that!!!!"  as they do some seriously TSTL moments, even though it's *almost* understandable why they did so. 4/5

GRR Reviews Heather by Chris Keniston

Heather is taking time off from her busy schedule as a top cardiac surgeon to go home to Lawford, where grandpa, retired Marine Corp General Harold Hart lives with his wife Fiona and housekeeper Lucy. Grandpa just didn't sound right... But he's the kind of person that would rather die than see a doctor... not even his own granddaughter can change that... But her return also let her discover the calmer life of small town living... and ex-Marine Jake who may just be the perfect man... if she's staying.

Nice, not extraordinary nice though. The family dynamics are great, and how Jake and Heather slowly got around to talk about what matters to them. 4/5

GRR Reviews Heart of the Billionaire: Sam by J S Scott

Billionaire Sam has only one regret in life: breaking Maddie's heart way back when. Sam and Maddie were lovers in high school, but they never had sex. Maddie thought Sam betrayed her when she saw him kiss another woman. Now Maddie is Dr. Madeline, and her best friend Kara is marrying Sam's brother Simon. (see Billionaire's Obssession) And Sam and Maddie are best man and maid of honor respectively, and they had to be civil to each other. And Sam's protective instincts came back out... He wanted her back, and he'll do anything, including paying for the entire free clinic for Maddie to run, if she'll have him back. And if she wanted to have a child, he'll even bed her until she's pregnant. But what Maddie needed is an answer on WHY he betrayed her back then... and the answer wasn't what she expected...

Uh, problem. If they really were the key to putting some criminals away back then, nobody recognized who they are now and wanted revenge, esp. when they are all rich billionaires? Sam's alpha growling tendencies are annoying, not adorable. And Maddie was so tired, Sam was able to carry her home, into his bed, and she never woke up even once? Hmmm... Some of these scenarios are kinda absurd. At least this wasn't CREEPY like book 1 where Simon basically stalked Kara for a year and rescued her at her lowest. 2.5/5

GRR Reviews Life After Perfect by Nancy Naigle

Katherine thought she had it all... a great job, a luxury car, and a sweet husband who contributes to the family and loves her... despite no immediate plan for kids. Until she witnessed him wine-and-dine and kiss a younger woman... at a time he claimed to be at a meeting. She packed and drove off... and landed in a small town called Boot Creek, NC. There, she can relax among the friendly residents, such as the handsome firefighter/doctor Derek. But she's still raw from the betrayal and shied away from relationships, and he is still grieving after the death of his wife from cancer years ago. Can they heal each other?

Good character growth. The title is especially apt... If Katherine had the perfect life, then what's "life after perfect"? The trope itself was very well executed. While there are no brilliant plot twists, the small town atmosphere and other characters plus overall polish and scars is what made this book great. 4/5/5

GRR Reviews Treasured Grace by Tracie Peterson

Grace is a trail widow. Her husband, a minister, died of cholera on the way to Oregon in the wagon train, but she's still a virgin, as the marriage was arranged for convenience and he was totally devoted to God. Grace was hoping for a fresh start with her two younger sisters after her parents died. She was brought up as a healer and midwifery, and she decided to help the locals, settlers and Indians alike, upon arriving at the Whitman Mission, instead of pushing onto Oregon City, as they had not heard back from their uncle supposedly residing there, despite one of the widowers from the wagon train keep asking for her hand in marriage. She met Alex, one of the fur trappers in the region, and he helped as a translator to help the locals. But an aggressive band of Indians, believing that the local doctor is out to poison them instead of treating them, intended a pogrom. Alex had to keep Grace safe, but can he and his partner Sam save the other two sisters?

While the adventure portions are excellent, the love between the two seems tepid at best. The darkest hour doesn't quite seem to stack up properly. Alex had his own dark past as reason(s) to be roaming the frontier and made friends with Nez Parce, but the story continued on for quite a bit even after he revealed his past to Grace. In fact, the "triangle" barely made sense. The Christian angle was tolerable, if a bit persistent. This is, after all, the frontier. But some of the problems felt... arbitrary. For example, the middle sister had suffered trauma and PTSD. Grace keep trying to console her, and the sister, in a fit of rage, took Grace's bag, containing almost all of their belongings, and threw it into the river. Why the bag just because it's there? It seems this was done almost arbitrarily to force Grace into accepting a loveless marriage later so she can provide for her sisters. It felt wrong. The story then diverged then converged to deal with the sister's PTSD. it felt a bit... clumsy plotting. All in all, 3/5

GRR Reviews Taken by Love by Melissa Foster

Daisy fled Trusty TX and its rumor-mongers, due to her good looks and smart brains. Now a family doctor, she had to return to her hometown when she found her father was injured and can no longer run the family hay farm. She was running the urgent care clinic in town (previous doctor had retired... two years ago) while deciding what to do with her career... She knew many of the patients, the rumormongers that ran her out of town, now parents visiting her with their children... Then the boy she could never forget walked back into town... // Luke was a restless youth, with a reputation for fighting. Now he breeds gypsy horses. He protected Daisy way back when. But he can never love anyone... Until he met Daisy again. It's clear they share a connection, but Daisy may not be staying, and Luke needed to know his own past... before he can have a future.

Okay, much deeper than first suspected, for we get into Luke's "origin story" and what made him into the guy he is today. And small town feel came through quite nicely. All in all, excellent read. 5/5

GRR Reviews Game Saver by BJ Harvey

Abi works hard and plays hard. She likes being single, and one-night-stands are no problem. She also dug herself out of a financial hole when her evil ex almost ruined her... Now a hotel manager, Abi knew Cade among a circle of shared friends... and she wants another night with Cade...  // Cade knew Abi in and out of bed. Cade is a doctor, and his father is a politician running for mayor. Cade doesn't want his parents trying to match him up with some "suitable" woman or otherwise manage his life, so he asked Abi to be his fake girlfriend, and Abi has no problem being FWB with "Doctor Hottie". But when his parents tried to exert control ANYWAY, it only managed to push them together... for real this time...

The plot is trope, as are controlling parents, who are only out for themselves. And the friendships and complicated relationships ALMOST managed to redeem the plot. But I don't really feel a darkest hour or a grand gesture. 2.5/5

GRR Reviews The Doctor's Love by Jennifer Gracen

Toni's life is difficult enough already. With a boss from hell in an art gallery at work, and a demanding harping mother at home, she really has no time for love. Until she ran into Gavin, brother of her roommate // Gavin is in the US visiting his sister, and met Toni, his sister's best friend and roommate. Gavin is a doctor in Ireland, and he went to the US to get away from his cling-y ex and his own family for a few months. He's attracted to Toni, but knew he shouldn't touch his sister's bestie. When Toni offered him a short-duration NSA relationship, he can't refuse. But as the summer comes to a close, Toni realized that her heart already belongs to Gavin. Can she say goodbye without regrets?

Good slow-simmer romance with time limit and a lot of amily complications.  4/5

GRR Reviews Colt by Kate Bridges

Historical Western, but set in Canada/Alaska

Colt is a leader of an elite group of Mounties trying to bring more law to the lawless Alaska and Yukon. He was surprised to find doctor Elizabeth Langley joining them, and he ordered her to go in disguise... As his sister (and his fellow mounties as brothers).  But Elizabeth is on a quest of her own... She wants to meet her grandfather, and discover a family secret that may undermine all she thought she knew about her family. On the way, they meet brigands, traverse rapids, and save lives. Colt and Elizabeth slowly found themselves drawn to each other, but he's so bossy and they are pretending to be siblings...

More adventure than romance, it's a very good adventure tale, but the romance didn't really kick in until like 65% of the book. 4/5

GRR Reviews Doctor's Date With a Billionaire by Amelia Addler

Jason is about to testify to put his father (and his associates) behind bars for scamming hundreds, perhaps thousands of people over decades. And to do that, he has to enter WITSEC... better known as witness protection, by taking on a new identity far from anyone he knew. When a Doctor Alexandra saved his father's life over lunch via Heimlich maneuver, he was grateful, but didn't think anything of it. Until he learned that the criminals are targeting her because they can find no leverage on him. Jason insisted that the Marshals enroll her in WITSEC as well... and she joined him in hiding in a small town in Wyoming. And as both settled into their new (and hopefully temporary) lives, Jason fell for Alexandra, even though they need to keep a low profile. When a tragedy forced her to leave WITSEC, Jason is forced to choose between his own safety... And the possibility of losing Alexandra...

Not a bad job showing the "scamworld" (ran by crooks to trick the common folks) though the Marshalls feel like such... pushovers. 4/5

GRR Review Kian by Melody Anne

Kian is a surgeon that came from an ultra-rich family, even though he always wanted to make his own way. He only loved one woman, Roxie, but she left him without explanation years ago. One night, while in rotation in Emergency Room, he found the pregnant woman on the gurney, suffering from multiple stab wounds, was Pamela, Roxie's sister (and his one-night-stand). Her three-year-old daughter Lily was also there. In her dying moments, Pamela said the daughter, Lily, was Kian's, and she wanted Lily to be brought up by Kian and Roxie. Now Kian has to reunite with Roxie, for Lily's sake, but Roxie is not giving in without a fight...

I'm still a little confused about why Lily left way back when. It seems she just felt... smothered by how good Kian is, aka "I can't be myself when I'm around you." The darkest hour was kinda "out of nowhere". I felt there could have been some foreshadowing planted ahead of time for that. 4/5

GRR Reviews Her Billionaire Army Doc by Dobi Daniels

Ob/Gyn resident Dr. Jasmine Banks is hiding two secrets. One, she didn't have to work because her family is rich with an established lingerie line. Two, she just found she has the lump in her breast and she has the high-risk cancer gene. She knew she made the right choice years ago to let Toni Landi, her then-boyfriend go due to betrayal. She just regrets now that she'll never have a family she wanted. She was shocked when her mother wanted her to consider an arranged marriage to Dr. David Landi as a part of a business deal. She's even more shocked that this is none other than Toni, the boy she left years ago.  // Dr. David Landi is a "plastic surgeon" that worked for the army for years, helping veterans with injuries. He's finally out and back stateside, and both he and his rich family are ready to get his career fast-tracked. He lost his wife to aggressive cancer and he's in no mood to consider an arranged marriage to Jasmine Banks... the woman who dumped him years ago. But his family wanted them to meet anyway. //

While I enjoy the secrets and shames, the book felt a bit bloated by secondary plots that sorta went nowhere, and thus, feels a bit unfocused. The evil stalker bit barely made a blip and was over in a few pages. And Jasmine seems to be both jealous and lacks self-worth that she's even jealous of Karen Lee, the surgeon David asked to perform a double procedure from another city as a favor, not to mention she refused to listen to David (even when all David did was to say goodbye to his late wife). It's good, but it could have been better.  3.5/5