Rating: 2.5 stars
Buy Links: Amazon | All Romance
Length: Novel
Patrick Quinn is a trauma doctor in Seattle. He has dated quite a bit, but never been in a relationship that lasted longer than a couple of months. He turns to a dating site when he feels like he’s ready to find someone he can spend his life with long-term. Patrick’s profile makes him a hot commodity. He is, after all, a good-looking doctor. There are a few losers along the way, but fairly quickly he is contacted by Trevor, an anesthesiologist who is also looking for love.
The two begin e-mailing back and forth, hesitant to meet each other until they’ve established whether there’s something worth pursuing. When Trevor has a particularly bad day at work and ends up drunk at a bar, he calls Patrick, who comes running to his rescue. Not a particularly auspicious way to start a relationship, but they have an instant attraction that can’t be dampened by the circumstances.
As the two continue to get to know one another, they have a few bumps in the road. Jealousy over ex-boyfriends and time-consuming jobs, to start. Trevor is also involved in a traumatic incident that forces both of them to recognize their strong feelings and decide whether they’re in this relationship for the long haul.
Two hot doctors who find love? What could possibly be wrong with that? Well, a lot. But let’s start with the good things first. My favorite part of the book was Ryan and Damien. They are the two men that Trevor and Patrick meet when Trevor needs rescuing. I liked the world of the biker bar, with Damien and his gang and his attorney “boy,” Ryan. There was a lot of potential there that, unfortunately, was ignored. I think the reason that I was drawn to these characters rather than the MCs was because there was something interesting and contradictory about the two of them, yet they worked. Big biker bear and smart twink attorney. There is something worth exploring. Two almost identical highly attractive doctors? Not so much.
This was the main problem with the book. There’s not a story here. Two men meet. They have everything in common. They’re attracted to each other because, why wouldn’t they be? They’re each smoking hot. The End. Even the major conflict in the book is one I’ve read time and time again. It doesn’t lessen the gravity of the situation that Trevor finds himself in. It just didn’t add anything to the already repetitive and mundane nature of this book. Nothing. Happened. There was a lot of sex. There was a lot of talking. And there were a couple of times when one member of the otherwise perfectly bland couple became inexplicably and irrationally enraged about something the other did (i.e. talked to friends or stayed late at work), but then the argument was quickly resolved.
The other major problem with this book was that it was told in alternating POVs, between Patrick and Trevor. This, in and of itself, is not a problem, but when the one POV ends and the other picks up and they tell the same story again, I take major issue with it. I just heard the story from Patrick. I don’t need Trevor to recap it for me, especially since they’re essentially the same person — nothing new is being added here. It just added to the tedious nature of this book. It felt like it dragged on and on, and then each shift in POV would feel like a one step forward two steps back situation.
There’s nothing wrong with the mechanics of the writing here, so I know J.J. Ryan has the potential to write a good book, if only the plot can support it. I always think it’s an incredible achievement for anyone to write a book, and I applaud Ryan’s efforts. But with a market saturated with new offerings every day, an author needs an idea that will keep a reader interested. Even pure erotica needs something to keep the reader engaged. This book just didn’t do it for me.
