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Each week Stephanie, Lillian and I will be featuring a SUMMER OF LOVE review on our blogs.  Or rather, we’re trying to.  Summer has gotten away from us, and we may have bitten off more than we can chew.  For example, I was supposed to post this review yesterday, but what can you do.  Regardless, don’t forget to check out Stephanie’s blog, Once Upon a Chapter, and Lillian’s blog, Mom With a Reading Problem, for their Summer of Love reviews.

Welcome to my eighth review for the SUMMER OF LOVE (8th on week 9 because I missed week 8)!  As I mentioned in week one, I actually already read a lot of contemporary romance, but there’s just something about summer reading that screams contemp for me.  And I’m using these 12 weeks to showcase books in different categories.  The eighth category is:

Romantic Comedy

I don’t know, there’s just something about a book that can make me laugh that feels like it belongs in summer.

Recommendations:

• I’m going to cheat this time and just link to the reviews where I’ve indicated the genre is “romantic comedy”.  Obviously not all of these were hits, but there are some gems in there.

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Title: Hotshot Doc
Author: R.S. Grey
Published by: Audible Studios
Release Date: February 26, 2019
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Lee Samuels, Aubrey Vincent
Length: 9 hours and 17 minutes
Genres: Contemporary, Romantic Comedy
Source: Audible
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Summer
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ iTunes
My rating:

Blurb:

Dr. Russell has a bad reputation around our hospital. The scrub techs say he’s cold-blooded, the nurses say he’s too cocky for his own good, and the residents say he’s the best surgeon in the world—really, just a swell guy!—on the off chance he’s within earshot.

I try to avoid him and his temper at all costs. It’s just as easy to admire his sexy, grip-it-while-he’s ravishing-you hair and chiseled jaw from a healthy distance, preferably from the other end of the hallway half-hidden behind a plant.
Unfortunately, my plan crumbles when my trusty ol’ boss decides to swap his white coat for a Hawaiian shirt. His retirement leaves me with two terrible options: switch specialties and spend months retraining, or take an open position as Dr. Russell’s surgical assistant.

That means I have to stand near him in the OR for hours on end and anticipate his every need without letting his biting words and bad attitude intimidate me. Oh, and as if that’s not difficult enough, my silly crush on him—the one I’ve tried to stomp on until it disappears—might just be reciprocated.

It’s fine.
I’m fine.

I take my job seriously. There will be no smoldering bedroom eyes across the operating table, no angry almost-kisses in the storage closet. (Well, no more of those.)

What’s the phrase? An apple a day keeps the doctor away?
Maybe I should go for a whole damn bushel.

My Review:

3.5 stars — There were some fantastic moments in this one, but in the end I found my mind wandering quite a bit and just kept feeling like I wanted the book to hurry up.

I think part of my wishy washy feelings were due to the narrators…or rather one of them.  Both narrators were new to me, and while on the surface they were both fantastic — great pacing, voices, emotions, etc — and I actually enjoyed their voices, there was just something about Ms. Vincent’s portrayal of Bailey that didn’t quite work.  I mean, maybe it wasn’t her, maybe it was me…but even though objectively I can’t list some flaw in her performance, I felt like I would have enjoyed my own interpretation of Bailey in my head more.  Like, maybe the comedic timing wasn’t quite right?  Honestly no idea.  I guarantee this is mostly a personal taste thing, but I think it did affect my enjoyment of the story.  Mr. Samuels, on the other hand, was wonderful for me.

Let’s start with Matt, b/c he’s a bit easier.  At the beginning I didn’t think I was going to like him at all folks.  He was rude, mean, completely wrapped up in what was going on with him, so not very empathetic.  Now, I did eventually get that a lot of that is just his overwhelming passion for his job…and I think he just lacks some social skills.  But the funny thing is that I ended up really enjoying him.  It was like he just needed someone to poke at him and challenge him in exactly the right way, and not let him get away with his shit.  So while he’ll never be book boyfriend material for me, I felt for him.  Though that end stuff with the conflict/climax was kind of stupid, and I’m still not sure I have my head wrapped around his reasons.

Bailey.  Bailey Bailey Bailey.  *sigh*  I really admired a lot about her, from the way she took on Josie to the way she adjusted her career path to have a bit of what she was originally aiming for, but something more attainable as a guardian to a (then) 9 year old.  And she had some great moments where she was adorable and fun and quirky.  But her neurosis was a bit much for me.  I just didn’t quite get her reluctance with the relationship…I mean, I thought I did, but then it would look like she was tackling the obstacles and she would backslide for no reason.  It was back and forth and back and forth just too many times for me…and without sufficient explanation for the turnaround.

I enjoyed them together, but I wasn’t blown away.  They had great chemistry, but it was tainted by the angst of their relationship.

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the medical/job parts of the book.  I don’t know how realistic it was, but it was enthralling for me.

In general I really enjoyed Josie too.  She was kind of a hilarious 14 year old — and thankfully not portrayed as older than her years…it was refreshing.

I will admit, I’m a bit bummed.  The book started off super strong…then the middle was a slog, then it picked up some…then I got bored again.  And I’m not sure the payoff at the end was enough.  Oh well, they can’t all be matches.