Paradise Cove by Jenny Holiday

Being a female doctor is tough. It's a hard world to break into and then there are all of the hours you have to work. That doesn't really make it conducive to having a relationship. Even if you're dating another doctor. Especially if you walk in the door and find said other doctor screwing a resident on your couch. Even more disheartening is realizing that the past few years of your life have been directed by your ex.

Dr. Nora Walsh is dealing with ALL of that. She sees a notice that there is an opening for a small town doctor in Paradise Cove and she decides to take the position but her plan is just to stay for two years, pay off her student debt and save for a house that she can share with her sister. She's not looking for a forever home or a forever love.

For his part, Jake Ramsey is barely even looking for someone to grunt in the general of. He lost his infant son to the flu and his marriage imploded soon after. He barely even wants to talk to the friends he's had since childhood. His life is all about helping out around town and that's what leads him to be one of the first people to meet Nora. They share a pretty intense experience and then... start hanging out. Nora gives him sympathy but not too much and not too little. She's the Baby Bear of sympathy. 

From the beginning, I was really hoping that a particular plot line wouldn't pop up. But it did. While Holiday is an entertaining writer and I am very much looking forward to Maya and Law's story, the end of this book was just a little to fraught to feel like there was a concrete resolution.

This book comes out July 28th

Follows Mermaid Inn

Followed by Sandcastle Beach

ARC kindly provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley

Opinions are my own