Hello, and welcome back! I'm spending my day off today with a woozy cat in a carrier beside my desk as I work. I had intended to get some yard work done, but this one requires more of my attention today, so the weeding will wait. After all, the mulch isn't going anywhere, and the cat won't want me except for food on my next day off.
This time out, I have the latest from BellaOnline fave Karen Rose Smith, Her Mr. Right? (Silhouette Special Edition # 1897). Isobel Suarez knows Neil Kane is trouble when he comes to investigate the hospital where she's employed as a social worker. She just doesn't realize he'll cause more trouble for her than stirring up her coworkers. Neil just wants to get to the bottom of the tips someone has been giving the Attorney General's office and find out if anything shady is happening at Walnut River General Hospital. But the more time he spends in Isobel's company, the less he's thinking of work. Isobel is all for straightening out any misunderstanding there might be about the hospital, but Neil tempts her to forget about her plans for the future. Worse, he fits right in with her family, making her wish he could stay beyond the time it takes him to figure out what's going on at the small hospital, and she knows he's not staying. That doesn't mean he doesn't want to, though, despite his own plans for his life. The former cop is capable and strong, and not willing to open himself up for more hurt. Isobel's family makes an interesting backdrop against which to watch this romance unfold, and we get a peek into Neil's family as well, which goes a long way toward explaining Neil's present. Reading this made me wish that perhaps I'd read the previous story or stories in the series so I'd know better who some of the secondary characters were and how they fit into this puzzle, but not having read any previous Wilder Family stories didn't make me like Isobel and Neil and their romance any less. Both of them have let their pasts shape their presents, as we all do, but they do a better job than some people I've met in real life in not letting their pasts continue to shape their lives. Neil has much more to overcome in opening up to Isobel's love, and he does that very convincingly. This one's earned three and a half of Cupid's five arrows.
Until next time, happy reading!
