Acute Reactions by Ruby Lang
Released: March 23, 2015
Contemporary Romance
Crimson Romance
Reviewed by Mandi
When I received this review request, the blurb charmed me so I thought I’d give it a try.
The man with allergies never gets the girl, at least according to the movies—and Portland restaurateur Ian Zamora wants to be the guy who gets the girl. So to rid himself of the sensitivities brought on by his sometimes-girlfriend’s cat, he makes an appointment with allergist Petra Lale. But he suddenly finds himself acutely attracted to the very woman who is supposed to be helping him take care of his problem.
Petra’s intrigued by Ian’s quiet strength and sexy body, but her solo practice is new and struggling. She can’t afford to compromise her ethics—or risk her medical license—by dating a patient. Falling in love certainly wasn’t this doctor’s order. She tries to stay away from Ian, but fate, and her weak willpower, keep bringing them back together.
Do two career-driven people with inexperienced hearts stand a chance of finding the right prescription for love?
What a cute book. Smart, funny, and good banter. Some of my favorite things.
Ian is a restaurant owner trying to balance his heavy workload with his personal life, but isn’t doing too well. Working ridiculous hours, he decides the least he can do is address his extreme allergies to his girlfriend’s beloved cat, even if he rarely gets to spend with her. Finding himself in the lobby of a very sparse, yet clean allergist office, he is bit nervous about getting jabbed with lots of needles.
Using money left to her by her father, Petra decided to open her own practice straight out of medical school, but she isn’t so sure that was the right decision. A lot of her colleagues joined larger practices or those 24-hour clinics, and are getting steady paychecks. Petra is a great doctor, but not good with the marketing skills. Her website is weak, her networking is non-existent which means, there are not a lot of patients walking through the door. She has a cute inner-monologue:
Six years of medical school, hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Now, Petra was standing in front of a combination fax/copier/printer that she barely understood. She stabbed at a button with her finger. It worked! You are awesome! she told herself.
It was the little things.
She is desperate to have patients, and is delighted when Ian walks through the door. He is also super sexy.
Since Petra is an allergist, she starts to have a love affair with his arm. It’s so cute. It’s the one body part she gets to touch and rub and think naughty things about. One of the big themes in this book is the doctor/patient relationship. Petra is just starting out in the medical world and she falls for her patient. That is a huge no-no. This weighs on her mind heavily and it’s addressed well in this book. Petra has two good friends she met in medical school who also weigh in on this topic – and they are blunt and a little harsh. But realistic. Their friendship really felt real – it wasn’t rainbows and sunshine. They get mad at each other and speak their minds. They are there for one another but hold grudges and get upset. It’s a portrayal of a girlfriend relationship that you don’t always see in romance books. Yes they get together and eat ice cream and talk about boys, but they also fight and say harsh words to one another – and maybe judge one another *gasp* I liked it.
There are cute moments like this:
The phone rang. Luckily, it was on her night table and she only had to move her arm to find it. “Tell me. Tell me why I’m already a failure at age thirty-one,” Petra said, without bothering to see who it was. It could only be one of her best friends: Sarah or Helen.
“You need a good fuck is all,” Sarah said.
“Why do gynecologists always think that everything begins and ends in the vagina?
“Well, it does, in most manners of speaking.”
Anyway! I’ve neglected Ian! Ian puts in long hours at work, but that’s par for course when you own a restaurant. When he meets Petra, he is smitten. Just smitten! Now yes, he does have a girlfriend but it’s nothing that serious and he does end things with her before truly pursuing Petra. He definitely is the chaser in this relationship, as Petra is so worried about crossing ethical boundaries. Ian is kind and funny and wears glasses. His business partner Gerry has some good scenes in this book and I really got a good feel of Ian at work at his restaurant. I could picture him well.
A few things that I didn’t love – there is a twelve-year-old named Kevin that has a few amusing scenes in the beginning but I didn’t love how much he was included throughout the story. And I thought Petra acted pretty immature with her mother sometimes. That annoyed me a little.
But overall, a fun sexy book. I hope we get more from this author – I really like her voice.
Rating: B
A romance about allergies. I die. Sounds adorable.