Review - Playing Doctor By Jan Meredith

A Review By Wendy

3.5 Heart-Palpitations, Ready for Action Stars * * * 1/2

This quick paced novella from Jan Meredith had a lot going for it. It presented the question of whether a woman can allow herself some well deserved fun without getting caught up in all the guilt.

We meet Beth Roberts who has had a quite a life journey at only 33 years. She is an accomplished RN manager of the ER of a major hospital; she has a son getting ready for college in a year and had a marriage which left scars not only on her body but on her heart.

She was a senior in high school, he, a freshman in college….all was wonderful…she got pregnant and they married. He decided the service was for him and when he came back from Afghanistan, things changed. All of the frustration he had before compounded with the PTSD causing him to lash out mentally and physically. Things happened, he died and she widowed. Being devoted to the raising of her son Drew and her career became her life.

She has had the support of her best friend, Connie. She is egging her on to take advantage of the wedding she and Drew are working. Drew is an accomplished photographer and has been working them at a young age. Beth will have a suite provide all to her lonesome as Drew is going to hang out with friends at the nearby campus of Kentucky University. Connie explains to Beth… take this moment… find the hot guy at the wedding and bed him… enjoy your life… it is time… find Mr. Lick-o- licious and have some adult fun…. Beth looks at her like she is nuts… but the seed is planted.

At the wedding, Beth over hears the gossip about a hunky Dr. Gab North, widowed and drool worthy, from the bridesmaids while helping Drew with his photos. As the event continues, she sees this Dr. and agrees…. Yup…. Definitely drool worthy….

Dr. Gabriel North has been looking around as well. He spied Beth from the get go… liked what he saw in her curvy figure and pretty face… couldn’t quite figure out the connection to the photographer, though. He had some sort of relationship to her and was he her brother or what…. He wanted to find out more because for the first time in a long time… his body was telling him he was interested.   He had not been looking to play and did not do relationships… he was still having pain from losing his wife….guilt usual took care of his desires… but this time he wasn’t feeling that when he looked at Beth… this time he was feel himself… primed and ready … and hoping something could happen….

They both lock eyes… neither turns away… and the flirt games begin… a look here … and another there… and by the reception both are thinking they would like to meet each other and have a conversation. What opens the door to their actually interacting is a family member has a cardiac episode at the reception and both of them handle it together. Once the patient is sent to the hospital and is pronounced ok to the party… they both sit down and start to talk.

He gives a little flirt… she responds and then they give into the sparks and kiss… both agree to go for a “drink”.  During their time at a romantic bar… more revealing conversation… more kissing and then the move to her hotel. Beth has made the decision to have her one night stand… but she states very clearly to Gab… this is one night- no commitments-no continuing- just this time only. Gab agrees with his requirement… that it is real, feeling, and strong; everything they want for that one night. Deal done.

When this tale worked… it really worked. When there were details which distracted, unfortunately, they caused real issues for me.

The good- Jan Meredith knows how to write sexy…. I am talking hot, steamy, wish-it-were-you sexy. Her scenes with Beth and Gab raised the bar in the novella… it was like I was reading one story and then switch…. the real writing began; that is how great those scenes were. She also combined intimate telling and sharing between the Dr. and Beth, giving us insight to why they were who they were and made them likable and real. I felt the story went to another level once she got to where she really wanted to go.

The biggest issue I had with this was from the beginning and it threw me off for most of the story. If Beth’s son is to be senior in High School he is 17. If Beth is 33 as stated then she was 16 when she gave birth to Drew, meaning she was 15 or 16 when pregnant. To have her so young and then discuss empty nest… just was hard to handle. I didn't feel the numbers worked with how she presented them causing it to linger throughout the story for me. I understood the character was created to be very appealing yet had lived a life. If she had made her a little bit older it wouldn't have diminished the woman’s hotness factor and Dr. Gab could have still been in his late thirties. Also changing the ages would not have deterred the interest for any of her demographics, in my opinion.

Over all, this is a quick, hot and very satisfying read with no declarations of instant love, instead we get people who have lived lives, met and are open to possibilities… and isn't really what all of us want… the possibility to have just that.

Arc graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.