Is There A Doctor In The House? "Strictly Professional" by Sandy Sullivan

Savannah Gibson needs a ‘stud,’ and time's running out. Her parents have already given her and her sisters an ultimatum. A grandchild or no trust fund. One thing keeps her awake: who does she ask?

Doctor Brandon Cooper is hot with his dark curly hair, solid chest and sexy blue eyes, but he’s also a colleague and a cowboy from Montana. He steer-wrestles on his days off and rides a Harley.

Thoughts of Brandon wrestling her to the bed and having a round of hot sex encompass her dreams and make her panties wet, but she doesn’t want a permanent fixture in her life, especially a cowboy.

Having grown up on a cattle ranch in Texas, she’s learned to hate cowboys. Cows are stupid, horses are ornery, and cowboys are arrogant, selfish, commitment phobic, mean, rotten… Can she possibly ask him to be the father of her child?

Back in my upper elementary school days and into my junior high days I was a fan of all things medical, starting out with the series, Sue Barton, R.N. Old fashioned, to be sure, but then I was set on a career in nursing (among others who were in competition for my interest) and I read everything I could get my hands on that was about doctors and nurses. Ultimately, I did have some years in nursing and found out that doctors have their own persona, their own ways of looking at the world, and I left nursing when I decided I was tired of being a "handmaiden to the gods with M.D. behind their names."

So I was just a little surprised at myself for even paying attention to a novel that involved two doctors. What caught my interest was the fact that this was a Sandy Sullivan novel and having read a number of her books recently, decided to take the plunge. Boy, am I ever glad that I did. And I discovered a novel that held my interest, kept me glued to the pages, and one that really turned out to be a reading delight. It didn't hurt that I understood lots that was going on with these two main characters medically, but that was not at the heart of the story.

Here we have a woman who has worked hard to establish herself as a doctor, only a year away from finishing her residency in emergency medicine, having supported herself entirely rather than tap into the extensive resources of her wealthy family. She is proud of her accomplishments and is devastated to learn that her parents, while they acknowledge her considerable achievements and her hard work, are far more interested in her as a producer of grandchildren who can assure their goals for the future, take a part in the family enterprises, and carry on the family presence in the world. No baby, no trust fund. Period. Her parents make the token statements that they want her happiness, but when push comes to shove, their desire for grandchildren takes first place in their interests and considerations.

Savannah is one of those strong, competent, independent women who is duly offended and saddened by her parents' demands, but she realizes that her trust fund is necessary if she will reach her goals once she is ready to strike out on her own as a fully licensed physician. How Savannah and Brandon came to be parents is the foundation of the story and while I will not give away those details, suffice it so say that the ins and outs of their relationship, the ups and downs of their pre, during, and post pregnancy encounters are, in large part, the bulk of the tale. However, at the heart of the story I think we have a woman who wants all that life can offer but she is tired of men who see her parents' affluence before they see her, including her very first love who is now a professional football player. Even when she encounters him again after ten years he is still more in love with her father's money than with her. She also carries the remembrance of cowboys who were willing to role in the hay with her because she was a means to an end, being the boss's daughter. All these factors mixed together, especially the fact that Brandon is a weekend rodeo champ and a Montana-born and bred cowboy, makes for a very rocky relationship.

I find these kinds of romances very fine reading as they are not simplistic, have some human substance and give the reader much to consider that are instructive. I find that fiction is a more than worthy tool for teaching life lessons, and everyone of us knows that we are wise if we learn from the experience of others, whether real or fictional. Somehow this story sounds so real, possibly because of my medical involvement in the past, but I don't think that is the whole reason. Sullivan has created characters who are struggling with life challenges, albeit in a very constricted set of boundaries as physicians, but still meeting some very human challenges. That Savannah's parents have put her in a bind is certainly unusual, but it still requires that she respond in a way that is responsible and consistent with who she is. It was that response and Brandon's as they were faced with some fairly difficult scenarios that give this story its dimension and verve.

I liked this novel a lot, and as it is the first in a new "Stud Service" series from Siren Publishing and Ms Sullivan is only one of a number of fine authors who will be contributing their efforts to this series, I am delighted that more such novels are on their way. I give this book a rating of 4 out of 5.

I Am SO Stuck: "Wild Wyoming Nights" by Sandy Sullivan

Abigail Carter lost her firefighter husband on September 11th. On a mission to heal her heart, she starts a new life in the prairies of Wyoming. Her neighbor, hunky rancher and quarter horse expert Chase Wilder, makes her heart race for the first time in years, but will she let him get close enough to warm the cold winter nights? Chase rescues Abby from her overturned car in an accident similar to the one that took his wife. His dormant libido goes into overdrive when he looks into Abby's beautiful green eyes. Unfortunately, she's still struggling with her grief, and Chase doesn't want to push her. Can the two find a way to overcome the past and have a future together?

Well, reading buddies, my interest in "cowboy romance" continues. It is the strangest thing . . . just not something I even understand, but I guess some of this interest is due to the years we lived in Idaho and also for a couple of years in Salinas, CA where the huge rodeo is held every year, one of the three largest in the U. S., or so I was told.

Anyway, I found this book online and because it involved the widow of a 9/11 firefighter victim, I found my curiosity engaged and I found this to be a very good book. First in the "Wilder Series" it is the introduction to the Wilder family of brothers and their sister, all of whom were raised in a small community near Laramie, Wyoming and whose lives have been totally involved with horse and cattle ranching. Chase Wilder is known throughout the area as a breeder of first class quarter horses and Abigail Carter buys the property right next door, a house and property that have been vacant for some time. She is seeking a new surrounding and freedom from the crush of city living while she pursues the dream of breeding and raising horses which both she and her deceased husband hoped to experience sometime in the future. For Abigail, the future is now, and with the death of Josh, she is free to move forward. But that is very difficult, not only because of the normal grieving process, but because of the circumstances and because she and her mother both are intuitive, empathic people. She is "stuck" on the fact that on September 11 she "knew" something dark and terrible was going to happen. She just didn't realize it was going to happen to her Josh.

Chase Wilder is "stuck" as well . . . his wife died in an accident two years previously and he, too, blames himself for that event. His guilt over his preoccupation with his breeding business and the lack of paying attention that particular day to his wife's demands have convinced him that she would not have died had he been more attentive and responsive to her requests. Wherever the truth may lie for both these individuals, they are both riveted to the past.

Abby had driven snow covered roads in New York all her life, so a snow covered road in Wyoming doesn't scare her. But the severe Wyoming winds and weather take their toll and before she knows it, she is in a ditch, and the first person to find her is Chase Wilder. Out of that initial encounter comes the knowledge that they are attracted to one another. This becomes even more obvious when Abby "feels" that Chase has been injured and finds him in a bad way with a broken leg from being kicked by a stallion. Now they are thrown together daily as Abby feeds and cares for Chase's horses and because she is cooking and cleaning for him until he is back on his feet. Bottom line: they are both turned on, but neither is remotely interested in any kind of relationship so the course of true love does not run smooth with these two as the play the came of "come here, go away" repeatedly. Abby even dates one of the emergency room doctors who attended her following her accident, but the spark just isn't there.

At the heart of this story is the fact that neither Abby or Chase can get past their sense of personal failure in the deaths of their spouses. The author has used the literary device of "ghosts" of these two spouses as a representation of how such a sense of guilt can dampen any movement toward the future and any healthy processing of the loss. In Abby's case, Josh is urging her to find love, to recognize that he will always be a part of her, but that she must move on to a new love. Chase's wife, on the other hand, is jeolous and possessive in death just as she was in life and her efforts to keep Abby out of her house and her husband's affections is quite persistent. But this is not a ghost story, and points up the struggles any husband or wife must endure when they experience the loss of a spouse. It truly is like an emotional amputation.

In all the novels in this series the presence of the Wilder clan play an important part. Chase certainly is his own man, but he demonstrates many of the qualities his family has taught him and even when he is torn between his attraction to Abby and his loyalty to his dead wife, he is still trying to be an honorable and caring man. This is a very nice love story, that is beautifully written and which reads smoothly. The Wilder Family are people we would probably all like to know in real life and are individually and collectively upstanding and honorable people. Don't for a minute think this is a dull romance. It is anything but. There are surprises and upheavals, emotional ups and downs, some ghostly appearances and lots of family support. And behind the closed doors, there's some hot loving as well.

So if you are in the mood for a very nice cowboy romance, Sandy Sullivan has given us one that will satisfy and entertain. I give this book a rating of 4 out of 5.