Their Reunion to Remember - Tina Beckett (HMED #1220 - Jan 2022)

Series: Nashville ER (Book 2)

Then: an almost happily-ever-after
Now: a second chance?
 
Surgeon Lia Costa has spent a lifetime trying to blend into the background. So when Dr. Micah Corday picks her out of a busy concert crowd on Valentine's Day, she can't believe it! Micah was her first love…and the man she thought she would never see again. Is Lia ready to remember the powerful love that she had tried so hard to forget?
 
Good second chance love story. Lia and Micah fell in love during medical school. But when graduation came, and Micah wanted them to join Doctors Without Borders, Lia panicked and broke things off with Micah, breaking both of their hearts. Lia has prosopagnosia (Face blindness, or prosopagnosia, is a brain disorder characterized by the inability to recognize or differentiate faces. People with face blindness may struggle to notice differences in the faces of strangers. Others may even have a hard time recognizing familiar faces.) She has learned to cope where everything is familiar, but going somewhere so far out of her comfort zone terrified her. But rather than tell Micah the truth, she pushed him away.
 
Several years later, Micah returns to Nashville and takes a job at the same hospital where Lia works. He's surprised when he spots her at a hospital fundraiser concert and the memories that flooded him of their time together, including that final rejection. He was hurt and angry when she didn't recognize him. Lia faced one of her greatest fears when she saw Micah and didn't recognize him until he spoke and scrambled to minimize the damage. Unfortunately, she only made things worse when she discovered they would be working together.
 
Though they plan to avoid each other whenever possible, they are thrown together when Lia treats a case that calls for Micah's expertise as an epidemiologist.  Working together to spread the word about the outbreak and the need for updated vaccinations, their old feelings don't take long to resurface. I loved watching those feelings deepen and grow and seeing their attraction follow suit. But Lia's fears are never far from her mind, and Micah's dreams soon run up against those fears. I ached for Micah as he saw history repeat itself, breaking his heart again. I loved how Lia found the courage to tell him everything and Micah's love and support as he finally understood her. The epilogue was sweet.
 
I love the Harlequin Medical line because they always have interesting situations. In this book, Lia and Micah face an outbreak of pertussis or whooping cough. Because of widespread vaccinations, it is something that is rarely heard of these days but can be deadly. I liked seeing the steps that Micah and Lia took, from public education to contact tracing (with a nod to lessons learned from Covid). I also liked getting the follow-up to the medical issue with Avery's friend, Bonnie, from the first book in the series (New Year Kiss with His Cinderella). 

                                                                      

New Year Kiss with His Cinderella - Annie O'Neil (HMED #1219 - Jan 2022)

Series: Nashville ER (Book 1)

From a midnight kiss…
…to a reunion in the ER!
 
When Dr. Carter shares a New Year's kiss with a captivating stranger, he doesn't expect a reunion. Then he walks into Saint Dolores's ER the very next day…and discovers she's his new colleague! Awkwardly, their smoking-hot attraction hasn't gone away! But for Carter, life has meant staying mobile, and he can't simply lay down roots. Yet there's something about Nurse Avery and Nashville that's starting to really feel like home…
 
An emotional story that kept me hooked from beginning to end. I loved the first meeting between Carter and Avery. It was New Year's Eve, and she was riding a mechanical bull, trying to win the cash prize. One sight of the handsome stranger intently focused on her, and she lost her concentration and her seat. I loved Carter's offer to win it for her and his understanding of her reaction. In the end, Avery succeeded, and they shared an intense midnight kiss. Then Avery walked away, never expecting to see him again.
 
Fate, of course, had other plans. The next day Avery, a nurse practitioner at Nashville's busy ER, gets a shock during the welcoming of new hires. One of them is Dr. Carter Booth, the sexy stranger from the night before. The tension between them is off the charts as Avery gives Carter a tour and assists with his first couple of cases. It isn't long before they have to admit there is something between them
 
I loved seeing the relationship develop between Carter and Avery. It starts as a no-strings fling between friends. Carter is upfront about his inability/unwillingness to do any long-term commitments. His younger sister is in prison and also suffers from a chronic disease. She frequently gets in trouble and is moved to another prison, and Carter follows along to the closest hospital. She is the only family he has, and his protectiveness runs deep. Avery also avoids relationships. She still grieves the death of her sister two years earlier. She has locked up her emotions between her grief and being dumped in her last relationship. But as the weeks go on and they spend time together, something more than attraction builds between them. I loved seeing them open up and share things they'd never told anyone else. The support and understanding they have for each other are fantastic.
 
When an incident at the hospital breaks the walls Avery built around her emotions, Carter was there to pick up the pieces. I loved how he helped her rediscover her music and the big decision she made because of it. Then a medical crisis involving Carter's sister causes him to pull away from Avery. I wanted to shake him for his unkind words before walking out and ached for Avery and her heartbreak. I loved the lecture he got from his sister, who'd gone through some changes in her own outlook, and called him an idiot for walking away from Avery. It was an eye-opening experience for Carter, and I loved its effect on him. His big moment at the end was sweet and emotional.
 
As is usual with Harlequin's Medical line, a few medical issues played significant parts in the story. They were well done without overshadowing the romance. The detail was sufficient for the seriousness of the scene without feeling like I was reading a textbook. I always seem to learn something new from one of these books.