Friday, August 3, 2018

Melinda's Review: Acute Reactions

Acute Reactions by Ruby Lang
Publisher: Crimson Romance (March 23, 2015)
Series: Practice Perfect, 1
Genre: Contemporary Romance


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?



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Melinda's Review:



This is another new-to-me author that was recommended to me via Twitter. Romancelandia is the best! There is nothing better than the discovery of a new author but then when it's also a fresh setting as well? I mean, come on! SOLD. Acute Reactions has the heroine, Petra, having just opened her own practice as an Allergist. I love an intelligent heroine with an incredibly hard job, as right away her career gave me a foundation to go into the book with. Ian Zamora is a restaurant owner with a girlfriend who has a cat...and he has allergies to said cat.



So right away the meet-cute sets up quite a few obstacles that I was both anxious to find out how they would resolve but not SO anxious that I couldn't enjoy the book. It's apparent that Ian is the hero...but he has a girlfriend. Who is not Petra. Let me be clear - this is *not* a love triangle book! I would definitely give you a heads up on that, I know some readers enjoy that, but that trope is not one for me. Ian makes an appointment with Petra to try to solve his allergies to his girlfriend's cat - I completely loved this detail. I know that it was used specifically to set up the whole book but it also worked to endear Ian to me incredibly quickly. Yes I am a sucker for animals but a guy willing to go the distance for a relationship? I was in love.



There are quite a few reasons I was so into this book though. Petra's practice is struggling and I really appreciated this very real look at that. Her two friends she met in medical school went into different specialties and were also struggling in different ways, and I found it fascinating to see the three of them discussing the differences in their specialties and the paths they took after school. This type of contemporary world-building is vital to making me interested in a book. The secondary characters are important, but also the whole world as well and Lang did a wonderful job of creating one I felt like I could walk into easily.



The main conflict in the book is what I enjoyed the most though. Petra and Ian grow closer as Ian comes in for allergy shots for treatment. Obviously Ian's girlfriend doesn't last and he stops treatment. Months later, when a romance begins to be a possibility, Petra agonizes over the ethics of beginning a romance with a one-time patient. I absolutely adored the deftness with which Lang treated this. This is not something she glosses over in a one or two pages, it's a real issue Petra deals with and thinks about repeatedly. I hate when books ignore a major issue or treat them as something minor and that's definitely not the case here.



I liked quite a few things here - that she's an Allergist, which isn't exactly a sexy specialty. The female friendship in this book really shines brightly too - there's a subplot of conflict there that definitely is leading into book two but didn't take away from the main plot. I absolutely loved the diversity of the characters - both main characters are POC. The only thing that I didn't love was a brief part where the ex-girlfriend comes back which seemed almost unnecessary to me. I felt like most of it could have been cut and the book could still stand on it's own. Beyond that I enjoyed everything else and I can't wait to read the next one and I'm looking forward to reading anything else this author publishes!



4 STARS! 


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Source: Bought

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Thanks for the review, Melinda! I also enjoyed this one and look forward to reading more from Lang. :)



Enjoy!



Until Next Time,










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