TEST
There’s a telling exchange between Edie Higgins and Tyler Hart — the heroine and hero of Ms. O’Reilly’s latest Harlequin Blaze novel Just Surrender — when the two first meet. Edie, moonlighting for a night as a New York cabbie, picks up Tyler from JFK and takes him the very long way into the city. The two are discussing Edie’s definition of love. She says, “The world has to tilt and shift — and I have to forget how to breathe.” Tyler, a cardiothoracic surgeon, counters, “That’s not love, that’s stress cardiomyopathy.” This exchange illuminates the two. Edie is all about the heart and Tyler, despite his overly obvious last name, is all about the brain. Interestingly, of the two, Tyler is the more likeable.
Edie annoyed me. The night she meets Tyler, she’s initially pretty rotten to him in an “I know what’s best for you” sort of way. He’s exhausted, having just flown in from Houston. He’s come to New York to compete for a fellowship and he all he wants is to go to his hotel and get some sleep. Edie decides to take him on an unasked tour of the five boroughs — the rate from JFK to anywhere in the city is preset — during which she harangues him to bare his soul. Tyler, bleary and frazzled, begins to find her seductive and at the end of the night — which goes on forever — they have sex at his exceedingly sleazy hotel. Afterwards, Edie agrees to see him again — not for more sex, but to teach him how to navigate relationships.
Tyler may have been the one picked up at the airport, but Edie’s got way more baggage. Edie’s father is a world-famous surgeon and has put his career before the needs of Edie and her mother — although the latter seems to be quite at peace with her marriage. Edie is determined to be nothing like either parent. She disdains real jobs which she defines as “greed-inspired drudgery.” Despite her derision of careers, she’s quite wealthy and is able to live her free-spirited life without financial worry. Edie likes to “fix” people and it’s clear she spends her energy on others because she fears anyone getting close enough to reject her as she feels her father has done.
As Edie and Tyler warily grow close to one another, Edie begins to see that the risk of loving someone is worth it when the person you give yourself to is trustworthy and true. And, except for taking too long to tell Edie he’s – gasp! – a physician, Tyler is trustworthy and true. He’s also first-rate and generous in bed — this is a Blaze book, after all. Tyler makes time for Edie, puts up with her drama, and works tirelessly for his patients at the hospital. I liked him a lot.
Ms. O’Reilly is a good novelist and has a knack for a clever phrase. She knows New York and that city and the characters she peoples it with all seem vibrantly real. She’s a witty writer — she has a very funny riff on how Jane Eyre is a wuss and Rochester, an ass — and she writes authentically about family and its joys and pains. Tyler’s brother Austen and Edie’s parents are complex and engaging. I cared for everyone in this tale except Edie.
At the end of the book, Edie and Tyler have met, not in the middle, but firmly in Tyler’s world. It’s an ending that left me unsure about the pair’s long term prospects. The divorce rate for surgeons is almost twice that of the general populace. I have a hard time seeing Edie, as the years go by, happy living her mother’s life. That said, there isn’t any other ending to be had for these two. Tyler is a cardiac surgeon — they work 60 to 100 hours a week on average — and he’s unlikely to retire any time soon. Perhaps Edie will fill up her life with children and charity projects (she does need to be needed) and be happy with as much of Tyler as she gets. For Tyler’s sake, I hope she sticks it out.
I enjoyed this book, despite my lack of love for Edie. I almost always like Ms. O’Reilly’s books and, while this is not my favorite (that would be the poorly named Sex Straight Up) it’s a pleasurable and often insightful read.
There is one thing about this tale, though, unrelated to the romance, which bothered me. Ms. O’Reilly gets so much wrong about surgical fellowships and the world of cardiothoracic surgery, it’s maddening. There are at most 150 cardiothoracic surgeons trained each year in the United States, but Ms. O’Reilly has 200 competing for this fellowship. Tyler, a wildly successful practicing surgeon, would be beyond unlikely to pursue a cardiology — an internal medicine specialty – fellowship at this point in his career. I’m guessing most people wouldn’t know how error-ridden Ms. O’Reilly’s portrayal is but I, who am — yes — married to a surgeon, found these blunders trying. If you’ve written as many books as Ms. O’Reilly, surely you can get someone to vet the profession of your hero. Tyler, stellar guy that he is, and readers deserve no less.
Grade: B-
Book Type: Series Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 14/05/11
Publication Date: 2011/05
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.