Sandy M’s review of Montana Actually (Medicine River, Book 1) by Fiona Lowe
Contemporary Romance published by Berkley 6 Jan 15
I’ve tried a number of new-to-me authors lately and none have really left me wanting more. But with this first book in her new series, Fiona Lowe is an author that I will definitely read again. Though the story concept is one we’ve read before, it’s her characters that draw you in and you’re having such a great time, before you know it three-quarters of the book is read. I’m looking forward to more in this series.
Josh Stanton is in Bear Paw, Montana. Yes, it’s as small as it sounds. And Josh is definitely big city. He thought he’d be sharing this experience with his fiance while at the same time paying off his huge medical debt with fewer expenses in this nowhere little town. But at the last minute her hoity-toity attitude got in the way and Josh is taking on the locals by himself. He’s the lone doc in town, and I enjoyed the scenes he has with those locals as they come to him for various and sundry reasons.
Coming home again isn’t what Katrina McCade thought she’d be doing at this point in her life. When things go wrong, though, and it’s time to regroup, there’s no place like home. She’s made a decision to stay away from doctors, despite her nursing career, after discovering her boyfriend totally misrepresented his life to her. Currently taking on several different jobs in town, Katrina isn’t ready for Josh Stanton, M.D. At least the one place she won’t have to interact with him is in the clinic. But that doesn’t last long before she’s dragged in to help more often than she’d like.
With Josh chomping at the bit to pay off his debt and get back to the city and Katrina wanting nothing more to do with doctors and anything medical, it’s fun watching them come to grips with the fact what they want doesn’t matter much in the big scheme of love and all that goes with it. Like Katrina, I really enjoyed seeing Josh get used to small-town America, the fun and the emotional. Kat also has to reroute her thinking – throwing someone else’s idiocy onto Josh isn’t fair, and her heart is going to want him no matter what. Though they hold back from each other for quite a while – which usually doesn’t work for me in romance like it used to – and they throw in a caveat or two about not falling in love, with these two I didn’t mind one bit. They have a terrific rapport and the banter is feisty and fun.
We also get a lovely side romance between Kat’s brother, Beau, and her boss at the local diner, Shannon. Shannon’s teenage son is having problems at his new school, and it’s Beau, who suffered through stuttering during school and now has a slow and sexy drawl to counteract his impediment, who takes the boy under his wing, wanting to help because he knows how the kid feels. It takes Shannon a bit to realize Beau’s motives and thankfully she wakes up before it’s too late. It’s too bad they won’t be getting a book of their own. I thoroughly enjoyed them.
The next book in the series, Truly Madly Montana, is out in July, and you can bet I’ll be cracking it open as soon as I get my hands on it.
Grade: B+
Summary:
Big city doctor in a small-town Montana practice… A former nurse who has sworn off doctors forever… The scene is set for passions to ignite in Big Sky Country. For readers of Robyn Carr and Sherryl Woods.City doctor Josh Stanton and his sports car don’t suit the country but with his medical school debt about to bury him, Josh has to make the best of a bad situation. Adjusting to his new job and life in the middle of nowhere isn’t easy, but at least the views of the mountains –and one distractingly attractive local–are stunning…
After eight years away, Katrina McCade is back in Bear Paw for a break from her life, bad choices–and men. But when a broad-shouldered stranger bursts into town, she finds herself unexpectedly saddled with the town’s sexy new doctor as a tenant. Katrina doesn’t need a man to make her happy, especially a disgruntled physician. But try telling her body that…
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
