Falling for the brooding doc

Top-notch plastic surgeon Luke Stanley left Gold Coast City Hospital a proud family man and returned from his vacation a widowed single father. Now Nurse Chloe Kefes is the only one brave enough to get close to darkley brooding Luke.

Chloe has been through much in life herself, and knows falling for Luke and little Amber is asking for a bundle of trouble. But if she can help bring that laughing, easygoing man back, perhaps Chloe can bring the sparkle into all their lives again.

I’m starting to think it is me, because once again I’m not quite on the same page as the book’s blurb. For one thing, Luke didn’t go on vacation – he was on sabbatical in France, working at a hospital, when his wife died. It’s been over a year and now he’s back to work. And it makes Chloe sound like a do-gooder who set out to help drag the two out of their grief, when she fought her attraction to Luke every step of the way. She’s got her own issues and getting involved with the single dad is definitely not on her to do list. Thanks to their working relationship, though, a friendship of sorts does spring up and over time develops into something more. But will Luke’s guilt over moving on stand in their way?

Part of me wishes that Chloe could have been the do-gooder she was made out to be, because between the two of them they have enough emotional trauma to sink a boat. It was absolutely heartbreaking to have two people have so much happen to them and as ecstatic as I was to see them get their happy ending, the journey there was definitely a troubled one. If you are going to take this one on, be prepared for a lot of sadness and hurt before everything turns out right in the end. But if you can get through it, the ending will make it worth your time.

[This is a part of a series and although Luke and Chloe’s story is complete there are portions that work in plot points for a related story (Gold Coast Angels: How to Resist Temptation). It didn’t keep Bundle of Trouble from being enjoyable but it might leave you feeling a little incomplete and searching out the rest of the stories in the series.]