I’ve read the first book in this series and enjoyed it a lot (don’t ask my why I didn’t post a review, but I’ll take care of that soon!).  I was so happy to see that Dr Josh got his own book next 🙂

*****

Heart Like Mine

Echo Lake #2

by Maggie McGinnis

Releasing April 5, 2016

St. Martin’s Press

Blurb:

Delaney Blair loves her job at Echo Lake’s Mercy Hospital, where she’s developed a reputation for being smart, fair, and driven. When she’s assigned to cut funding, she has to temporarily relocate her office, put on borrowed scrubs, and go toe-to-toe with Dr. Joshua Mackenzie, the interim head of the pediatrics department. His killer smile and rock-star body are distractions Delaney could do without, but she’s determined to stay focused while she brings his budget into line.

It’s not working.

Beloved by his colleagues and patients alike, Josh is too busy caring for sick kids to talk numbers with the sexy, stiletto-clad Delaney. Every time they talk business, tensions run high…but so does a powerful attraction neither of them can ignore. When an emergency brings Mercy to its knees, Delaney and Josh must work together to save lives. But can they also find a way into each other’s hearts?

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25663632-heart-like-mine

Goodreads Series Link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/145428-echo-lake

Buy Links:      Amazon | B & N | Google Play | iTunes | Kobo

*****

Excerpt:

“You’re just going to have to go down there, Delaney.” Megan propped a hip on Delaney’s desk two days later. Delaney envied her assistant’s long skirt, gypsy earrings, and long, loose cotton blouse. In college, she’d have topped it off with a head scarf and combat boots, but for the workplace, she’d gone with her standard-issue leather sandals.

Delaney looked down at her own outfit and wondered when she’d turned into a toned-down version of her country club mother. Her neatly ironed blouse was set off by a perfectly matched skirt and jacket, and as she fingered the pearls at her throat, she sighed. Then she let her eyes coast down her calves, down to the Jimmy Choos she’d bought just last month. It was her splurge, her bow to girliness and inappropriate spending, and damn, she loved these shoes.

She really did need to ditch the pearls, though.

“I can’t just go down there, Megan.” Delaney felt a tingle at the base of her neck, just thinking of walking onto the pediatric floor. No, she definitely couldn’t go down there.

“Well, he’s obviously not coming to you.”

“How can he just ignore my messages like this? It’s downright rude.”

“Or he’s downright busy. Have you seen the bed count on pediatrics this week?”

“No.” Delaney cringed. It wasn’t the kind of thing she kept track of on a daily basis.

“There is always the possibility that he’s not intentionally ignoring you. Just saying.”

“I’ll check.” Delaney clicked into the system that listed current inpatient numbers. When she got to the pediatric floor, her eyes widened. “Holy—”

“Exactly.” Megan raised her eyebrows.

“We don’t even have that many pediatric beds.”

“I know. They had to move a couple of the teenagers up to adult floors to make space.”

Delaney clicked back through the past month, and the patient counts went up and down a little bit, but not much.

“I’m just saying—this could be why Dr. Mackenzie hasn’t called back.” Megan leaned close to Delaney and plucked open her top button. “Which means you, third floor, this afternoon. He’s clearly isn’t coming to you.”

Delaney felt the chills creep down her spine. She had never actually been on Mercy’s pediatric floor—had never been on any pediatric floor—not since Parker had died.

“Delaney? You okay?” Megan’s brow creased as she studied Delaney’s face. “You are six shades of white, girl. Does talking to non-executive-suite people make you this scared?”

“No.” Delaney’s voice came out in a whisper.

“Oh.” Megan’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, God. I’m sorry.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

Delaney nodded slowly. “It’s okay. It’s been—a long time since he died. Not like you would think of it.”

“But I should have. I’m really sorry.” Megan tried to look into her eyes, but Delaney’s felt all shifty. “Do you want me to go with you?”

“No, Meg. I don’t want to go at all.”

“But—”

“I know. He’s not coming to me.” She took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly. Maybe it wouldn’t be horrible. Maybe she wouldn’t melt into a panic-puddle at the elevator doors. Maybe she wouldn’t see Parker everywhere she looked.

Maybe pigs flew.

*****

Review:

I love how McGinnis managed to cover a current topic realistically without being preacher.  Budget cuts in so many public areas (hospitals, schools, govt offices, etc) are common today and Delaney has to work on the pediatric department at her hospital … yeah, that’s an easy thing to do.  But I love that she digs in and tries so hard to do things right.  And that includes her interactions with the oh-so-sexy Dr. Mackenzie.

Josh takes his involvement with his patients very seriously and having a number cruncher try to cut even more from his bare bones department isn’t going to go over well.  Especially when he finds her quite attractive.  But she’s also got brains and heart and, while that makes her even harder to resist, it is something he can tap into to help out the kids.

A battle over budget could so easily be boring but McGinnis makes it, and Josh & Delaney’s struggles, easy to read and east to get caught up in.  I was involved not only in their developing relationship – which is fun and entertaining – but also their efforts to find a way to make things work with the board.  Besides the possible conflict of interest regarding money, there’s also the issue with Josh’s very full schedule and Delaney’s personal experience with doctors and sick kids.  I knew things had to work out on all fronts but I was anxious to see on how it could be done.

So far McGinnis is 2 for 2 in my book and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what she brings next.  There’s this certain little Italian spitfire just begging to meet her true love 🙂

*****

Author Info:

USA Today bestselling author Maggie McGinnis is a Golden Heart Finalist who lives in New England, vastly outnumbered by both children and cats. She writes sweet romances set in Montana and Vermont, and feels extremely fortunate that through her books, she gets to fall in love every single day. She’s a sucker for romantic comedies, popcorn, and the perfect green pen, and if she wasn’t an author, she’d totally be rocking a Nashville club in her pink cowgirl boots. It’s probably good that she embraced the author thing, because her singing skills are better suited to the shower, and really? Pink cowgirl boots?

Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

*****

Giveaway:

Grand Prize winner of $25 gift card to a retailer of the winner’s choice, and two additional winners to receive eBook copy of FOREVER THIS TIME

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/521ac4c8982/

*****

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