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Tall, muscular, compassionate and strong-willed, Dr. Jack Ferguson is everything Melanie Sparks wants in a man, and the last thing she needs in a boss. Growing up poor, Melanie dreamed of becoming a nurse, and her job at Jack's clinic can make that a reality—but only if she keeps her mind away from a tempting seduction that could never be more than a wonderful fling.
Son of a prominent Baltimore doctor, Jack is expected to choose a wealthy wife. Instead he's falling for someone his powerful father will never accept. Working with Melanie to help those most in need, Jack realizes that what he truly wants is the woman who's right in front of him—but can he convince Melanie of that?
Son of a prominent Baltimore doctor, Jack is expected to choose a wealthy wife. Instead he's falling for someone his powerful father will never accept. Working with Melanie to help those most in need, Jack realizes that what he truly wants is the woman who's right in front of him—but can he convince Melanie of that?
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 2008
About the author
Gwynne Forster
70 books128 followersGwynne Forster (1922-2015) was the pseudonym of American novelist, short fiction writer, demographer, and sociologist Gwendolyn Johnson-Acsadi. Forster was best known as an early innovator of the African American Romance fiction tradition. Forster was a prolific writer who authored more than 50 books, as well as multiple studies in the field of demography. Forster won a wide readership with her novels and garnered awards, including the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award and the Black Writers Alliance Gold Pen Award.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 24, 2012
Bullet points because I don't want to have to think about this anymore than necessary:
*The writing was like reading someone's very first fan fiction (only technically proficient).
*The dialogue was beyond ridiculous. I shouldn't be thinking of Leave It to Beaver when reading a contemporary book. No one, no one speaks like that in real life in the 21st century. This was a complete and total failure to make these characters sound like believable human beings.
*They kind of read like old timey robots programmed to do improv. The dialogue was that stilted and their conversations would start off making sense, but one would end a sentence and jump to a non-sequitur literally in the same breath. I felt I was yelling, "WHAT?! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM, THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!" every other page. They'd be having some ostensibly sweet moment and the next thing out of his mouth is something entirely random that set off a fight. 'Oh, Jack, this dinner was scrumptious!" (yes, it sounded exactly like that) "Thank you, Melanie. Why do you keep denying you have any feelings for me?" I AM NOT EXAGGERATING. This was constant.
*If you don't want to write cursing into your book, that's fine. Having adults in their 30's say things like "gosh", "gee", "heck" constantly makes them sound utterly stupid.
*There was no continuity. They'd have a conversation and a few pages later one of them would say something that completely contradicted the conversation. 'Why won't you commit to me?!' Okay, except you've had like ten conversations where you've each confirmed you'll only be with each other. "Unless she could tell by the, Porsche, she doesn't know how wealthy I am and she doesn't care." Uhmmm, what in the actual fuck? Let's say the Porsche actually didn't tip her off to his wealth. I think him having an office in the rich area of town, paying for this clinic in the poorer area on his own, the fancy-ass wealthy things he wears, buys, throws around, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. would freaking tip her off! Honestly, the whole thing was this nonsensical.
*Did an editor even read this?!
*Worst attempt at an alpha male. Ever. It's not all that cute to begin with, but when the author writes it with all the deftness of a toddler finger painting it becomes painful. He is the most over sensitive, YOU MUST TELL ME YOU LOVE ME. WHY, EVEN THOUGH YOU'VE JUST SHOWN ME AFFECTION TWO SECONDS AGO, WILL YOU NOT SHOW ME/TELL ME THAT YOU CARE ABOUT ME?! No lie, these are things that were said. Yet he was controlling to the point that he literally buckled her seat belt for her every time she got in his car. He would give her commands constantly. It was so clunky and awful.
*The Heroine read more like a teenager than someone who is 31 years old (and not because she only referred to her father as "Daddy"). Her behavior and reactions to things were so stupid. But so were his. I wish they wouldn't breed, their children will be dumb as a box of rocks and emotionally volatile. And the reason why she was only finishing up her schooling at this age was never addressed.
*The plot was so basic and clichéd. I still can't believe that this was somehow 300 freaking pages long. There was so much random crap. It makes no sense that it rambled on that long without really saying anything. No, seriously, so much of it didn't make sense! The character actions, reactions, interactions, and motivations were so dumb. Again, I spent way too much time stopping reading to exclaim how much what was going on made no damn sense whatsoever. HOW WAS THIS 300 PAGES?!
*No, seriously, how is it even possible an editor read this?!
Honestly, I could really delve deeper into all of these points and find new ones to bring up and give countless examples (which I kind of want to do because I want you guys to understand my pain) but I've already written more than I had intended. Apparently my abject frustration from reading this kind of poured out against my will.
*The writing was like reading someone's very first fan fiction (only technically proficient).
*The dialogue was beyond ridiculous. I shouldn't be thinking of Leave It to Beaver when reading a contemporary book. No one, no one speaks like that in real life in the 21st century. This was a complete and total failure to make these characters sound like believable human beings.
*They kind of read like old timey robots programmed to do improv. The dialogue was that stilted and their conversations would start off making sense, but one would end a sentence and jump to a non-sequitur literally in the same breath. I felt I was yelling, "WHAT?! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM, THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!" every other page. They'd be having some ostensibly sweet moment and the next thing out of his mouth is something entirely random that set off a fight. 'Oh, Jack, this dinner was scrumptious!" (yes, it sounded exactly like that) "Thank you, Melanie. Why do you keep denying you have any feelings for me?" I AM NOT EXAGGERATING. This was constant.
*If you don't want to write cursing into your book, that's fine. Having adults in their 30's say things like "gosh", "gee", "heck" constantly makes them sound utterly stupid.
*There was no continuity. They'd have a conversation and a few pages later one of them would say something that completely contradicted the conversation. 'Why won't you commit to me?!' Okay, except you've had like ten conversations where you've each confirmed you'll only be with each other. "Unless she could tell by the, Porsche, she doesn't know how wealthy I am and she doesn't care." Uhmmm, what in the actual fuck? Let's say the Porsche actually didn't tip her off to his wealth. I think him having an office in the rich area of town, paying for this clinic in the poorer area on his own, the fancy-ass wealthy things he wears, buys, throws around, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. would freaking tip her off! Honestly, the whole thing was this nonsensical.
*Did an editor even read this?!
*Worst attempt at an alpha male. Ever. It's not all that cute to begin with, but when the author writes it with all the deftness of a toddler finger painting it becomes painful. He is the most over sensitive, YOU MUST TELL ME YOU LOVE ME. WHY, EVEN THOUGH YOU'VE JUST SHOWN ME AFFECTION TWO SECONDS AGO, WILL YOU NOT SHOW ME/TELL ME THAT YOU CARE ABOUT ME?! No lie, these are things that were said. Yet he was controlling to the point that he literally buckled her seat belt for her every time she got in his car. He would give her commands constantly. It was so clunky and awful.
*The Heroine read more like a teenager than someone who is 31 years old (and not because she only referred to her father as "Daddy"). Her behavior and reactions to things were so stupid. But so were his. I wish they wouldn't breed, their children will be dumb as a box of rocks and emotionally volatile. And the reason why she was only finishing up her schooling at this age was never addressed.
*The plot was so basic and clichéd. I still can't believe that this was somehow 300 freaking pages long. There was so much random crap. It makes no sense that it rambled on that long without really saying anything. No, seriously, so much of it didn't make sense! The character actions, reactions, interactions, and motivations were so dumb. Again, I spent way too much time stopping reading to exclaim how much what was going on made no damn sense whatsoever. HOW WAS THIS 300 PAGES?!
*No, seriously, how is it even possible an editor read this?!
Honestly, I could really delve deeper into all of these points and find new ones to bring up and give countless examples (which I kind of want to do because I want you guys to understand my pain) but I've already written more than I had intended. Apparently my abject frustration from reading this kind of poured out against my will.
July 24, 2020
This is a feel-good romance where a girl born with a "plastic spoon" in her mouth falls for her "silver spoon" bred boss and of course their families disapprove.
Melanie is a struggling student who needs a job fast cause she pays tuition out of pocket for nursing school and her dad is abusive and she needs to move asap.
She finds one as a LPN to Dr. Jack Ferguson, who hires her on the spot cause his 2nd clinic is in the poor side of town and no one else will take the job.
While I'm not trying to give away spoilers this story was very fast-paced. And a lot of the medical scenarios had me looking confused. Like the fact that the patients who couldn't pay didn't even have Medicaid or Medicare (they didn't even charge sliding scale fees) Or the fact that hospitals wouldn't see them because of this (which is completely illegal btw)
Then the fact that with just Melanie and Jack there they had time to diagnose, treat patients and run lab. On to top of that they did inventory, medical billing which also involves medical coding. (Can you tell I work in the healthcare field)
Note:
I know this is a love story and them not having any extra employees did help develop the storyline but even a receptionist would've been more believable.
The slang was funny though. I laughed so much cause I promise they took me back in a time-machine using "Gee", "Bejeebers", and "Gosh" at least 20 times in the story. I had to remind myself they had cell phones and other 20th century amenities.
Okay, back to the love story. It felt rushed.. like Melanie and Jack instantly fell in love within days of meeting. There was really no background history, they were both battling their fathers, and both their moms had passed. Jack had an ex who caused some minor drama, and pretty much no dating history was done on Melanie to such an extent that for a second I thought she was a virgin. He seemed determined to have her and she seemed determined to have him but changed her mind a bunch of times.
I liked the story though and I'd recommend it for a nice, light read.
Melanie is a struggling student who needs a job fast cause she pays tuition out of pocket for nursing school and her dad is abusive and she needs to move asap.
She finds one as a LPN to Dr. Jack Ferguson, who hires her on the spot cause his 2nd clinic is in the poor side of town and no one else will take the job.
While I'm not trying to give away spoilers this story was very fast-paced. And a lot of the medical scenarios had me looking confused. Like the fact that the patients who couldn't pay didn't even have Medicaid or Medicare (they didn't even charge sliding scale fees) Or the fact that hospitals wouldn't see them because of this (which is completely illegal btw)
Then the fact that with just Melanie and Jack there they had time to diagnose, treat patients and run lab. On to top of that they did inventory, medical billing which also involves medical coding. (Can you tell I work in the healthcare field)
Note:
I know this is a love story and them not having any extra employees did help develop the storyline but even a receptionist would've been more believable.
The slang was funny though. I laughed so much cause I promise they took me back in a time-machine using "Gee", "Bejeebers", and "Gosh" at least 20 times in the story. I had to remind myself they had cell phones and other 20th century amenities.
Okay, back to the love story. It felt rushed.. like Melanie and Jack instantly fell in love within days of meeting. There was really no background history, they were both battling their fathers, and both their moms had passed. Jack had an ex who caused some minor drama, and pretty much no dating history was done on Melanie to such an extent that for a second I thought she was a virgin. He seemed determined to have her and she seemed determined to have him but changed her mind a bunch of times.
I liked the story though and I'd recommend it for a nice, light read.
April 3, 2011
Where do I begin? I think when you get to the point were you don't like the characters, you should stop reading. However I didn't take this step. The more I read the more frustrated I became. I was so frustrated that I started taking notes. Yep, you read correctly NOTES.
I was listing all the items that irked me but that soon became too much. So I just started skipping pages. Ugh!
**SPOILER** When her father came to her place of employment, it was OVER for me. Gwynne, really? She's 30 yrs old. Like really? I'm so mad at Gwynne right now. Not only am I mad at Gwynne, I'm mad at myself. I had read a horrible review but I purchased anyway. Should've listen and then I wouldn't have wasted my time. :(
Can I give a negative star?
Suggestion-WARNING*** - Don't read this story because your intelligence WILL be insulted. And I'm not talking about some books were its a simple story therefore you don't have to think. This story is so dumb that you will start questioning everything the characters are saying.....like in what world do the characters behave in such fashion. I enjoyed that the character was in her 30's (because I get tired of reading about early 20 yr old virgins) however she was an unbelievable 30. There's like a 10 year mental growth that most people have once they reach the 30's however this character acted more like she was 13. Ugh!!
In the past, I have enjoyed Gwynne's writing style. However she lost me on this book. Previously I liked the characters in her book I even repurchased a book that I read many years ago because I loved the story. This book should've ended on page 10. It did not take all those pages to draw out the story.
I was listing all the items that irked me but that soon became too much. So I just started skipping pages. Ugh!
**SPOILER** When her father came to her place of employment, it was OVER for me. Gwynne, really? She's 30 yrs old. Like really? I'm so mad at Gwynne right now. Not only am I mad at Gwynne, I'm mad at myself. I had read a horrible review but I purchased anyway. Should've listen and then I wouldn't have wasted my time. :(
Can I give a negative star?
Suggestion-WARNING*** - Don't read this story because your intelligence WILL be insulted. And I'm not talking about some books were its a simple story therefore you don't have to think. This story is so dumb that you will start questioning everything the characters are saying.....like in what world do the characters behave in such fashion. I enjoyed that the character was in her 30's (because I get tired of reading about early 20 yr old virgins) however she was an unbelievable 30. There's like a 10 year mental growth that most people have once they reach the 30's however this character acted more like she was 13. Ugh!!
In the past, I have enjoyed Gwynne's writing style. However she lost me on this book. Previously I liked the characters in her book I even repurchased a book that I read many years ago because I loved the story. This book should've ended on page 10. It did not take all those pages to draw out the story.
April 1, 2016
Jack and Melanie servants together
Opposites attract but even that requires a common good. With two people who are left wondering what direction they should take come together as a result of humanitarian efforts it was to be commended. For to see Melanie have to stick up for herself not only with her father but with Jack was worth reading and seeing the story unfold. It was good to see a visit with the Harrington brothers. Alexis the voice of reason for Melanie was perfectly interwoven into the story. This story has many dimensions and for me the pacing and foundation set was just right.
Opposites attract but even that requires a common good. With two people who are left wondering what direction they should take come together as a result of humanitarian efforts it was to be commended. For to see Melanie have to stick up for herself not only with her father but with Jack was worth reading and seeing the story unfold. It was good to see a visit with the Harrington brothers. Alexis the voice of reason for Melanie was perfectly interwoven into the story. This story has many dimensions and for me the pacing and foundation set was just right.
December 19, 2008
I like the way this book shows dating!!!! She just didn't jump into bed with the Doctor, they both took their time even though the sexual attraction was there. More books need to suggest waiting (on sex).
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August 20, 2009i enjoyed it....it was nice how the doctor & the nurse fell in love...it was like one of those fantasy relationships
January 9, 2012
it was enjoyable
January 12, 2012
This was a cute story.
June 2, 2014
Excellent! Second time reading
April 5, 2015
Great book!
November 27, 2015
Great book . Loved the way it was written. I loved the chemistry between Melanie and Jack.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews