Heart Like Mine by Maggie McGinnis Series: Echo Lake #2
Published by St. Martin's Paperbacks
Publication Date: April 5th 2016
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 368
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC
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Disclaimer: I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely mine.
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?
Review
It’s been so long since a book hooked me completely from the first page and made me drop everything to finish it, but HEART LIKE MINE did just that. I have read a few books by Ms. McGinnis but this is by far her best. It is such a beautiful, tender, sweet romance that warmed my heart and left me smiling and I think she rocks at writing classic love stories.
As a financial analyst at Mercy Hospital, Delaney Blair has been give the difficult task of slashing the budget for Pediatrics or risking the loss of her job, but the head of the department isn’t going down with a fight, especially since the current budget isn’t sufficient and dares Delaney to relocate her office to his department for a couple of weeks to observe firsthand how its run before making her recommendations. While this isn’t exactly her first choice, she has her own reasons for wanting to keep the department funded.
Dr. Joshua Mackenzie is determined to do right by his patients and will take on the clueless managers from the top floor who have no idea of how things are really run on his floor, but he’s definitely not expecting Delaney and her commitment to doing right nor her effect on him, but she surprises him because of how she throws herself into helping out on the floor in spite of her very personal reasons for not wanting to be there.
Both Josh and Delaney are dedicated and passionate about what they do and find common ground in their desire to keep the doors open, and soon find themselves putting their heads together to find ways to fund the department independently. All the time spent together allows them to get to know each other better and draws them even closer.
This romance is of the smoldering variety and while the attraction between them is intense, it’s the emotional connection between them that powers this story and will have readers rooting for them, especially when their professional ethics clash with their personal desires.
I enjoyed this book so much that even before I finished it I was already checking out the rest if the series because of how good it was. This should definitely go on the keeper shelf.
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.
About Maggie McGinnis
Maggie McGinnis, USA Today Bestselling Author of Accidental Cowgirl and Driving Without a License, which was a finalist for Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Award is a former high school English teacher, an accomplished musician, and a certified black belt, who lives in New England with her family.
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