REVIEW: Tempted By the Rebel Surgeon by J.C. Harroway

Tempted By the Rebel Surgeon by J.C. Harroway: Dr. Lauren has worked hard at Gulf Harbour Hospital for a fair number of years now and believes she has the experience and skills to apply for the Head of ER. She works with a team that is both efficient and caring. She is sent for a tailspin when Dr. Mason Ward shows up in the ER after being away for six years.

Mason and Lauren were together during medical school. Mason wanted to go somewhere else outside of New Zealand to practice. He’d hoped that Lauren would go with him. Lauren decided that she needed to stay home to help with her brother Ben now that their mother was gone and their father not doing well with grief. Mason starts off with a group of doctors sort of like Doctors Without Borders and travels to all sorts of places.

Mason has come home for his father’s funeral. The two had been estranged, but it is his father. He thinks he will work a while at Gulf Harbour part-time and figure out his next move. Will he and Lauren be able to keep things on a professional level or will the former sparks ignite passion again?

I love the setting that include a beach that played a pivotal role in the plot. I will probably never get to visit New Zealand, but books such as this one can take me there with out leaving my home.

Lauren seems to not be able to let go of her need to continue to “mother” her brother. It felt like she became a “helicopter mom” in many ways. It also seems an excuse to not trust in a romantic relationship for fear of being abandoned. Mason didn’t really abandon her. He just felt like she was to blame for their break-up when she put him second to everything. She feels like he dumped her and didn’t stay in contact. I felt sorry for them both as they worked through issues of the past and present. I would have given this novel an even higher grade, but I felt Lauren rehashed the past a little too much.

As before, I made the mistake of reading the second book in the duet first. I am usually quite OCD about reading series out of order. This time it worked alright. There was some continuity because a secondary character in Tempted By The Rebel Surgeon is one of the main characters in novel #2. I suggest readers read them in order though. J.C. Harroway brings authentic medical stories to vivid life with details.

Book Info:

Publication: March 28, 2023 | Harlequin Medical Romance | Gulf Harbour #1

Will the returning rebel surgeon sweep the sensible ER doc off her feet? Find out in the first book in JC Harroway’s dramatic new duet, Gulf Harbour ER!

A wild fling…

…with her red-hot ex!

Dr. Lauren has taken the plunge and applied to become head of the ER. The problem? Her old flame, surgeon Mason, has just taken a post there! Their chemistry is still off the charts, and leaping back into this rebel’s bed is oh so tempting… ­But with her promotion at stake, why is she considering rekindling their romance? It’ll be much safer remaining as a scorching-hot memory—won’t it?