...Bookfanatic

‘Surprise Delivery’ is the 5^th book in DJ Jamison’s series ‘Hearts and Health’ and for me each story has gotten better as the series progresses. In ‘Surprise Delivery’ we get to spend more time with Dr. Casper Rollins whom we met in ‘Room For Recovery’ and Medical Director. Eric Holtz who first appeared in ‘Bedside Manner’ as best friend to one of the MCs.

Casper lives life to the fullest…taking risk, going on exotic vacations, seeking thrills and adventure where ever he can find them. It’s his way of honoring and celebrating the love of his live, Kage Myers. A man who lived life full on never turning away from the next challenge or adventure that it held for him…after all ‘You Only Live Once’.  The man who Casper gave his heart to and had planned to spend his life with until he was taken from him too young and too soon. Casper’s closed his heart off to any kind of romantic involvement but he’d sure love to show the hospital’s work-a-holic Medical Director how to relax and enjoy himself.

Eric’s always been a workaholic and with his husband leaving him and nothing but a big empty house to go home to he really doesn’t see the need to change that…at least not until Olivia (Livvie), his teenaged, pregnant niece knocks on his door in need of a place to stay and some supportive family. Something that for both Eric and Livvie is very much lacking in their lives. Eric’s missed having family so while he and his niece don’t really know each other he’s willing to give her a home and the supportive family that she desperately needs but what he doesn’t count on is the fact that helping his niece could just be what’s needed by two men who are drawn to each other but have shut themselves off from love and romance.

I liked both characters when we met them in earlier stories from this series so getting to see them both as their romance developed was certainly no hardship for me. There was a lot about this book that worked for me first off Casper and Eric…to me this was a perfect pairing. While they were just different enough to keep things interesting, they weren’t so different that I was left wondering what the attraction was. I was also a big fan Livvie. I liked the way the author portrayed this young lady. She was human, she made a mistake, but she was also willing to own up to what she’d done and she wanted to have a say in how she fixed things, so to speak. This worked for me because one of the things that I’ve always believed is that we all make mistakes, it’s how we take responsibility for what we’ve done and how we handle the fall out from that mistake that shows the true measure of a person’s character and Livvie showed that she was definitely someone worth knowing and going to bat for…so points to Eric for his part in helping her.

I also really liked Casper’s family. They loved him and while they also loved Kage that didn’t mean they wanted Casper to bury himself beside him…neither literally nor figuratively. Also, we were once again treated to a peek at couples from previous stories in this series. Something that’s catnip for me. The romantic in me just loves it when an author weaves in characters and events from previous stories adding to the depth of the story and to my emotional involvement in things.

While there was some angst and drama in this one for me it was just enough to keep the story interesting and engaging but not take it over the top. However, while I did enjoy the romance between Eric and Casper there were a few moments for me that were just a bit too sugary sweet and I would have enjoyed them a bit more had they been less so, but this is definitely a matter of personal taste and something that needs to be decided by the individual.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one, the ending was good and worked for me and the epilogue was a nice touch showing a very solid HFN for this couple with a definite lead in to a much deserved HEA and the next book in this series.

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A copy of Surprise Delivery was graciously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review