This is a Romance, and this is my first Harlequin Medical Romance I have read, and I loved it. I loved the characters. The book is super short, but it has so much into this book, and it is so beautifully written. I cannot say much about the book because I do not want to give anything away, but I loved the storyline in this book. This book as a small town feel, and it takes on a small island where everyone knows everyone. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Harlequin Medical Romance) or author (Annie O'Neil) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review about how I feel about this book, and I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

These kind of Christmas books are my favorite. I read this one in June for that feel good holiday romance and loved it

This was a new-to-me author and I’m so glad I got the chance to read this book. It was a sweet second chance Christmas romance for two people who had gone to the remote island of Bourtree Island. It was well written and had a developed storyline. The characters were charming and the island residents were heartwarming. Both Audrey and Cooper were both there to figure out their future and help the island residents by providing medical care.
Audrey Walsh was running to escape Christmas and her fiancé’s betrayal. She was committed to spending five weeks being the district nurse to the community. She was touched by the resident’s open hearts and their love for family.
Dr. Cooper “Coop” MacAskill grew up on Bourtree Island but had left it behind when he was old enough. Now he has returned but feels guilty for not coming back before his grandmother passed. Coop has been offered the job as the physician for the island but is not sure he wants to return after the hard time he had as a child living on the island. Can Audrey and Cooper find their future on the isolated island providing medical care to the community?
I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Nurse Audrey was excited to be planning for her christmas wedding until she found her fiancé with someone else. Now she's off to Bourtree Island temporarily for the holidays to lick her wounds and ends up working with the local Dr. Cooper who is also there temporarily. While there is limited time its no surprise with them spending time together that sparks would fly.

I enjoyed this book. If you like a short romance you'll like this book. To me it felt a very rushed but it was still a fun read. Not only did I enjoy getting to know the characters, the issues, I also got to see the small town life how close people in the community was. I loved seeing how everyone worked together. I loved seeing the bit of romance between the two even if it was a bit too fast in my opinion. I liked seeing their issues and watching as they were trying to work past them. Dr. Cooper had regrets which lead him to where he was, and Audrey was finally taking off those rose colored glasses and seeing what her past relationship really was. Overall this was a pretty good book I enjoyed it.

Move up to Scotland to get away from a bad breakup and at the same time the new doc is getting over his loss of this grandma. Will he move back home or go back to his fancy hospital? They kick it off with working great together and getting to learn the island for her. They help the town and soon fall for each other. Cute, and happy feels- Christmas time of year!

3 stars
2 steam

My Review: I have never read any of Harlequin's Medical romances so wasn't really sure what I should expect. To be honest, I struggled a bit with this one but it was mostly with the terminology used to fit the setting. I am from the US so some of the more British or European terms sometimes trip me up, as well as the concept of District Nurses. With that said, I did love the dynamics between the characters and the way the story progressed both with their relationship and that of the individuals they treated. I loved the small town atmosphere and the hardiness of the citizens. It was a short read that fit into the busy season but was still completely satisfying and heartwarming.

My Rating: It really took me a bit to get into this book but it was more on me having difficulty grasping the various different terms than I am used to, but I did enjoy the characters and the way their relationship developed (which was my main reason for reading a romance). I give it a rating of Three Paws.

Wonderful quick holiday read to get into the season. While the story contains a nurse and doctor, I don't know that I would call it medical but....

I liked the story about the two of them having to work together to help the Scottish islands residents. It is a touch a sad but it so very reflects real life that it makes you appreciate the joy more.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin for the ARC to prepare this honest review.

This was a heartwarming small-town (island) holiday romance between two people running from their pasts. A few days after finding her fiancé getting merry with an elf, Audrey heads for Bourtree Island as a temporary District Nurse. Her Christmas spirit in tatters, Audrey hopes to escape the holiday altogether. That doesn't look likely when she's met by Dr. Cooper MacAskill - in a Santa suit! Cooper is an ER doctor in Glasgow but returned to Bourtree Island to bury his grandmother. He struggles with his guilty feelings over his infrequent visits and not being there when she died, as well as his bitter memories from his childhood on the island.

I liked the slow burn development of the relationship between Audrey and Coop. Thanks to Audrey's anti-Christmas feelings and Coop's struggle to gain some holiday spirit, they didn't get off to the easiest start. There are also their upended expectations. Audrey thought the doctor would be an older man (like the one about to retire), while Coop expected a more matronly woman, like the island's regular nurse. Neither expected a good-looking counterpart and the accompanying sparks of attraction.

Audrey hits the ground running as Cooper takes her on her first patient visits within moments of arriving. I loved seeing them quickly settle into a professional rhythm of teamwork and mutual respect. That teamwork gets an extra boost when burst pipes at her temporary lodging send Audrey to stay at Coop's house for the duration. As they work together tending to the islanders' needs, Coop's obvious respect for Audrey's abilities goes a long way toward rebuilding the confidence that her ex had destroyed. At the same time, Audrey helps Coop move past the guilt.

I liked how they grew closer as Coop and Audrey shared the pain of their pasts and their concerns for the future. It doesn't take too long before their simmering attraction bubbles over. Neither one knows where it will lead, but they'll take the "happy for now." Both understand that the time for decisions is rapidly approaching and have some serious soul-searching to do. Their insecurities return as each believes that the other doesn't return their feelings, affecting their decision-making. I seriously wanted to shake them both and tell them to talk to each other. I loved Coop's "aha" moment and his determination to do something about it. The pub scene was fantastic, and the follow-on down the road a couple of years was great.

I loved the setting of a small island, where everyone knew everyone else. Because of Cooper's familiarity with the people and their circumstances, he treated his patients with more than just medications. He also had to reconcile his childhood memories with their adult counterparts and accept the changes. I enjoyed getting to know some of the islanders/patients and how their issues affected both Cooper and Audrey.

Ahh, I had so much hope from the synopsis for this book and it unfortunately just didn't hit the mark for me.

Scottish island holiday romance! Set five weeks out from Christmas on a far-flung Scottish island, locum District Nurse Audrey Walsh and Doctor Cooper MacAskill discover that running away from their problems sometimes delivers surprise joy and fulfillment. They both grapple with trust and self-worth, and what love means when disappointment and guilt are mixed in. I love the cover, but I'll admit that I cast Jamie Fraser as Cooper and Clare Randall Fraser from Outlander as the Audrey, while I read.

Audrey understandably doesn't want to lose herself in another relationship like the whirlwind that left her broke and homeless at the start of the holiday season. Copper, for his part, is a muddle of guilt at not being with his grandmother when she died and lingering bitterness from his childhood on the island. As they work closely, serving the health needs of the close-knit community, they find an unexpected kindred spirit in each other.

I enjoyed the pacing, with the HEA not rushed at the expense of character development and the relationships the leads cultivated with their patients. While they fall in love over the course of several weeks, they don't lose themselves or their resolve to find themselves again. This contemporary romance was the perfect travel holiday escape I needed.

Annie O’Neil is a popular name in the medical romance category, and this was my first, and possibly, last book by her. The premise is good. A few weeks before her Christmas wedding, she finds her playboy surgeon fiancé cheating on her. In despair, she runs from London to the farthest island town in Scotland she can find. She decides to return to her calling to be a district nurse, that is a nurse who makes house calls, as opposed to working in a hospital or a clinic.

He is from this tiny island, but couldn't wait to leave town. His parents had been the town's lushes and they died drunken deaths. His grandmother raised him, but the shame followed him all through his teen years. The minute he could, he lit out of town to Glasgow, and eventually became an emergency room doctor. He loved the fast life and excitement of working in the ER. But his allergy to the town of his childhood meant that he didn't return in time to realize how ill his beloved grandmother was. She died, and he is wracked by guilt, and he is back in town helping the local elderly doctor out.

Both protagonists are suffering from heartbreak, and they bond as they spend their days making house calls on patients. Interesting premise, right? What sank it was the constant navel gazing of the protagonists. Over and over, they retread the ground of their past angst. How they should've done something different, been different, etc. etc. The first couple of times felt authentic; after that, when it was the same old thing with no new intuition or action on their parts, it got tiresome.

I also felt that the story's conclusion was unbelievable. I understand this is a small town story and a Christmas story. So I do get that the conclusion of the story would be that the protagonists would wholeheartedly choose to stay on the island and practice medicine there. However, in a romance story the HOW is what matters. And the author failed to convince me that a London nurse and a Glasgow emergency room doctor would be content puttering around in a small town far removed from the big city. I wanted the author to sell it to me, and she didn't.

I was looking for a cheerful, heartwarming Christmas story and I love Harlequin's Medical line. Sadly, this was depressing with a heroine who found her fiance cheating on her and hates Christmas, and a hero who is swimming in guilt over not being there for his grandmother in her time of need. They didn't get off on a good start even if they both acknowledged that the other was gorgeous and easy on the eyes. Unfortunately, I was not in the mood for something that was going to drag me down into the dumps and I wasn't patient enough to wade through the depressing bits to get to the bits where they started to thaw towards each other, particularly Audrey who has serious trust issues after what happened with her and who wanted nothing to do with another man in her life and who definitely did not want anything even remotely related to Christmas cheer. I'm sorry Audrey suffered such heartache but I was not in the mood to wade through the doldrums with her.