Very excited to rebar this one! Full readies to follow both here and on the blog. I e never really been one for medical shoes but recently got into Greys Anatomy. So I’m very excited to dive into this book. And see the relationship develop between Mira and Lucien.

Grey's Anatomy meets The Hating Game in Sasha Clinton's #ownvoices contemporary romance novel...

Mira Krishnan is a cardiothoracic surgery fellow whose three big goals in life are:

1. Achieve superstardom in the field of heart surgery
2. Crush Lucien Stone by showing him that she’s the superior heart surgeon.
3. Fall in love with someone who is NOT Lucien Stone so she can erase her 19-year-long crush on him.

Lucien and Mira have been rivals since high school, and she’d like nothing more than to wipe that smug, overconfident smirk off his devastatingly handsome face.

But when their rivalry goes too far and they’re caught in the middle of a fight by the program director, Mira’s life changes. To avoid being expelled from the fellowship for failing to conduct themselves in an appropriate, collegiate manner, Lucien and Mira are forced to lie about dating each other so they can dismiss their behavior as extreme flirting. But going on fake dates, vacations, and spending time together makes them realize that underneath all the jibes and rivalry, there's potential for something more…and perhaps, instead of looking into other people’s hearts, they need to look into their own.

Enemies to lovers (or in this case rivals to lovers) is a difficult trope to pull off. Besides A+ chemistry the rivalry needs to be funny, not petty, the banter excellent, and the proximity necessary. Otherwise we’re just presented with two obsessive, bickering adults acting childish while they could avoid each other instead - and nothing kills romance quicker than petty characters.

Did Lucien and I pull it off? Yes and no.

Lucien and Mira have been rivals since they were sixteen and involved themselves in a competition for years. Being thirty-four now and fellow heart surgeons at the same hospital, they bicker (not banter) every encounter. I really wish I could have seen more of their decades-long rivalry, like references to moments in which their competitiveness really showed. Instead they mentioned being rivals and arch nemesis a LOT, but they seemed to share little history for two people pining/obsessing about each other for so long. I really think that was a missed opportunity, it would have been so much fun.

Lucien was an easy to love character, but I couldn’t really warm up to Mira. It was through Lucien’s observations that Mira became more than a petty, proud woman. He really saw her, understood her behavior, and knew her better than she knew herself (but miraculously failed to notice her being in love with him for all these years). But whenever the chapters were told from Mira’s perspective, she only seemed to notice Lucien’s hotness and hated him for having everything and being perfect. I really didn’t get why she followed him throughout those years, choosing the same residence etc. etc. Mira could have avoided him, instead she chose the same career path because she couldn’t lose from Lucien. To be honest, the competition felt very one sided, like Mira was obsessed with beating Lucien, while Lucien didn’t seem to take it that seriously.

Anyhow, I really liked the story whenever it was told from Lucien’s perspective. His small gestures and courting was sweet. I also liked the premise and the execution was okay.

This is a stand-alone book, but if you read her first book Henry and Me, you will recognize one of our main characters Lucien.

Lucian and Mira are rivals. Since high school, their relationship has been fueled by trying to one-up each other, one snarky comment at a time. Now they are both Cardiothoracic fellows who after getting caught in a compromising position, have to fake date to make it through the end of their fellowship.

Of course, all this snark and rivalry and hate hides the fact that both of them have secretly been in love with each other for a while.

Sex, misunderstanding, and love follow of course.

I love a good: enemies to lovers book and this one was good. I love that we got the point of view from both of our characters. I did find myself more frustrated with Mira than I was with Lucian, but in the end, it all worked itself out.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc. All opinions are my own.