This was a fun read, full of medical jargon. I liked that the characters were imperfect and it was interesting to see what the life of a resident would be like. The book was told in alternating POV and the audiobook was also very well done, making the book more enjoyable.

~~What I liked~~
-The book was well written and was easy to read (listen to).
-The characters were easy to relate to. Grace has social anxiety and Julian has ADD. Them together was enjoyable to see.
-Seeing Grace and Julian help each other was sweet.


~~What I didn't like~~
-There was perhaps a bit too much medical stuff for me, and I enjoy learning about new things, but it took away from the romance of the story a bit.
-I didn't like that Grace wasn't very open with Julian about her past. I get that it was part of the story, but I don't like books where communication issues are the underlying problem for the couple.
-Not being in the environment personally, I do feel like the rumor of Grace 'sleeping' her way into the program was over-perpetuated. At some point her own merit should have shown that she got where she was because she was capable.

Overall, this was cute, and I'll probably remember it because of the medical stuff, but it isn't one I'll likely revisit or highly recommend. It was a good debut novel, though, and the audiobook was good.

I really liked this story! It follows two residents trying to survive the chaos of becoming doctors, and the romance felt so real. I loved that Julian knew what he wanted but didn’t rush Grace into anything — he gave her the space she needed and was super patient. Watching them go from enemies to friends to something more was such a great slow burn. Julian really stuck by Grace, even with all the pressures they were both facing during residency. The narrators were new to me, but I thought they did a great job bringing the characters to life. If you’re into slow-burn romance with a lot of heart, definitely give this one a shot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the free advanced audio copy. I’m leaving this review voluntarily!

I rarely read medical based romance books and was really intrigued by this one. Overall it was a cute, quick read but I felt like the chemistry and the writing was not completely there. The medical aspects felt very real and I loved that the Author was an OBGYN. The banter between the main characters was cute but felt a bit rushed and clunky as it progressed. I would definitely consider reading another book by this author.

Love Sick
by Deidra Duncan

Love Sick is like a perfect blend of Grey's Anatomy and a classic rom-com, packed with angst, humor, and serious steam. Grace is just beginning her residency in OB, trying her best to fit in with the other new residents. Her social anxiety creates some tough barriers, and things only get harder when a rumor starts circulating that she "slept her way" into the program.

Julian, another new OB resident, has his own struggles, entering the program as a DO and working hard to prove himself. He hears the ugly rumor about Grace but tries not to judge, until he meets her in person and realizes she's the one everyone is whispering about. Their first meeting goes horribly wrong, but the banter that follows is electric.

As Julian learns the truth about Grace, what starts as tension slowly transforms into something deeper. Grace wants to let Julian in, but past heartbreak has built heavy walls around her heart. To be with Julian, she must learn to trust again.

I gave Love Sick 4 out of 5 stars. I loved that this book was written by a real doctor, bringing an authentic feel to the hospital setting. The pacing was excellent for most of the story, although the ending felt a bit rushed.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Meg Sylvan and Eric Yang, and they both did an amazing job bringing Grace and Julian to life! They nailed the emotions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the opportunity to experience Love Sick!

I freaking loved this book! Then I looked in goodreads and this is a debut novel! Amazing! All romance lovers need to read this one.

The storyline between Grace and Julian was so original. I can say that with 5000 books read! The story was refreshing, full of energy and promise. Loved it! 5 stars

Many thanks to Net Galley and Harlequin Audio for an audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was not on my radar until some friends raved about it. They were right! This gave such Grey’s Anatomy vibes. It was FUNNY and heartwarming. I loved this so much. Both narrators on audio were very engaging and told the story well.

If Grey’s Anatomy had a spin off focused solely on OBGYNs and was written as a slow burn enemies to lovers romance, it would be Love Sick by Diedra Duncan. This debut brings the drama, the passion, and the emotional gut punches all set in the high pressure world of medical residency.

Grace and Julian do not start off on good terms. We’re talking serious hate vibes. From the first chapter, the tension between them crackles off the page, and not the fun, flirty kind (yet). Their dynamic is chef’s kiss for enemies to lovers fans who like their romance with a side of real stakes and professional rivalry.

What sets this book apart is how deeply it dives into the reality of becoming a doctor. Duncan doesn’t shy away from the unglamorous side of medicine, the grueling hours, sleepless nights, emotionally draining patients, and the weight of constantly being evaluated. You feel what these characters are going through, and it adds so much depth to the romance and their character growth.

One of the most powerful threads in the story is how a single rumor can damage a person’s career, reputation, and confidence, especially in a world as competitive and hierarchical as medicine. Watching Grace and Julian navigate that landscape, while also slowly building trust and support for one another, was so rewarding.

Their slow burn is so worth it. From enemies to reluctant allies, to actual friends, and finally to something deeper, every step of their relationship feels earned. I adored their banter and sizzling chemistry, but also how they began to truly rely on one another in both their personal and professional lives.

Also, let’s talk about their friend group! The group therapy scenes were some of my favorites. Duncan gives us a vibrant cast of fellow residents, each with their own stories and struggles. It made the hospital setting feel lived in and emotionally rich, and honestly, I’m already ready for spin offs.

Love Sick is heartbreaking, smart, and swoony. It's perfect for fans of medical dramas, slow burn romance, and stories where love grows in the unlikeliest and most high pressure places. I can't wait to see what Diedra Duncan writes next!

I really enjoyed the audio of this one. I thought both narrators did a great job and really tied into the tension and emotion of the story.

Thank you to Harlequin Audio for this ARC and the gifted finished copy. All opinions are my own.

Grace & Julian are both first year surgical interns at a hospital trying to navigate the ins and outs of their new environment. After a rude rumor about Grace spreads and she thinks Julian is behind it, the two start to hate each other with a burning passion. But there's a fine line between love & hate...

this was SO much fun! i loved every second. Julian & Grace's banter was delightful & so funny, the medical school aspect was so enjoyable and real, and the spice was SPICING. i felt so bad for Grace that everyone was judging her, but i was so impressed with her tenacity. Julian was so sweet & down badddd for this girl.

the audiobook was incredible & i felt so immersed in the story. the narrators crushed it!

"You are a prison I don't want to escape. You are drowning in paradise."

🌶️🌶️

thank you so much to Harlequin Trade Publishing, Harlequin Audio, NetGalley, & Deidra Duncan for an ARC & ALC of this book 🫶🏼🫶🏼

4.5 ⭐️ rounded up. Thank you to Canary Press, HTP Books, Netgalley, and Deidra for the gifted copy. Love Sick is a Grey’s Anatomy inspired rom com that will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions! We get workplace enemies to lovers, forced proximity, found family and the best banter that doubles as foreplay. I listened to the audiobook and truly loved how the narrators brought this story to life!

Our two main characters Julian and Grace have quite the rocky first meeting, but it truly sets the stage for the whole book! Their relationship is full of sarcasm, tension, banter, animosity, and the sloooowest of slow burn!

My medical knowledge consists solely of what I learned from Grey’s Anatomy 😂 But Deidra, who is a practicing OB-GYN, gives us a glimpse into this world without ever making it overwhelming for those of us who have never put on scrubs (shoutout to all of the amazing female doctors out there). It was so fun and enlightening to read about the inner workings of a medical residency program.

I have a love/hate relationship with pop culture references in books. They can sometimes feel out of place and not necessary, but here they felt natural and added to the banter!

If you love a good enemies-to-lovers slow burn set in the workplace and you enjoy your medical drama with a side of banter, Love Sick is a must read!

Thank you NetGalley and Canary Street Press for the opportunity to listen to and review this audio arc copy of Love Sick by Deidra Duncan. This audiobook started out pretty strong, I enjoyed the narrators and the storyline seemed intriguing. I thought the drama was scandalous and made for an interesting read. Usually I have found anytime a book involves women in the workplace we can expect a lot of dumping on men which quite honestly is growing tiresome. Authors will put these over the top mostly unrealistic scenarios together that is pushing this agenda to villainize men and it’s kinda getting old at this point. Honestly, 90% of the things that happened to Grace at work would have been a major sexual harassment lawsuit. I’m not saying I doesn’t happen, I’m just saying it most definitely doesn’t happen often so it just came off like the author was trying to push a certain narrative. That being said, I didn’t mind it as much in this book because Jillian would fight back and I appreciated that. Honestly, that was really my only complaint in the book. All in all I enjoyed it. There were parts that would grab my attention but then there were also parts that would lose my attention. When Julian and Grace were pursuing each other they seemed to have good chemistry. Out of the two, I think I liked Julian’s character more. Grace wasn’t my favorite FMC and once the 3rd act breakup hit I was kind of just annoyed with her by that point. I was also expecting more of a reaction from her when she saw the photo with Julian in the background. I dunno, her character just kind of fell flat for me.

yeah, nope. I know what this book is trying to do but it's not working for me. The book struggles with making these toxic characters relatable and/or endearing. Both the FMC and MMC are insufferable and there doesn't seem to be anything redeemable about them.

I'm sure their viewpoints and attitudes are true to the medical field but it doesn't make for an enjoyable plot to me. The MMC is basically just negging the FMC and it's exhausting.

Oh, drama—where is all that drama that I just need oh so desperately in my life? I think I found quite a lot of it here in this book.

Okay, so don’t get me wrong; I understand the serious issues of a world in which the treatment of women for their supposed sexual behavior and how important it is to address these problems. In fact, I was very on board with building a novel of social commentary on how society, in general, should work to change the problematic opinions and behavior that subsequently occurs. And I felt for Grace through every unreasonable situation she had to deal with as a result of her horrid, gossiping coworkers. The realism of the situation is an unfortunate reality of our society and one that definitely needs to be addressed—

Alternatively, the situation with Grace’s ex was one that resonated with me personally, a sad fact of my—and I imagine many others’—life. And this, too, I feel is a topic that can help some to read to the extent that it could perhaps provide some catharsis. It’s certainly even worth exploring how such a relationship can impact future relationships.

All of that said, I can’t help feeling that <i>Love Sick</i> was one bit of drama after the next. The degree to which Grace allowed her past trauma to impact her behavior felt excessive—just bordering on the unrealistic—and had me questioning why this medical intern was not seeing a therapist, not only for this trauma but also for the repeated and problematic trauma that was occurring in the work place. This, however, is a smaller complaint to the larger one: that of how ridiculous dramatic Julian was.

Can I just say…I hated Julian. From the beginning of his behavior when the awful rumor began to his incessant and purposefully rude habit of straight refusing to use Grace’s preferred name. This girl was actively compared to a stripper in front of him and experienced severe harassment specifically because of the name she purposefully does not go by and he can’t even have the basic respect to use the name she asks him to??? And then readers have to watch him go from 0 to 100 because then rather quickly Julian is just oh so in love with Grace and simply cannot live without her.

I seriously could not stand a single second of being subjected to his POV.

Overall, the resolution to everything felt not only too little too late—which is less a criticism since this is realistic—and as though it did need a little more of a focus. Instead, the focus was more so on the romance and the manufactured conflict of Grace using her trauma as a reason to break up (despite neither party wanting to). This aspect of the story was so weak in comparison to the other.

I did really love the narrators. I think they were both pretty great, even if I couldn’t stand Julian’s character.

Unfortunately the 3 Harry Potter references within 20% of the book completely turned me off from finishing this. I’m a queer feminist and cannot support work that supports JKR. It’s 2025, we should not be platforming her or Harry Potter anymore.

Huge thanks to NetGalley, Canary Street Press, HTP Hive, and HTP Audio for the gifted advanced listening copy of this STUNNING debut from Deidra Duncan!

When Grace Rose begins her OBGYN residency, she’s hit with a cruel rumor: that she slept her way into the program. It’s completely false - Grace worked her ass off to get here - but the damage is done. In the fallout, she lashes out at fellow resident Julian, misjudging him as part of the bro culture behind the gossip. He’s not. But the spark from their tense first encounter sets them on a long, slow burn of banter, conflict, and undeniable chemistry.

What starts as antagonism (okay, deeply flirty antagonism) slowly transforms as they’re forced to work side-by-side. Julian and Grace begin to see each other for who they really are - vulnerable, loyal, and driven by a need to prove themselves in a toxic, high-pressure medical environment. Their romance builds as their friend group becomes found family, but their journey isn’t easy. Grace battles the sexism and scrutiny constantly aimed her way, and Julian wrestles with his own imposter syndrome.

This book completely surprised me in the best way. Love Sick is the perfect mix of biting banter, emotional depth, and real-world commentary. It’s as if The Hating Game and Grey’s Anatomy had a fiercely feminist, delightfully swoony baby. Grace and Julian’s “Found this. Thought of you.” texts? ICONIC. And beneath the banter, Deidra Duncan tackles workplace gossip, misogyny, and systemic bias with a sharp, nuanced hand.

This is one of the best workplace romance debuts I’ve read. It’s fun, flirty, and smart—and I cannot wait to read everything Duncan writes next.

🎧 Audiobook Thoughts 🎧 Narrated by Meg Sylvan and Eric Yang, this 10h 58m dual narration is perfection. Their chemistry, tone, and emotional delivery had me hooked from the very first scene.

The comp saying this is for fans of Grey’s made me immediately add this to my TBR and it definitely gave me those vibes, especially the earlier seasons. The tension between Grace and Julian was believable and gave way to some delicious banter, always a must for me in a slow burn romance which this one was. It takes place over the course of two years and it did feel like it took a crazy long time for these two to give into their desires and hookup. Or at least communicate with each other, it took them awhile to open up and once they finally did things were magical and adorable. The narrators were both fabulous and brought the characters to life with their performances and made the listening experience so fun.

𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁:

If you love Grey’s Anatomy this book is for you! It has all the vibes and drama. I loved this glimpse into the medical world and the tight knit group that interning creates. You feel the ups and downs as they progress through the programs and the found family vibes are strong. If you like a dreamy doctor MMC who knows how to treat a women right this books for you!

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬:

Grace worked her butt off to be one of five at the Texas University OB-GYN program at TUMC. But when she goes to the mixer before she starts she finds out there is a big rumor going around about her. The rumor is that she slept to get into the program and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Now she has to work even harder to get traction and respect with her mentors and peers.

Julian is a DO and to some that means he’s not at the same level but he worked even harder to get this internship spot. He was attracted to Grace from the beginning but he didn’t make the best first impression and she hates him. But they are stuck together the next few years and to make it worse they live in the same apartment.

Follow Grace and Julian as they navigate the mess and joy that is the intern years. Maybe they can set aside their differences and learn they are a stronger together then apart.

𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐲 13𝐭𝐡 2025.

𝙁𝙖𝙫 𝙌𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚:

“I should have told you a long time ago. You’re a prison I don’t want to escape. You’re like drowning in paradise.”

𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒍𝒍 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒅:

* Enemies to Friends to Lovers
* Workplace Romance - Doctors in Intern OB-GYN Program
* Forced Proximity - Live Same Apartment Complex
* Found Family - Close Knit Resident Group of 5
* Rumors, Drama and Grey’s Anatomy Vibes
* Banter & Slow Burn
* Mental Health Rep
* Dual POV

🩺🧑‍⚕️❤️👩‍⚕️🩺🧑‍⚕️❤️👩‍⚕️🩺🧑‍⚕️❤️👩‍⚕️🩺

Love Sick by Deidra Duncan is a fiery, fast-paced enemies-to-lovers romance that brings all the heat and heart. Set in the high-pressure world of medical residency, the story follows two ambitious doctors who clash hard from the start—but can’t seem to stay away from each other. Their chemistry is undeniable, even when they’re at each other's throats. The banter is sharp, the emotional beats hit hard, and the slow build of trust and vulnerability makes the payoff so satisfying. This is a solid debut from a new author I'm excited to read more from!

Grace and Julian are the ultimate grumpy-sunshine, enemies-to-lovers pair, with chemistry that crackles even during the most sleep-deprived shifts. Grace’s social anxiety and internal battles felt incredibly authentic, and Julian? Total swoon. The way their relationship builds—amid the pressure of residency, toxic rumors, and personal insecurities—was both realistic and full of slow-burn tension I couldn’t get enough of.

Meg Sylvan and Eric Yang brought these characters to life with so much heart and nuance. Their narration made me feel like I was right there in the hospital corridors, eavesdropping on every argument, flirtation, and heart-pounding moment.

If you’re a fan of medical drama, sharp banter, and soft-but-stubborn leads trying to protect their hearts, Love Sick is the perfect prescription. I laughed, I cried, I texted my book bestie in all caps. 10/10 recommend. 💉💔💘

This book was cute! I really enjoyed the pace, and even though we experienced the two main characters getting to know each other over the course of a couple of years, it didn’t feel slow or like it dragged on. Sometimes enemies to lovers can just feel like a workplace rivalry but I thought this trope was done really well in this setting. The medical aspects seemed really spot on and when I looked up the author it made sense because she has the same specialty as her characters! I listened to the audiobook and while it was done well, I didn’t realize I could become overfamiliar with a narrator and this happened for me with the female narrator. I couldn’t get another series she had done out of my head while listening. Overall still really good and probably wouldn’t impact most other people’s listening experience.

I loved medical TV shows so I listened to this book feeling like I was in a hospital TV show and I loved it. Having 2 narrators truly brought this book to life in my ears. Julian and Grace's voices were so well done. This is a fun RomCom with the enemies to friends/lovers aspect. I liked how the residents in this book had a good friendship too. The OB aspect made this fun and there was plenty of humor with their witty banter that I enjoyed! I think that this book will be a hit when it is out in May 2025.