LOVE ON CALL - Shirley Hailstock
Silhouette/Special Edition
February 2004
SYNOPSIS:
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE: (3) Katika Floyd
REVIEW: Dr. Mallory Russell, a hard working resident at Philadelphia General, makes a habit of going unnoticed by most of those with whom she works. Everything changes when a dangerous situation brings her into contact with Dr. Brad Clayton, a handsome pediatrician on staff.
Mallory and Brad are two very complex characters. Mallory, a coma survivor, hides her secretive nightly visits to talk to unvisited coma patients from everyone around her. Brad is dealing with the discovery of the mother who abandoned him as a child. With Mallory’s help, he finds the strength to meet her. As Mallory helps Brad deal with this problem, she quickly finds herself falling for him. Unfortunately, Brad is much slower to realize the depth of his feelings for Mallory. It was very interesting to see how Ms. Hailstock shows them falling for each other as their paths cross they go about their lives try to ignore the passion that sparks between them.
LOVE ON CALL is the second in a multiple book series from Silhouette Special Edition that features members of the Clayton family. Brad is the brother of Digger Clayton, the hero in Ms. Hailstock’s 2003 release, A FATHER’S FORTUNE. As in A FATHER’S FORTUNE, LOVE ON CALL deals with issues of abandonment in a believable yet interesting way.
Thought the ending of the story seems rushed and a bit too tidy, I enjoyed LOVE ON CALL, and especially liked the subplots about Mallory’s clandestine work with coma patients and Brad’s work with homeless children and how this related to their individual pasts. I look forward to the next story in the series.