Reviewed by llamareads on
When Tabitha's sister tells her she's getting married in two months and wants her to be her maid of honor, she thinks that's bad news. When she finds out that the groom is Tabitha's high school boyfriend - who dumped her when she decided to go to college and get a job - her immediate reaction is to lie and say she'll bring her boyfriend as well. Her, well, imaginary boyfriend. When pressed on details, she ends up describing the hot - but arrogant - doctor that all the nurses have nicknamed Dr. Asshole. You can guess what happens from here...
When I found out that the doctor's actual nickname was Dr. Asshole, I probably should've just dropped the book there, but this was for a challenge, so I just kept going, because how bad could this get really? Oh, it's bad, oh so bad. Brody - Dr. Asshole - decides to play along with Tabitha's lie, and then, inexplicably, decides that she's "his". A good deal of that seems to be based on the fact that since she's a workaholic nurse, she'll understand that his job comes first, before their relationship. Cue a lot of caveman-like alphahole behavior, plus some dubious consent sex scenes that were more of the "put tab a in slot b" variety than actually sexy.
Tabitha's family is complete one-note trash, and Tabitha is basically a wet noodle with no agency of her own or a life outside work. How she manages to stand up to Brody - the initial "meet cute" that catches his attention - is a mystery to me. In the giant showdown with Tabitha's family, instead of helping Tabitha grow a backbone and stand up to them herself, Brody punches the groom's lights out and then carries her off. And, OF COURSE, she ends up pregnant and quits her job by the end of the novella. Besides that, every single woman other than Tabitha in the book is a gossip monger, greedy freeloader, or clingy marriage-minded nurse - or a combination of all of the above.
I did like two things. Brody's attempts to find a nickname Tabitha liked (Tabberoni - because she loves pepperoni pizza - was my favorite) were hilarious, and Tabitha's sister's ridiculous cooking was giggle (and gag)-inducing.
Overall, this was a bunch of toxic nonsense, and I simply cannot recommend it at all.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 10 February, 2019: Finished reading
- 10 February, 2019: Reviewed