Addie Woolridge

Samantha Holbrook is a young doctor, starting a research fellowship at a hospital in San Franciso. Flying back to SF from her family home in Ohio, she responds to a call for a doctor to respond to an onboard emergency. Her specialty is obstetrics, not emergency medicine, but no one else is responding, so she does.

Turns out there's another doctor on board, who had headphones on and didn't hear the call. He also matches the totally inadequate description the flight attendant gave her, and it takes a few moments to figure out the patient is another guy just a couple of seats away.

The other doctor, Grant Gao, is a little older, and definitely more experienced, and their joint effort to respond becomes very embarrassing for Sam, even though she's ultimately the one who works out exactly which "magic mushroom" the patient is high on.

Later, much to her distress, she discovers that he's the senior research fellow at the hospital she'll be doing her research fellowship. Not her boss, but embarrassingly close to it.

Sam is sharing an apartment with friends Duke Washington and Jehan, whose last name I can't find. Okay, no one cares as much as me, I get that. Just remember, if you are someone who cares as much as me what the characters' last names are, hers is omitted here only because I can't find it in the book.

So these three are sharing an apartment, all doing a research fellowship at the same hospital, and they're good friends.

Sam finds the idea for her research project when she has an obstetrics patient who had skipped her last two appointments, who was told to keep this one by a doula she just happens to know casually. The doula, Kaiya Owens, got concerned about her condition, and told her she really needed to keep her next appointment. She does, and it's good thing.

That's the germ of Sam's proposal--recruit experienced doulas, who are culturally connected to the very people most intimidated by the medical establishment, and have them provide more frequent contact with maternity patients, pregnancy and birthing classes, and the advice and support, such as lactation assitance, that nurses can provide--except that they're alreadybadly over scheduled. Start a real birthing center at the hospital, and track outcomes and patient response to determine if this should be a permanent program.

This is a major undertaking for a young research fellow, and Grant Gao, and Sam's friends, and the hospital director, Dr. Franklin, are all concerned she's taking on too much. Franklin agrees to let her give it a try, if she can get the funding.

It's here that we start to see what good friends Duke and Jehan are. They pitch in on helping her write her grant proposal, identify funding sources, and submit it to potential fuding sources. Sam gets the funding, and agrees, no, volunteers, to help Jehan plan for her engagement party by sending out the save-the-date announcements and the invitations.

Unfortunately, her mother chooses this time to ask her for "just a little favor." Do all the work of planning and organizing a reunion for her father's old Navy friends in San Franciso. Sam's brother will be doing the same in Los Angeles, where he lives now.

And no attempt on Sam's part to explain how busy she is, how demanding her schedule, the importance of what she's doing, produces anything but passive-aggressive guilt tripping and threats of going no contact. She shouldn't cave, but she does.

Oh, she also has to plan the launch day party for the birthing center, including being in a video to promote the program to the funder's fellow venture capitalists and NGOs. It's on the same date as the date her mother insisted on for the reunion party.

Yes, she should have said no to her mother. But, sorry, folks, I've been there, with a mother for whom nothing I did was good enough, and there was always another hoop to jump through to not-quite-manage to prove I was a good-enough daughter. It does terrible things to you, and it took therapy to stop giving in every single time.

So I really felt for Sam, her inablity to say no, and her completely unexamined belief that any help from anyone needed to be reciprocated immediately because nothing is ever "no strings attached."

Which bring us to Grant Gao. Who is handsome, smart, organized--and a lot kinder and more giving than is immediately obvious. Sam's very attracted to him, and absolutely convinced he can't really be attracted to her. Despite that, he manages to figure her out a little bit, and provide help in ways that really matter.

But he also has a tendency to make her play guessing games about his intentions, which is just about the worst thing he can do with Sam.

There's a lot going on here, and the characters, including the secondary characters, are interesting and well-developed. There's also a good look here at how hard it is to get the necessary services going in exactly the communities that need them the most.

I've seen complaints that this isn't really a rom-com, or isn't a good rom-com. I loved it. It's a rom-com with someone like me, and a family I recognize, in it.

I really enjoyed it.

I received a free eloctronic ARC from Montlake, via NetGalley.… (más)

*Thanks to the publisher and author for a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.*

Actual Rating: 3.75

I've been in kind of a reading slump for a while but this book was actually the perfect one to get me out of it. On the surface this seems like a common contemporary adult romance, but the story actually turned out to be so much more than that. There was an extremely refreshing level of maturity in the topics and relationships it covered.

Anatomy of a Meet Cute follows Sam, an ob-gyn who has an unfortunate (and embarrassing) run-in with a doctor who just then happens to show up at her place of work. In desperate need of a mentor to support her community program, Sam has no choice but to ask Dr. Grant Gao for help. And thus the drama begins. Combined with an overbearing mother, a friend's imminent wedding, and the stupid hospital bureaucracy, Sam finds more and more on her plate — and her inability to say "no" starts biting her in the ass.

Admittedly I'm not a huge fan of medical plots and so I wasn't that interested in that part of the book either; instead, for me it was more about what that showed about Sam's character growth. Through it we saw her dedication to her craft, social commentary about underfunded communities, the pressure of work, and more.

In fact, I think Sam's character development was the strongest part of the book. I've read several other reviews calling her overly snarky and defensive, but I actually found this really unique in a main character. To me, she seemed to be a paradox between confident and insecure, which made her all the more realistic and relatable. There are a few times it got too much but it was directly and decently addressed by the end.

I quite liked Grant's dynamic with Sam too; yes she was prickly but he was able to stand his own and had his own way of calling her out for it and providing advice in a really straightforward way. I really wish we got more about him and his backstory because there were times he felt reduced to being Sam's love interest.

Still, I absolutely loved their story and it was one of those stories that made me giggly and kick my feet in the air. The kind that gives you butterflies.

I really enjoyed the side stories too — Jehan's wedding and Sam's mother — I felt like those were the stories that really elevated this book into something more than a rom-com. It felt almost slice-of-life as we watched these burdens pile up on someone, bit by bit.

Overall, this is definitely a book I'd recommend for anyone in search of a light romance — especially if you like female main characters that are just a tad more hard-headed.… (más)

I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was when I received the arc of this book. I have been passionately searching for a book just like this and I am so happy to say that I was not disappointed. If you love Grey’s Anatomy, you’re going to love this story.

Sam and Grant’s interactions left me giddy and had me wanting to kick my feet and squeal as if it was actually happening to me, that’s how you know it’s good writing.

Sam, Duke and Jehan have the cutest friendship and it really was the highlight of this story for me. I loved every moment between the three of them. There’s something so special about found family tropes, especially in a doctor/hospital setting. This was everything I was searching for and wanted.

”If you want to kiss me, this is your moment.”

I am not proud of the sound that left my body when I read this line but I couldn’t help myself.

The important lesson that this book explored is that it’s okay to be selfish. It’s okay to ask for help when you need. I think that’s really important and I’m really happy that it was something that was addressed and shown in the story. I loved being able to see Sam learn how to set those boundaries and stand up for herself.

I really enjoyed this story and I can happily say that I would definitely revisit it in the future.

Thank you to the Publisher, Montlake for providing me this arc!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.… (más)