Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: The Doctor’s Secret 
SERIES: Copper Point Medical #1
AUTHOR: Heidi Cullinan
NARRATOR: Iggy Toma
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: April 25, 2019
LENGTH: 9 hours, 49 minutes
BLURB:
The brilliant but brooding new doctor encounters Copper Point’s sunny nurse next door…and nothing can stand in the way of this romance.
Dr. Hong-Wei Wu has come to Copper Point, Wisconsin, after the pressures of a high-powered residency burned him out of his career before he started. Ashamed of letting his family down after all they’ve done for him, he plans to live a quiet life as a simple surgeon in this tiny Northern town. His plans, however, don’t include his outgoing, kind, and attractive surgical nurse, Simon Lane.
Simon wasn’t ready for the new surgeon to be a handsome charmer who keeps asking him for help getting settled and who woos him with amazing Taiwanese dishes. There’s no question – Dr. Wu is flirting with him, and Simon is flirting back. The problem is, St. Ann’s has a strict no-dating policy between staff, which means their romance is off the table…unless they bend the rules.
But a romance that keeps them – literally – in the closet can’t lead to happy ever after. Simon doesn’t want to stay a secret, and Hong-Wei doesn’t want to keep himself removed from life, not anymore. To secure their happiness, they’ll have to change the administration’s mind. But what other secrets will they uncover along the way about Copper Point…and about each other?
REVIEW:
When I saw that Cullinan was releasing this book I was salivating. I love hospital dramas and Cullinan is one of my favourite authors so had really high hopes for The Doctor’s Secret.
Hong-Wei is a hot shot surgeon. He can pretty much choose where to work and what to do. But after the pressure from his residency he wants some peace and quiet the small hospital in Copper Point offers. He didn’t plan on falling for Simon, his surgical nurse – or worse expect the no dating staff policy the board recently implemented at the hospital.
Parts of this story I really loved, and other parts I didn’t like as much. Let’s start with a few things that made this book for me; the characters. There were so many great ones, both main characters and the supporting ones. I loved the friendships, the vibe of the town and how close they all were. I also loved how being gay, bi or lesbian was a non-issue for (I think) everyone. That it was all part of everyday life and just was. There were no raised eyebrows, stares or snide comments. It was nice to say the least.
The relationship between Simon and Hong-Wei didn’t feel quite right. I mean I can see the attraction between them and they fit together. I just feel that Cullinan missed the mark a little with these guys. The pacing felt off, at first there were stolen glances and shy words – both afraid to be seen together. Then, they were both all in, in the “following you to the end of the world” kind of way. There was no middle ground, no real building of their relationship. It was also a lot of telling how they felt, how their relationship developed but we were never really there for it, didn’t experience it. I missed that.
One of the things I really disliked about this story was the whole “no dating co-workers” rule. I mean come on! This is the 21st century and firing people depending on who they date just don’t feel right – at least not to the point where people don’t riot against it and just accepts it. Let me give you an example, there was a couple that had been together for five years, the relationship policy was implemented and poof they were both fired. !! Their relationship pre-dated the stupid rule and they still get sacked? Maybe I’m an idealist, but that shit just isn’t done. It was hard for me to get passed it. And this stupid policy was the root of most of the issues for Simon and Hong-Wei so that made me even more mad.
Then there was the ending – I wasn’t a fan it (I don’t mean the HFN ending, but how they got there). I mean Hong-Wei and Simon deciding to leave Copper Point felt like giving up, letting the board and their stupid policy win. I mean I get that it’s not always possible to slay the dragon – especially when power-hungry men loving to exact control is in charge. But they didn’t even try, try to put up a fight, try to change the policy. Fight for each other. If they can’t fight to stay together, how can they hope to last? To top it off, it was all magically resolved on its own, mostly. It felt anti-climactic to say the least. For have caused so much trouble and drama and to have it all fizzle out.
Iggy Toma did a great job narrating this book and drew the listener into it. He’s not only a narrator but a performer as well. One who adds so much feeling to Cullinan’s words that it made you walk the halls of the hospital beside Simon and Hong-Wei, meeting patients and hanging out with friends. I also came to realise one of my previously unknown biases, and I’m grateful to Toma for that.
Toma has different voices for his characters – just like he always have. However, in the beginning I wanted him to have switched the voices between the Simon and Hong-Wei. I wanted Simon to have the deeper voice and Hong-Wei to have the lighter one – that was how I heard them in my mind. At least until I realised that was because of my bias; where Asian’s (and yes, I’m generalising here) have lighter voices. So Hong-Wei having the deeper voice felt wrong. Until it didn’t. When realising this I have to say that I’m glad Toma narrated the voices this way – breaking the norm and daring to be different.
The Doctor’s Secret had a lot of potential and many great characters, so while this book wasn’t among my favourites I am still looking forward to what else this series will bring.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Great review but I can say living in a small town by the good ol’ boy network with board members overlapping different boards, committees, business, etc. I can totally see a policy like that happening and people not fighting it. Like signing what amounts to an anti-marriage equality statement to keep your job when you don’t agree with it.