Heather Morrison is in her thirties, single, successful professionally, and wants to be a mother. With a series of failed relationships behind her, she's not interested in including a man in the picture. Instead, she applies, and is approved, to adopt a little girl from China. As part of her plan, she buys a condo large enough for her new little family.

Unfortunately, painting the rooms triggers an asthma attack, her first ever, and she winds up in the emergency room at Lenox Hill Hospital, looking up into the eyes of handsome pulmonologist Dr. Jeff Davis. He's charming as well as handsome, and Heather briefly entertains a few daydreams before learning that he is also married. Since this is her first asthma attack, he gives her prescriptions for maintenance and rescue medications, has her make an appointment to see him at his office in two weeks, and at some point gives her his personal cell number.

Over the next several weeks, he lures her into a more personal relationship, first coffee at a bookstore, then dinner... Heather feels a little uncomfortable dating a married man, something she's never done before. Only Jeff knows it's also a major violation of professional ethics, and potentially a violation of the law.

Strauss does a wonderful job portraying both Heather's personal strength, and her vulnerability to the charming but predatory doctor. Almost more impressively, she makes Jeff Davis not a cardboard villain but a real human being with moral flaws that make him dangerous.

As Heather is drawn deeper into her relationship with Jeff, he continues to treat her for her asthma--and an expanding list of other issues for which she did not previously think she needed medication. Her life starts spinning out of control--missed deadlines and mistakes at work, missed lunches and outings with her two best friends, more stress in her already stressed relationship with her mother.

This is a moving story dealing with a problem too many patients are vulnerable to. Highly recommended.

I received a free electronic galley from the publisher. ( )

While I do feel that the issue of doctors using their authority to influence patients to do things like have affairs is an important one to bring to light, and that a fictional story can often have more impact than non-fiction articles or books, I struggled to understand how the relationship between Heather and Jeffrey began.

Heather is described as being a woman who has given up on a "traditional" family and has set in motion plans to adopt a baby girl from China. She's been approved as an adoptive mother and has even gotten her own place to share with her daughter. To me, this doesn't jive with a woman who would enter into an affair with a married man--one where she has to know there is little to no future of them having a "traditional" family.

That said, once the affair starts, I can see how someone in that circumstance would continue it--she starts smoking again because he leaves opened cigarette packs for her, he prescribes medications for her at the mere mention of a symptom, etc.

I also didn't expect the book to get as detailed as it did about their love life. I felt the story could have been told without all the details the author included. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. It dealt with a doctor who was very unscrupulous and who really didn't care who he hurt in the process. I appreciate that the author took a topic that isn't very widely discussed and wrote about it in a very effective way. ( )

Heather has given up all hope of having a traditional marriage and has requested adoption of an abandoned Chinese baby. About the time she receives word that her application for adoption has been approved, she moves into a single home and, because of new paint she has put on the walls, has a debilitating attack. Heather finds herself at a hospital, attended by a hospital pulmonologist, Jeff Davis. He diagnoses her problem as asthma, though this is the first she learns of having the affliction. What follows is a story of their relationship and how it crossed the line from patient-client to lovers. When things go bad, Dr. Davis drops Heather, and she falls into a deep funk. Then, after checking websites about doctor-patient relationships that evolve into something more than they should, she reports his unethical behavior and sues him for damages. This is Heather’s story of that suit and her emotional and personal fallout from the relationship. I found the book a fascinating read. The characters are well developed and the events presented well done and very realistic. I grew to detest Dr. Davis almost from the start because of his manipulative ways and how I could see him pulling in Heather hook, line and sinker. Hi actions were egregious, to say the least, and it became obvious he was an unethical, unprincipled doctor who preyed on young female patients, sucking them in with his carefully calculated words and actions until they were hopelessly falling for him. What I did not like was the way the author, as well as many of the reviewers, gave Heather a pass. She knew and all her friends told her from the get-go that she should stop and not become involved, yet she still did. Dr. Davis was totally wrong and unprincipled, but Heather was in her mid-thirties and not some young 16-year old. She was hoping to become a mother to a little adopted Chinese baby, but never did have the wherewithal to resist giving into her emotions. I personally think both Dr. Davis and Heather has unresolved issues from their past, and I would have liked to have more background on them. In addition, I never did get the feeling that Heather had learned her lesson from the experience and would be able to resist giving in to her emotions is another situation, and I am afraid others would crop up as she went through life. The book is worth reading but not a must-read, in my opinion. There are many unscrupulous people like this doctor out there, and we all need to be able to resist temptation. I am by no means exonerating Dr. Davis. I just would have preferred a more balanced approach to the situation. This is a good book to read for anyone who is unaware of how easily and quick we all can fall into a danger zone—dangerous to our emotional well-being and our futures. I debated giving the book three stars, but finally ended up giving it four stars because the book was well written, meaningful and still interesting. I received this from Library Thing to read and review. ( )

Received this kindle book free from the author, and totally enjoyed it! I would have gladly spent the $$$ to buy it and been happy. A very fast and believable read about a patient and her doctor, who unethically pursues Heather outside of his practice. Characters well-developed, hard to put down. ( )