While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.
Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she can’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?
Alexis is an emergency-room doctor, who will soon be 40, from a wealthy and influential family of surgeons. Her family has strong expectations for her career and personal life and Alexis has spent much of her life trying to meet those expectations.
After her car ends up in a ditch while she is travelling through rural Minnesota, she meets Daniel, a carpenter, 10 years younger than she is, who lives in the nearby small town of Wakan. Daniel helps her with her car and the two unexpectedly begin spending time together.
Daniel is deeply connected to his community and has a very different lifestyle from Alexis, whose life is centred around medicine, professional achievement and her family’s legacy.
What begins as a casual relationship develops into something more significant. Alexis finds herself drawn to Daniel and to the people and community around him. At the same time, she remains tied to her family, career and the expectations that have shaped her life.
Alexis is still dealing with the effects of a previous relationship with Neil, a surgeon her parents love and see as an appropriate match for her. As her relationship with Daniel develops, she is forced to consider what she wants for herself and how much of her life has been determined by other people's expectations. Alexis must decide how to balance her career, family responsibilities and relationship while determining what kind of future she wants.
I thought this story was okay and found it to be an easy quick read. It's written in alternating first-person perspectives between Alexis and Daniel, with each chapter labeled. It's #1 in the Part of Your World series. As a head's up, there is swearing and adult activity.
Considering it takest brains to become a doctor, I found Alexis to be immature and too dumb in the ways of the world. She's almost 40 and she still cares what people think and is trying please everyone so she keeps her relationship with Daniel hidden from everyone except her best friend, Bri. But she was emotionally abused by Neil and her parents so I guess that's why. Her father still treats her like crap (and she takes it) and her mother allows it. Though she was raised with money and still lives that lifestyle, I found it unbelievable that she didn't know how to sweep a floor (she didn't even know what a broom was called!) or peel a potato. Daniel was a nice fella but too perfect to be realistic.
****
I followed that up with All Roads Lead to Here, a short story that explains how Derek, Alexis' twin brother, meets Nikki/Lola, the pop star from The Happy Ever After Playlist. It's free when you subscribe to the author's email list (I only signed up to get this free story). Derek appears briefly at the beginning of Part of Your World.
The story takes place in Cambodia, where both Nikki and Derek are involved in humanitarian work following a typhoon. Nikki is volunteering at a women’s shelter, while Derek is working as a doctor, providing medical assistance to people affected by the disaster.
Nikki is a successful singer but the story gives more attention to the person behind her public image (there's no mention of her career). Away from her career and celebrity status, she is focused on helping the women at the shelter.
Derek, being in Cambodia, shows his commitment to helping people in difficult circumstances. It was a quick read.
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