Book Review: The Ripple Effect by Maggie North

A grumpy burnt out physician and a sunshine psychologist must fake an engagement to save his whitewater canoeing/ relationship therapy startup in Maggie North's sparkling second novel about starting over.

Burned-out former ER doc Stellar J Byrd can solve any crisis except her own life. But with her financial prospects dwindling, she’d do anything to stay in her beloved, pricey wilderness town—even take a job as a camp physician at The Love Boat, an unspeakably touchy-feely relationship therapy startup. If there are sing-alongs, she’s calling in sick.

What’s worse? Her boss is Lyle “McHuge” McHugh, the sunshiny psychologist she’s masterfully avoided since their disastrous hookup last year. Hardheaded relationship scorekeeper Stellar plans to dodge his pathological generosity from now until September, but after a scathing article puts McHuge's romantic credibility into question, a fake engagement is the only way to salvage the camp’s crumbling public image.

It’s strictly business . . . but the more closely they work together, the more Stellar realizes her feelings for McHuge are anything but professional. With competitors hard on their heels and trade secrets at stake, they must find a way to marry his softness with her steel to build a business–and a love–that will last past summer’s end . . .

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My Review:

I’d already fallen in love with these characters in the first book, and I knew I needed to know more about them. I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting, but somehow it wasn’t the push-me/pull-you, love-me/hate-you emotional roller-coaster that Stellar and McHuge led me on. However, this story was everything I wanted it to be and didn’t even realize I needed. All about trusting yourself, trusting the people you profess to love, and being strong enough to weather the storms, both separately and together. And, learning that no matter how much we each think we know, there’s always more out there to discover. I'm also having a bit of a love-hate thing with their ending. I love how accurately it reflects our real world, but that avenging angel part of my personality is howling for greater justice. I don’t have any guesses as to what the author is going to bring us next, but I'm already excited to read it, whatever it is.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley.

Other books in the series

Rules for Second Chances by Maggie North