Reading this felt like watching a slow-burn romance on a medical drama in the best way! Really enjoyed this one!

LOVE SICK ❣️ by @deidraduncanwrites release date: 5/13/2025 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 stars!

Y’all… I just found another author to add to my favorites list. This book was everything. I loved Grace and Julian and felt every emotion that could be felt in this read. I also love how it took place on the labor and delivery unit as it was always one of my fave units to work on 🤭 the banter, slow burn, EVERYTHING was perfect in this read. If you love medical shows like Greys anatomy, this is also for you!

What you’ll find in this book:
🚑slow burn
🚑medical romance
🚑top notch banter
🚑enemies x lovers
🚑protective MMC

This book was amazing! The story was so well written and I could not put this book down! The main characters were so cute together!

Love Sick By Deidra Duncan

Greys Anatomy ✔️
Rivals to lovers ✔️
Slow burn ✔️
Banter ✔️
Mental Health representation ✔️
Grumpy x sunshine ✔️

Deidra Duncan's debut novel Love Sick was impossible to put down. When I read the dictionary at the beginning I knew her writing style was going to be phenomenal.

Every Grace out there deserves a Julian.

Actually everyone deserves a Julian.

This story had me swooning, giggling, crying... All the emotions. Right from the beginning I was emotionally invested in these characters lives. I will say there are a LOT of side characters and sometimes that was hard for me to follow.. but it fit for the setting.. wouldn't be much of a hospital if we didn't have a whole cast of people. Some of the side characters you will love... Some you will *loathe*. The rumor mill at the hospital was absolutely BRUTAL to read.

But the love story that slowly... Agonizingly slowly... unfolded will be hard to move on from.

I hope to see many more books from Deidra Duncan in the future. ❤️

Thank you Deidra Duncan, Harlequin Trade Publishing | Canary Street Press, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review

This book simply wasn't for me. I've been in a medical drama phase so I thought this could scratch a similar itch, but the writing, the references, the lack of any real character development or plot, it was all a little too much for me to handle.

Ahhh I loved loved lovedddd this. I adored the pacing, the smooth and believable, organic transition from enemies to friends to lovers over a period of years. This was a master class in slow burn, with phenomenal attraction and no insta-lust. Above all else, I thoroughly enjoyed the immersive specificity of an OB/GYN residency, the type of peak behind the curtain we get from Ali Hazelwood, Jacqueline Firkins, Julia Whelanand Yulin Kuang just to name a few. I have no idea how or why our American medical programs are like this, but I appreciate the dirty dive into the grueling system and the way relationships are the light that guides them through. I will absolutely read any future books by this author!

Love Sick by Deidra Duncan is sweet, quirky, and full of heart! With adorable banter, lovable characters, and just the right amount of swoon, it’s the perfect feel-good romance. A total serotonin boost!

Cute, cozy, and completely charming!

2.5 ⭐

Love Sick by Deidra Duncan is an enemies-to-lovers, doctor romance. I really struggled to get into this novel and found the writing to be somewhat choppy. I enjoyed the funny and ridiculous medical anecdotes. Additionally, the storyline related to toxic culture regarding gossip/slut shaming towards women was important. Unfortunately, the story just seemed to bounce around too much from one topic to another.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Deidra Duncan for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely love how the chemistry between Grace and Julian unfolds in a delicious slow burn, and their banter is absolutely entertaining. They’re complete opposites, but the tension between them is impossible to ignore. As much as they try to keep things professional, the spark is undeniable. The setting, with a tight-knit group of OB-GYN residents, adds a rich layer to the plot; there’s humor, drama, and that perfect will-they-or-won’t-they tension. Watching Grace battle her insecurities while Julian works to prove himself makes their romance feel earned, real, and incredibly relatable.

New residents Grace and Julian do not hit if off immediately. Grace is haunted by rumours as she’s starting out her new residency and her first impression of Julian is negative (though unfair). They have the perfect “fiery banter” that is mistaken as dislike (but everyone around them knows better). It’s a lovely slow burn story. Spice level is low, but chemistry is great.
Both characters have supportive families and are part of the same friend group.
Overall, 4 stars. This was a great quick read.

Enemies to Lovers. The book starts with Julian and Grace as incoming residents in an OB/GYN program. Grace is the subject of rumors and slut shaming as soon as she enters and throughout her residency. Julian, after initially being a dick, just doesn’t buy into the rumors though Grace thinks he does. They bicker constantly but their banter is so funny. You can see the attraction building. And building. And building. Slow burn for sure. It is so worth it when they get together.

The effects of the rumors and slut shaming are starkly drawn. Most women can relate. At the very least we know or love someone who has gone through this type of ordeal or other forms of sexual harassment. Probably almost all of us have experienced workplace sexual harassment. Because it is so relatable and because of the depth of the shaming it might be hard to read, it brings up difficult emotions. The truth of this book is so immediate. A soul punch in places. I do think there needs to be a warning at the beginning about the content that might trigger some readers-not only from the sexual harassment but also from mothers and babies dying.

But the shaming adds depth and realism to the story. It really is a wonderful slow burn love story. Well worth reading.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book!!

Alright, I admit that what initially caught my attention with the book Love Sick was the fact that this was a romance between two OB-GYN residents. As an OB nurse who works at a teaching hospital I was intrigued to see how this book would unfold. I'll be honest that I didn't have high hopes but kept an open mind.

I'll start with the things that I didn't like. First, the amount of misogyny by the characters in the book towards each other was WILD. I mean, I work with male and female OB-GYN residents and attendings and they could not be more respectful and kind - to patients, nurses and other doctors. I cannot even fathom the male residents acting like the male residents in this book in 2024. And the year after year sexual harassment towards the FMC? Also seems far fetched. Yes, I am in a blue city in a blue state but would people act like this in Texas?!? Geez, I hope not.

Second, the incident that ultimately gets the MCs together was a sentinel event? That was a bit triggering, I wish it was around something else. The whole thing was kind of bananas.

What I liked

What redeemed the book for me, and what won me over, was the good slow burn enemies to lovers chemistry of the MCs. It had a bit of a Hating Game vibe which I really liked. Good chemistry is a romance novel counts for a lot and I love a slow burn. Also, I like how they don't add a lot of filler plots but mostly focus on the couple themselves. I was a bit annoyed, though, with all the good chemistry that the author chose to make the book a "fade to black". It was not the direction I felt it should go.

Ultimately I ended up liking it a lot more than I expected and would read this first time author again. I will round up a 3.5 star rating to a 4.

Typically, I am a sucker for a workplace/rivals-to-lovers/forced proximity/doctor romance; however, this one just really didn't do it for me. And I honestly think it's just a me problem because I couldn't really connect with the story or the characters. I found the writing to be a little too choppy, and the timeline throughout the story went on for too long. I feel like if the story revolved around a single one of their residency years and then an epilogue, I would have been able to get more depth out of the characters. I did like the mental health representation, and how the characters were trying to heal from their pasts, but I feel like I just needed more from the story in general.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED this book! It is now a comfort read. Deidra did such a good job at recognizing that her audience may not understand all of the terms and added a terms page to help combat any confusion. If the medical field interests you this is a great book to read. I liked that this book wasn't all happy go lucky, the rumors and themes of overcoming misogyny gave Love Sick another level of depth. Overall I would most definitely recommend this book.

I wasn't a fan of this book. The story sounded interesting but the writing just wasn't it for me. Not to mention that the lead guy would so readily just believe rumors that he heard about her. I only made it a few chapters in and I was too annoyed with the characters to keep reading

This was a fun, quick, entertaining read. As someone who is part of the medical field, I LOVED the co-resident love story and the medical aspects of this book. I didn’t find either character to be rather likable, but that’s okay! Overall, it was a solid read and I look forward to future books by this author.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to get this book early on Netgalley!

This is the first book I've read from Deidra, and I can't wait to read more.

If you are a fan of romance novels AND find yourself binge watching every medical drama, then this book is for you. If you aren't into a lot of medical jargon, then you might not love this book as much as I did because it has a lot of medical content.

I couldn't put this down and was super invested in Grace and Julian's dynamic over the years of their residency and was rooting for them so much. I loved this book!

I absolutely was obsessed with this book! Totally reccomend to all romance readers!

Perfect for if you loved The Fake Mate, Grey's Anatomy, and Undeniably Convenient!

As a nurse, it's hard for me to find a medical romance and NOT cringe / find blatant disparities / think it's annoying that it's loosely based off Grey's Anatomy; BUT this one hit's the nail on the proverbial head! I absolutely adored Grace -- I think to a degree; we are all her. We have all been in a position with rumors about us, albeit usually we're younger when it happens but I know how horrible they can be. Despite all the drama she's experiencing and the stress of residency, she still is determined to do her best and be a good friend.

Julian is the perfect book boyfriend. His first impression isn't the best, and he comes off as a dick, but he is genuinely a good person. The banter between him and Grace is unparalleled and the slow burn can rival that of Marianna Zapata.

There are some heavy parts to this, but overall, there is humor and love too, if you want to compare it to a T.V. show -- Scrubs is a better comparison. I legit cried when I finished this book only because I desperately wanted to reread it again. Everyone who gets to read this for the first time, consider yourself lucky. I need more already. I also know any book I subsequently read will not hit the same dopamine receptors this one did, so I guess I'm going to hit a slump, thanks Diedra (but it's okay, there are so little books that make me feel this way)

It would be unethical (see what I did there? no? okay, bye) of me to rate this anything less than five stars when I couldn't put it down to sleep two nights in a row. (The antidote was to switch to a different book and pass out within a chapter both times... AT 1 AM!)
Fans of The Resident or Grey's Anatomy will adore this book. It has the drama, romantic tension will-they-won't-they, and medical setting from both shows. I think Deidra's voice is perfect for a romance and her life experience as an OB lends a layer of authenticity that I crave in any book. The characters are well-written and pulled at my heartstrings. If Julian wasn't so fictional, I'd have to fight Grace for him. I loved the flirty animosity, the friendships, and the enemies-to-friends-to-lovers arc! The third act made me want to pull hair but I do think that it was exactly how each would react given the circumstances and their history. Fantastic debut and I can't wait to read another from her.
Thank you to HTP Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.