Take Heart (St. Hawk's Medical #1) by Willa Okati

 A gentle hippie with a new heart, a hellion making good, and a rebel doctor discover together how healing takes more than just medicine.

Dr. Brendan West, a dreamer and a doctor, knows there’s more to life than the job, and he wants to experience it for himself. His first step after finding a temporary job at St. Hawk’s is falling for kind-hearted gardener Evan—only to discover that Evan’s already taken by boisterous Griff.

For his part, Griff sees this as more of an opportunity than a threat. He likes the good doc’s kind heart and clear eyes, and the way he sees it, their lonely doc needs them just as much, or more. With Evan on board, he sets to work bringing Brendan into a ménage relationship.

Brendan knows he could fall hard for the odd couple, but the thing is—he’s not in St. Hawk’s for the long haul. He can’t bear to surrender his heart if he’s only going to leave it behind.

Can the doctor, the gardener and the hellion find a way to make it work, or will they find themselves losing out on love?

I opted in to read this book primarily because of the author. The book’s blurb sounded interesting, but having read another book by Ms. Okati I was excited for the opportunity to read more of her work. When I started reading Take Heart I didn’t bother to look up which book of Ms. Okati’s I had read, but by the end of the first chapter I knew exactly what book, or rather books they were – her Mighty Casey series. Just as she did with Nate and Casey, Ms. Okati has created a similar couple with Evan and Griff in this book. I am not saying that she has recycled her characters because Nate and Casey would never be confused for Evan and Griff, but rather she creates couples who know one another so well that they don’t have to communicate every little thought out loud. I’m not talking about the cutesy couples who finish one another’s sentences, but the couples who are so in sync that don’t even have to start those sentences. In the case of Evan and Griff this turns out to be a very good thing as they work to get the good doctor to see the benefits of a long-term ménage relationship.

While this style of writing can be a tad disconcerting to begin with, I found that it made it easier for me to relate to Brendan’s hesitancy when faced with the couple. Heck, even having access to their inner thoughts still left me at a loss at times as to what Evan was trying to communicate to Griff; that is, until I realized that Griff could be just as slow on the uptake as I was. I suspect that some readers won’t enjoy the author’s use of the couple’s shorthand communication system, but for me it makes Griff and Evan feel even more realistic and the kind of people I would like to count as friends. Their silent communication comes into play quite a bit in their seduction of the good doctor and later in the bedroom and it just seems to make an already hot scene sizzle. These three men have some amazing chemistry together and I was oh so happy to have a front seat to that action. My only real complaint about the book was that I felt like there was a good deal unsaid as to why Brendan had taken a temporary job/vacation in St. Hawk’s. Take Heart is a great start to Ms. Okati’s new series and I can only hope that we find out more about Brendan, Griff and Evan in future installments in the St. Hawk’s Medical series.

This is a story with three MC’s Evan, a hippie ex heart patient in recovery for five years. A biker, mechanic and the love of Evan’s life and Brendan a doctor cover some shifts while the normal doctor is out of town for a while. Brendon kind of lost and out of sorts takes this job hoping to get refreshed, unwind, and find himself in this small community and hospital.  Has decided to take ten minutes and watch the annual festival and fireworks display, what he finds is an enchanting Evan giving him a hand full of sparklers and a cowboy hat. Next day, he has Evan as a patient and quickly discovers that Evan is in a loving committed relationship, but that Griff and Evan are looking for a third and they have picked Brendon to be it.

Ok, so all the above is what I hope I read? This story is so chopped up I found it hard to follow along. I did enjoy Evan almost childlike charm, glass half full attitude and Griff so in love with the guy will give him anything he wants, big teddy bear. And even though inviting a third into a commented relationship either temporally or permitted, as the case is in this book doesn’t bother me I can see some people not caring for it.  I just couldn’t handle the flow or lack of, to enjoy the overall story.

I really wanted to like this book but it just didn’t live up to the expectations I had in my mind.  I enjoyed the characters and I think that there was a lot of potential in this storyline but it just wasn’t realized.  There was a lot of confusion in the scenes. Sometimes a wrong name was said or parts were left out or skipped.  In a couple of the sex scenes it seemed like the author lost track of some of the hands and legs and what belonged to whom. I think with some editing this could be a really good book.

Again the characters are wonderful. I really liked Evan he is so sweet and a true hippie to the core. Griff is also a very likeable character but we don’t really get to know him very well. Brendan is the character that we get to know the best, but even that was just a bare minimum. I felt like there needed to be more time spent on developing the characters and their relationships with each other. Ménage romances can be done well and this one had great potential it just fell short in the end. 

Amazon || Totally Bound