Hello Stranger

Hello Stranger (2018) Lisa Kleypas

Set in England in 1876

Dr. Garrett Gibson is the only female doctor in England, and has spent so much time proving she’s good enough, she’s spared nothing for herself.

Ethan Ransom is a Ravanel bastard, former detective for Scotland Yard, and secret agent for the government. He’s also extremely unhappy about the power wielded by his boss and mentor, a man who fully believes that the ends justify the means.

Garrett gave him a skeptical glance. “Are you a truthful man, Mr. Ransom?”

He laughed quietly. “With my job?”

I particularly liked her colleague, Dr Havelock. He respects Garrett’s skill, but he still worries about her. He also does the right thing, even though in the story it feels like the wrong thing.

“As you’re well aware, girls are taught from early childhood that any interest in the workings of their own bodies is shameful. A young woman is praised and admired for her ignorance of sexual matters until her wedding night, when she’s finally introduced to intimacy with pain and confusion. Some of my female patients are so reluctant to discuss their own anatomy that they have to point to an area on a doll to tell me where it hurts. I can scarcely imagine how difficult it must be for a woman to take responsibility for her physical health when she’s always been told she hasn’t the moral or legal right to do so.

I think I appreciated that coming from the male doctor all the more than if it had come from Garrett. It’s a reminder that yes, things were awful for women, but not all men were part of the problem.

“Our existence, even our intellect, hangs upon love— without it, we would be no more than stock and stones.”

In addition to the romance, the story has–not a mystery per se, since we know who that bad guy is–but action and adventure, as Ransom attempts to stop the plotting of the man who taught him to be an agent.

I also enjoyed the medical bits.

“You may wish to look away, Mr. Ravenel,” Garrett murmured, “and keep making a fist.”

“Call me West.”

“I don’t know you well enough for that.”

“You’re draining the life essence from my median basilic,” he pointed out. “I’m on a first-name basis with women who’ve done far less to me than that.

I also really liked that Garret was based upon a real-life historical doctor, Dr. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson.

Lots of boinking, but I did quite enjoy the story.

Publisher: Avon
Rating: 7.5/10

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