Julie Doran had been very happy in the busy peaceful atmosphere of the geriatric ward caring for her aged patients and on the friendliest of terms with the physician in charge Hal Gardiner But everything changed for the worse when Annette Marsh came on in charge of the ward Was it Julie s fault and if so what ought she to do about it Nurse Julie of Ward Three Harlequin Romance 873 Julie is the senior nurse on ward 3 which is a geriatric ward and the back cover copy makes it sound like she s a hot mess but she s not she s smart and practical about following hospital routine as far as makes sense but she s willing to let some things go to accommodate her elderly patients Her staff nurse is fine with this as is the young kind attractive doctor Hal assigned to the ward but then OH NO the staff nurse breaks her ankle and there s a new staff nurse named Annette Marsh who is glamourous but clearly thinks she s better than everyone else and is open about disliking the ward and the patients. This is a fairly typical set up but surprisingly rather than the inscrutable aloof doctor of the usual Harlequin Hal is sweet and friendly and warm and he can t stand Annette at all Julie is slowly developing a crush on Hal who is clearly interested back but not only does Annette get in the way out of spite but there is a Louche Doctor with no boundaries who is aggressively pursuing Julie Interestingly this one reads like a coming of age story than like a typical romance novel it has a very YA feel when she and her friends are hanging out together and the way they talk is recognisably 1960s Magzine Teenager they almost sound too young really since they re qualified nurses but they talk like 16 yr olds It fits with the feel of the plot though Julie has to figure out how to manage her personal relationships which she does by drawing a good line with the Louche Doctor who keeps hitting on her and also in her professional ones learning to manage other nurses with some grace respect Annette even though she s very different and ofte annoying and deal with patients even when they are scary There is eventually a HEA but I didn t find it very satisfying it wasn t terrible but it s just not where the real weight of the book was Sadly this is Callender s only Harlequin as far as I know so I won t be able to read by her and compare English