The Cajun Doctor by Sandra Hill
Publisher: Avon Books
Publication Date: May 30, 2017
Date Read: May 31, 2017
Length: 416 pages
Source: Edelweiss
★★★☆☆
New York Times Bestselling Author Sandra Hill delivers another Tante Lulu Adventure as twin brothers leave Alaska to discover their Cajun roots
Dr. Daniel LeDeux and pilot Aaron LeDeux travel to the swampy bayous of Louisiana, where they discover a long-lost family. The usually stoic Daniel, a burned-out pediatric oncologist, is especially startled by the interfering LeDeux matriarch, Tante Lulu, bless her crazy heart, who wastes no time in setting him up with local rich girl Samantha Starr.
Scarred by a nasty divorce from a philandering New Orleans physician, Samantha has sworn off men, especially doctors. When Samantha’s step-brother gets into serious trouble, she must ask Daniel for help. But Samantha faces even more trouble when the handsome doctor casts his smoldering Cajun eyes her way.
The steamy heat of the bayou, along with the wacky matchmaking efforts of Tante Lulu, a herd of animal rescue rejects, including a depressed pot belly pig, and some world-class sexual fantasies create enough heat and humor to make both Daniel and Samantha realize that love and laughter can mend even the most broken heart.
This was just an okay read for me. I got off to a pretty rough start with this book and seriously considered giving up on it. I am glad that I stuck with it because the actual romance between Daniel and Samantha was really well done. Once the romance really got going and because the total focus of the book, I really did enjoy it. I actually ended up reading the book pretty quickly once I got over the difficult start.
Daniel and Aaron LeDeux are twins that come to Louisiana to meet their father’s family after their mother’s death. Daniel is a pediatric oncologist, which is an emotionally draining job for him. After his mother’s death and a very difficult case at his work, he decides to leave medicine. They stay in Louisiana and Aaron pushes his twin into buying an old mansion that needs a lot of work.
Samantha is from a very wealthy family but she hasn’t always had it easy. She works hard at the family business, Starr Foods, and seems to have it all together. Her ex-husband is always after her for more money despite the fact that he should be making a good living himself as a doctor. After her divorce, she starts to take in animals needing rescued and has quite the interesting menagerie, including a depressed pig and a bird with a dirty mouth.
I really liked Daniel and Samantha together. They just seemed to fit and they had a lot of chemistry. In the past the pair didn’t get along very well but they soon figure out that what they each thought of the other wasn’t very accurate. I liked how quickly Daniel jumped in to help when Samantha asked. They really seemed to work well as a pair while they were dealing with the larger issue.
There were some things that I really didn’t like about the book. I hate to say it but Tante Lulu would have to top my list. I know that her parts of the book were supposed to be funny but I found them to be over the top and ridiculous. She is a very prominent character for the first part of the book and I couldn’t stand reading about her. I was so glad when she faded from the story and I started to really enjoy the book. Hundreds of pages went by and then she entered the book again. I didn’t think her character took over the story at the end of the book as she did at the beginning. A lot of the conversations in this book are written in the Cajun dialect which I found difficult to read after a while. I simply didn’t enjoy reading so many creatively spellings. I am very thankful that Daniel and Samantha didn’t have the same strong Cajun accent that some of the other characters had.
I am really not sure if I would recommend this book to others. This book is number 10 in the Cajun series and while it read fine as a stand alone, I do think that readers who know some of the characters from the earlier books will appreciate their appearance much more than I did. I am really not sure if I will be picking up any future books in this series.
I received an advance reader edition of this book from Avon Books via Edelweiss.
About the AuthorSandra Hill is a graduate of Penn State and worked for more than ten years as a features writer and education editor for publications in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Writing about serious issues taught her the merits of seeking the lighter side of even the darkest stories.
Yikes 10!
I think I'll pass on this one. Those overpowering quirky matriarch type characters can be really hit or miss for me and this one sounds like a big miss. It does sound like it has potential though and I'm glad you enjoyed it once you stuck with it.
Need that the romance was well written and worth it when you kept reading. The Cajun setting is a draw. Bummer it was only so-so for you.
Sorry, this one did not work for you. Now I don't feel so about not accepting for a review.
Woooow, #10 in the series. That's awesome but phew, so many books. I've only read one book with a strong Cajun influence – Poison Princess by Kresley Cole – and it was pretty good, though the rest of the books in that series weren't great. The Cajun dialect spellings and whatnot weren't too bad, but I understand what you mean. Props to the author for going for authenticity.
Great review, Carole! Have a lovely weekend. =)
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
I was just looking at some of her other books on Amazon. Looks like I won't start with this one, even if I want to meet the pig and bird! 😀
There's a fine line with dialect and getting the feel of it but not overdoing it. I have that trouble some times in historical books with highlanders/Gaelic.