Book Description
Cuddling an injured stray pup in the veterinarian’s office, ambitious reporter Heather McKinley meets his intriguing brother, brilliant CDC doctor, Daniel Whistler.
While visiting his brother, Daniel enjoys getting to know Heather and picnicking with her and her dog in Pleasant Prairie, Texas. He’d rather spend more time with Heather, but he soon gets called back to his office in Atlanta to investigate a new virus. Mutated from the Rift Valley Fever in Kenya, the more deadly virus not only sickens people, but causes sterility.
Despite being recently divorced, Heather is thrilled to discover she’s finally pregnant and hopes to carry the baby to term.
Delighted to visit Daniel in Atlanta, she becomes infected by a bioterrorist spreading the virus in the air. She is devastated by her miscarriage and determined to help Daniel hunt and stop whoever is dispersing the virus. She interviews patients at the hospital for her paper.
Following tips, she and Daniel travel to Dallas and New Orleans, and even board a Caribbean cruise ship in their search. Heather and Daniel enjoy being together on the cruise as their developing love for each other deepens, but each holds a secret threatening to tear them apart.
My Review
Heather works as a reporter for the Dallas Morning News and finds out about a virus that's been released on a bus. She calls someone and leaves a message that she'd like to interview them about the bus and people getting sick. She finds a puppy on the side of the road and takes it to the vet's office where she meets Daniel. She finds out a short time later that she's pregnant by her soon to be ex husband.
Daniel works for the CDC and gets called away about a new virus that popped up in Kenya. But since he and Heather are getting to know one another and have gone out on a couple of dates, he asks her to come with him to Atlanta for a few days, never knowing that this trip will change both their lives.
While in Atlanta they are exposed to the virus and she has a miscarriage. She's devastated but is determined to help Daniel figure out who is spreading the virus in the US and infecting people. This search leads them to go to different places including a cruise ship where they get closer to each other.
I enjoyed this story with the exception of just a few minor things. The way everyone spoke to each other in this book was so matter of fact, without any real feeling and it made it hard to connect with them.
The other thing that bothered me was the use of mice and rats in the CDC labs and how much time was spent telling us about it. I'm an animal lover and even though I know it goes on, I think we need to come up with other ways of testing, instead of testing on animals. So seeing it graphically displayed in this book about how they injected a mouse with the virus and it dying, was enough to throw me right out of the romance that was happening between Heather and Daniel. I just wish those details hadn't been a part of the story.
I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.
Disclosure: I received this book for free via NetGalley but all opinions are my own.
