Heidi Cullinan and Dreamspinner Press visit on The Doctor's Secret (Copper Point: Medical Trilogy #1)! Not only does the author deliver a (slightly) steamy excerpt, but the author shares April book recs! Check out today's visit below!
Copper Point: Medical Series
Copper Point may be known as a small northern Wisconsin town famous for not wanting to change, but things are certainly shaking up at St. Ann’s Medical Center, the city’s quirky, county-run hospital. Secret romances, fake relationships, second chances at love, scandalous liaisons in an elevator—all while longstanding and shockingly deep corruption are exposed. St. Ann’s young new leadership and upstanding team of doctors will lead the way to truth, and to love.
The Doctor's Secret
Dr. Hong-Wei Wu has come to Copper Point, Wisconsin, after the pressures of a high-powered residency burned him out of his career before he started. Ashamed of letting his family down after all they’ve done for him, he plans to live a quiet life as a simple surgeon in this tiny northern town. His plans, however, don’t include his outgoing, kind, and attractive surgical nurse, Simon Lane.
Simon wasn’t ready for the new surgeon to be a handsome charmer who keeps asking him for help getting settled and who woos him with amazing Taiwanese dishes. There’s no question—Dr. Wu is flirting with him, and Simon is flirting back. The problem is, St. Ann’s has a strict no-dating policy between staff, which means their romance is off the table… unless they bend the rules.
But a romance that keeps them—literally—in the closet can’t lead to happy ever after. Simon doesn’t want to stay a secret, and Hong-Wei doesn’t want to keep himself removed from life, not anymore. To secure their happiness, they’ll have to change the administration’s mind. But what other secrets will they uncover along the way, about Copper Point… and about each other?
Buy Links
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Excerpt
“Are you all right?”
Breathless, dizzy, Simon glanced up at Hong-Wei. Oh, he was so close. So handsome. Simon could still feel the ghost of the heat of Hong-Wei’s chest against his back, that temporary feeling of being cradled. Now Hong-Wei stood in front of him, one arm braced against the brick as he leaned in close, his face full of concern.
Simon ached for him. He knew he shouldn’t, knew he couldn’t, but in that narrow space, with the object of his affection a literal breath away, there was no way to stop himself.
Especially when Hong-Wei’s hand rose to stroke Simon’s face. Nothing more than a brief, lingering brush, but Simon shuddered all the same, his lips parting on a gasp as he stared, caught in Hong-Wei’s gaze.
“I’m sorry I got you involved.” Hong-Wei rested his hand on Simon’s elbow. “Are you hurt?”
Unable to make a sound, Simon shook his head. He couldn’t move, couldn’t look away.
Simon chided himself for letting his fantasies run amuck. Hong-Wei was simply checking on him after an intense encounter. Any second now he’d smile, release Simon, and they’d go to the OR for surgery.
Except Hong-Wei didn’t smile, and he didn’t let him go. If anything, he moved closer. His smell engulfed Simon: spice, crisp linen, and Hong-Wei. Simon’s hands itched to fall to Hong-Wei’s hips, and he had to ball his fists, resting them on his thighs so he didn’t reach out. Hong-Wei leaned closer, his lab coat draping around them as his arm bent against the wall. His gaze never left Simon’s.
Wu is into you.
Simon couldn’t exactly argue with Jared’s assessment any longer. The question was, what did he want to do about it?
Never mind, that wasn’t a question. Simon wanted him like he’d wanted nothing in his life. But he didn’t know if he should have him. Not the doctor he worked with. Not with Andreas’s policy hanging over his head.
What he should do was an easy answer. Funny how knowing that didn’t motivate him to move at all.
Hong-Wei touched Simon’s cheek again, stroking with more purpose this time, his thumb scraping Simon’s chin, lingering on his neck. “Should I stop?”
Author Visit
Heidi’s April Book Recs
Hi there! Thanks for having me today. I’m here to talk about my new release, The Doctor’s Secret, the first book in the Copper Point trilogy. It’s an easy-reading, small town series with just enough drama and feels to make it fun. Doctor meets nurse, and sparks ensue!
But also while I’m here, I want to talk about some other great books I’ve read recently. Some romance, a little manga, a little light novel. Hope you find something you like!
Romance Novels
Red Envelope by Atom Yang. It’s been a few months now since I read this, but I still think about it a lot! A lot of people have mentioned they’re excited to read my Asian hero in The Doctor’s Secret, but let me tell you, even after all my research and help from all kinds of people, Hong-Wei is a creation of a white woman, whereas Atom’s Asian hero is the real deal! Every detail of this story was so well-crafted and exquisite. You’re going to love this sweet second chance story. It’s just so good! Please go give it a read today.
Under His Protection by Laquette. This book had me on the edge in such a good way. I knew it’d work out, but I was never quite sure how, and I just kept turning those pages like crazy. Another one I keep thinking about long after. Bodyguard romance—doesn’t get better!
Kyle’s Reveal by Royal Blue. So many feels in this story! SO. MANY. Just an emotional ride from end to end, and characters you’re going to love so much. Sports romance, athlete/teacher romance, hurt/comfort…it’s all here! Get your copy ASAP.
Manga/Light Novels
I’m always reading manga and light novels, some online, some in print. Still keeping up with World’s Greatest First Love and Takane & Hana in manga, as well as The Water Dragon’s Bride, but I’m also reading light novels of The Rising of Shield Hero and Is it Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
Don’t miss My Brother’s Husband, an amazing manga about a Japanese man and his daughter’s getting to know the Canadian husband of the man’s estranged brother, who has since passed away. Comes in two volumes.
Webcomics
My daughter taught me to love web comics, and I’m keeping up with probably about one hundred, but here are my favorites. Stealing my heart right now is Lily, a great GL (girl’s love) story out of China. This can be found on the Webcomics app. On Webtoons my daughter and I both swoon over Mage & Demon Queen, a lesbian fantasy/comedy/love story. Also on Webtoons we both enjoy Ghost Wife, a Korean comic about a girl who can see ghosts (demons, spirits) and becomes the wife of an elder. She’s assured human ghost wives are mostly there for support and not what she thinks it means, but her ghost partner seems to have other ideas…
Still on Webtoons we have Novae, a BL/ace comic with a heavy fantasy bent. That Awkward Magic chronicles the fake (but is it?) relationship between a “straight” boy and a gay teen, the latter who is also discovering he’s the next witch in his family. Castle Swimmer is still getting started, but it’s the quiet, beautiful relationship between a chosen merman doomed to fulfill overblown prophecies and the shark boy who is fated to kill him to save his people.
Back on Webcomics, I love Be the Bad Boss’s Man and Twenty, which have slow-developing gay romances, but then there’s Men’s Wear Store and Her Royal Highness, which is anything but slow. Bromance is fun, though I’m not entirely sure where they’re going with this.
A word on Asian gay comics, especially those from China: Western audiences are going to find a lot of mores expressed in these eyebrow-raising. Men’s Wear Store is , sort of, a trans/genderfluid story, but go in with caution because it’s not always the best rep. LGBTQIA rights vary between Asian countries, with some of them being quite starkly repressed—Chinese authors of gay novels/comics have been and continue to be arrested, even as other stories become hits.
Speaking of: do NOT miss Mo Dao Zu Shi, translated as The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. It’s an absolutely thrilling, engaging fantasy gay romance saga which has also been turned into a manhua (manga) and donghua (anime), but the ultimate experience is the translated novel, which is in process at Exiled Rebels Scantilations. Don’t miss the audio drama, which has been subtitled in English. (Buying the audio drama is also currently the only legal way to support the show.)
This is a lot for you to read, and I hope you have fun checking some of these out! I also hope you enjoy The Doctor’s Secret and all the books in the Copper Point: Medical series!
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