Some Men's Dreams, by Kathleen Korbel

I recently finished Some Men's Dreams, by Kathleen Korbel.

The first time Genevieve "Gen" Kendall meets her new boss, John "Jack" Parker O'Neill, the new chief of pediatric care, she knocks him out cold with a softball. Desperately hoping to atone for her batting prowess, Gen volunteers to baby-sit Jack's young daughter, Elizabeth, while he recuperates, but as she gets to know the quiet, serious girl, she begins to suspect that something is troubling her. The more time Gen spends with Jack, the more attracted she becomes, but any possibility of a relationship with him seems futile at best since not only is Jack in charge of her professional career, but Gen must also find some way to tell him that his daughter is slowly starving herself.

After hearing nothing but raves about this book, maybe I was expecting a bit too much. It wasn't bad, not at all, but it wasn't the wonderful, wonderful book I was expecting, either. A B-.

What I loved best about the book was Gen, who was a wonderful character. A strong, intelligent woman, who loved her job, yet was glad when could stop devoting 22 hours a day to it and get a regular schedule. I loved her sense of humour and kindness and whimsy. Jack was ok, too, I guess. It's just that I didn't really get him until the last few pages, and without that final nugget of information, his behaviour throughout the book feels a little overblown. This meant I spent most of the book resenting him.

Now for the negatives... I might sound heartless, but the Elizabeth plot bored me, quite a bit. Also, I found myself really irritated by all those characters from previous books running around here, all with huge, complicated backstories we kept being given hints about. And the worst was that the big confrontation near the end didn't strike me as dramatic, but as melodramatic.

Sooo, not a bad way to spend a couple of hours, but not a keeper either, not even close.