HEART LIKE MINE - Maggie McGinnis
Echo Lake , Book 2
St. Martin's Paperbacks
ISBN-13: 978-1-250-06908-5
April 2016
Contemporary Romance

Echo Lake, Massachusetts - Present Day

Financial Analyst Delaney Blair is given thirty days to trim the budget in Mercy Hospital's Pediatric Department.  Thirty days and thirty thousand dollars!  How can she do this?  Several finance people at Mercy have been shown the door ever since the budget and rising costs became a concern.  Delaney doesn't want to lose her job, but she might be the one leaving at the end of the month if she fails this assignment.  Most finance people think that trimming numbers is as simple as taking off a dollar here, a dollar there, and a couple hundred over that way, but as the daughter of a doctor herself, Delaney is well versed in the intricacies of hospital costs.  And Pediatrics!  That department has a special place in her heart; it's her baby; she helps write the grants for monies they desperately need for new equipment and staff, and Delaney knows there isn't one penny that can be cut out of their bottom line.  Still, she can't let her office rival, Kevin, take this, he might succeed in eradicating Pediatrics altogether!

When head of Pediatrics Dr. Joshua McKenzie meets Delaney, she's dressed in a tight skirt and stilettos; but Josh only sees another number cruncher attempting to make mincemeat of his department.  He does not have time for this.  But still, Ms. Blair needs to get her head into the reality of what he and his staff do here, so he challenges her to work right alongside his staff and maintain an office here on the third floor for just two weeks, so she can see the real Pediatrics.  All those analysts, with their cushy office on the top floor, have no clue what goes on in the wards, and Joshua delights in being able to show Ms. Bair the real world at Mercy Hospital.

HEART LIKE MINE is a gritty story about the people who change the lives of very sick children.  Delaney is scared to death of working on the third floor; being there brings back horrible memories of her little brother's death.  It was years ago, but still, she's never gotten over it.  Josh has his own problems.  He's tired and worn out; he works too many hours both here at the hospital and volunteering his time at Avery House helping the needy children there.  Now, with Delaney trying to cut numbers where there are no spare dollars, Josh doesn't know how he'll keep on doing what he loves.  Sometimes it's just too much.

The second novel in The Echo Lake Series , HEART LIKE MINE follows FOREVER THIS TIME (November 2015) and the novella that kicked off the series, SNOWFLAKE WISHES (October 2013).  Next up is SHE'S GOT A WAY, due in August 2016.  Each book stands alone, but this is a series full of great characters, lots of humor and angst, and twists, turns, and delicious romance.

Josh is a hero to be proud of, and Delaney is the woman who melts his HEART LIKE MINE.

Diana Risso