In this day and age, we shouldn’t have to justify our reading choices repeatedly. However, reading choice versus your intelligence/education/personality/life in general still comes up daily in my social media feeds so I feel I need to readdress it here. I read what I want and need, and after coming off a wonderful book that was heavy on detail and choice of subject matter, I just wanted something happy. Now I could have read spoilers online for any of the books on my shelves, but that would have ruined the ending for me. So I took a genre that I find fun and gave me a guaranteed happy ending – romance. I also like the subgenre of medical romance because it’s interesting and it’s nice to see the characters have time for non-work things. The Midwife’s One-Night Fling was just what I needed at the right time. As my blog slogan says, ‘read whatever’ and that’s what I do.

The heroine of this story is Freya, a midwife who delights in seeing the women of her small Scottish town through their pregnancies. In the opening scene, she even manages to convince a strong, silent type to open up about her worries. So why has Freya handed in her notice to move to London? Initially, the main reason seems to be avoidance of her ex, but hints are given that Freya may be looking for less personal, more fly under the radar in her professional life. As you’d expect, moving to London is a big change for Freya. She lives in an impersonal flat without individual touches and her manager can barely get her name right. She also has some things to learn about more complex births. Initially, Freya is lonely and somewhat shy. But regular meetings with hero Dr Richard Lewis has him agreeing to take her to a movie – but they don’t make it. Both Richard and her colleagues make it clear that he’s not a man in a relationship for anything but a bit of fun. But those one-night flings keep repeating until both want something more. Just one thing – they forget to tell each other that…

I liked the fish out of water aspect from Freya’s point of view and the sensible, down to earth advice that Richard initially provides. Looking into their pasts and secrets was also well done and it’s clear that the romance is more than just sex from an early stage. Freya’s home town and its people are also portrayed in detail (loving the menu at the restaurant). It’s a fun story with great dialogue and a sweetly happy ending.

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