Learning to Walk - Drew Zachary

Yes, you're seeing a whole new format here. I've kind of gotten in the habit from BER and since I'm reviewing fewer books I can do it this way.

Title: Learning to Walk (City Hospital #3)
Author: Drew Zachary
Length: 180 pages
Publisher: Torquere Press

Blurb:

A terrible motorcycle accident leaves Kit in pain, living with his father and needing to teach his legs how to walk again. He's actually lucky to be alive, but don't try telling him that; Kit's too wrapped up in bitterness and pain to feel any sort of happiness.

Neil knows exactly how lucky Kit is. As Kit's physiotherapist, he's seen the man's medical records, and knows a lot of people never recover after an accident such as Kit’s. His job is to get Kit moving and to get him walking again, so when Neil finds himself attracted to Kit, he buries the feelings and focuses on the job.

That's hard to do, though, when Kit starts falling for Neil in return. And starts making moves. Neil is determined to keep things professional between them, though, because he feels that Kit's recovery is far more important than a physical relationship. Can Neil teach Kit to walk again without either of them getting their hearts broken? 

Review:

While this is #3 in the series, there is no overlap with the other books so is essentially a stand-alone. I thought this did a really good job at the beginning of showing how Kit was coping, or not as the case may be, with the fall-out of motorcycle accident. He felt guilty that now he father had to care for him when he should have been having his own life and I imagine like most of us, the whole "Well, at least your alive" thing wore thin as he struggled with life in a wheelchair. Needless to say, he was less than hospitable with his physiotherapist, however Neil was one of those people who never let a surly client get him down. Probably as annoying as hell in real life, but he managed to drag Kit along with him.

It was nice to see their friendship grow before they hopped into bed. In fact Neil refuses to date Kit while he is his therapist. So often in romance they hop into bed right away, ethics be damned and oh, wait, he's cured by the magic healing power of twu wuv. But in this case no. The therapy was long and grueling, their friendship slowly developed and granted I got a bit annoyed with Neil who kept telling Kit that he only liked him for now and he'd move on. Sheesh, give people some credit. But it was nice when Kit took the bull by the horns and fired Neil so they could date.

The awkwardness of going out for a date in a wheelchair, having his Dad have to drive them, it was all awkward but sweet and Neil was great about seeing Kit, not the guy in the wheelchair. So on the whole I really enjoyed this and even though Kit eventually does walk, he's never going to be running marathons. It sounds kind of awful, but I like it when someone with a handicap isn't "cured" so that they can fit the "normal" stereotype of romance leads. Even people who walk with a cane or in a wheelchair fall in love.