Can Medical Romances Be Funny?

Happy Friday! Today, I'm delighted to have Wendy S Marcus stopping by on her blog tour. But before we get to that, I want to thank Stephen Tremp for posting a lovely review of my novel The Hating Game (published by Prospera Publishing) over on his blog. Many thanks, Stephen!

Now, over to Wendy:

Hi Talli! Thank you so much for hosting me on the 10^th stop of my blog tour to promote my debut Harlequin Medical Romance, WHEN ONE NIGHT ISN’T ENOUGH, which is currently available for purchase at the Mills and Boon website and Amazon UK. It will be in stores in the UK in June as well. It will also be in stores and online in Aus/NZ on July 11, 2011, and online in the U.S. as of July 11, 2011.

For my post today I’ve decided to address the question: Can medical romance be funny? It’s a valid question. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of hospitals? Gorgeous doctors? Probably not. Most people think of the Emergency Room. Trauma and drama. Sickness, injury, and pain. Not much material for funny stuff there.

But being a nurse, I can tell you with first-hand knowledge, medical professionals are some of the funniest people I know. And in Medical Romance, like in actual medical settings, humor is most often found in the interactions between people and not in the medical situations themselves.

Something you may not know, in Harlequin Medical Romance, the books do not take place solely in hospitals. There are many different medical settings that span the continents. Our characters have full lives outside of work. And while there are medical scenes, the focus of our stories is on the hero and heroine. While we strive to make our medical scenes as realistic as possible, gore and tension and high-stakes medical drama is not our main focus.

Here’s a scene from WHEN ONE NIGHT ISN’T ENOUGH. It may not be laugh out loud funny, but I hope it shows that medical romance can be light and entertaining, even in the midst of the medical setting:

“You okay?” Ali asked, coming to stand beside him.

Damn it. He thought she’d gone back inside.

“Just peachy. How about you?”

“You were great with Jimmy. I’m sorry you lost your dad so young.”

He couldn’t look at her. “It’s why I became a physician, so no kid would have to deal with what I went through. I’m doing a great job of it, huh?”

“You’re not God, Dr. P.” She set her hand on his forearm, sending a flare of soothing warmth throughout his body. He craved her touch with a ferocity that excited him as much as it unnerved him.

“You coded Jimmy’s dad twelve minutes longer than any other physician here would have,” she said. “You did your best.”

He tilted his head down and to his left, and their eyes met, held. Hers conveyed genuine concern, empathy. He’d seen it dozens if not hundreds of times over the months they had worked together, directed at her patients, never at him. Yet, instead of using the moment as an opportunity for a sincere conversation between them, he chose to ignore the unwanted, long-suppressed feelings starting to stir deep in his damaged soul for a chance to play, to forget.

“Careful, Kitten,” he said in an exaggerated whisper, taking care to make sure there was no one around to hear his term of endearment that delighted him as much as it aggravated her. “I might get the impression you’re starting to like me.” His mood lifted. “That as hard as you’re trying not to, you can’t help yourself.”

“Nah.” She looked down at her watch. “The hospital pays me to be kind and compassionate. Lucky for you I’m still on the clock.”

“Good.” He leaned in close to her ear. “Maybe we can go someplace private and you can give me a little more of your commm…passion.”

She pinched him.

Good for her. The girl had spunk. “Ouch.” He rubbed his upper arm. “Where’d the kindness go?”

She looked up at him, her light blue eyes narrowed.

“I’m on the verge of breaking down.” He wiped at his dry lashes. “Hell, I think I feel some tears coming.”

She turned and walked back toward the E.R. without giving him a second glance. And she looked just as fine from the back as she did from the front, her lavender scrub pants hugging her perfectly shaped rear, her long brown hair up in a loose knot, and sensible little gold hoop earrings curving under her kissable earlobes.

“Don’t women like it when a man shows his emotions?” he called after her.

She stopped. “Lust is not an emotion, Dr. P.,” she answered over her shoulder.

“It sure is.

Come over to my place after work and we’ll do a Google search. Whoever’s right gets to choose what we do next. You wanna know what I’ll pick?”

Ali hit the button beside the electronic doors.

As they started to open he called out, “Time’s running out, Ali.”

She hesitated before walking back into the ER.

Jared waited a minute, trying to contain his smile. He knew she wouldn’t bite, but provoking her was so much fun. No one entertained him like Ali. For the first time in the two years he’d worked as an agency physician, traveling from hospital to hospital throughout New York State, Jared might actually miss someone when an assignment ended. A sure-fire sign it was past time for him to move on.

So what’d you think?

As part of my blog tour I’m running some contests. To enter for a chance to win an Amazon Gift Card, visit my website: http://WendySMarcus.com. While you’re there check out the excerpts from my books.

And now some questions for you. Have you ever read a Harlequin Medical Romance? If so, did you like it? If no, why not? And would you be willing to make mine your first?

One lucky commenter will win a copy of my 2in1 UK release which includes a complete novel by Janice Lynn. Visit me on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Thanks, Wendy. Have a great weekend, everyone!