Fools Rush In is one of Higgins’ earlier books and it definitely feels that way to me. Still, it is a cute story overall. 

Millie has just returned to her native Cape Cod after completing all the arduous steps to become a doctor. She’s about to start a job at a summer clinic as one of two doctors and has the possibility of joining an older, more established doctor in private practice after the summer. Everything career-wise looks good, but Millie’s main concern seems to be her love life. Specifically, she has had a crush on Joe Carpenter for half her life and now that she’s back, she wants to try to get him to really see her. She’s convinced he’s a great guy with all these amazing personality traits nobody else really sees. Because she semi-stalked him while she lived there and now that she’s returned, she’s back to her old tricks. Spying on his house to see when he leaves so she can put herself in his path, stuff like that. The only problem is that he doesn’t seem to know she exists. 

There are several people in her life. One is Sam, her sister’s new ex-husband. She’s also got her nephew Danny, who’s amazingly friendly for a 17-year-old. Her best friend Katie is a supportive voice of reason. There’s the stereotypical gay couple who are there to give fashion advice. And of course there’s Joe, who does eventually see her. But then she comes to learn more about the real Joe, and he’s not exactly what she’s built him up to be in her mind over the last 15 years. But the thing is, there is a man in Millie’s life who does live up to her expectations of Joe, if only she can see him. 

The book is told entirely in first person from Millie’s point of view. It is, of course, funny. But Millie is one of Higgins’ silly girls, something that always has bothered me a little (see my earlier reviews of her books). The pseudo-stalking is the main thing. Millie’s of course self-effacing, which I generally like, but sometimes it goes too far into silliness. It’s very low on the spice scale, lower than most of Higgins’ other books. Still, she goes pretty deep into Millie’s emotional state and we can really feel her pain when she deals with heartbreak. 

There were a couple things that bugged me, one more so than the other. First, I mentioned the gay couple. They are so stereotypical it’s kind of embarrassing. But the other, more important, thing is this incident that happens at the nursing home she works at once a week. Millie is basically sexually assaulted by an old guy (he captures her and rubs himself against her until she can get away) and this is largely set up by another woman, who doesn’t warn Millie even though she knows what he’s like. And the thing is, they all totally laugh this off. Because he’s an old guy it’s presented as just funny. It bugged me. 

Anyway, die hard Higgins fans will probably have already read this one. I have sort of mixed feelings about it because of the things mentioned in the last paragraph, even if Millie is kind of cool as a successful doctor. If the other things won’t bother you, maybe give it a go.