Second Opinion turns the normal order of a romance on its head: first comes the physical intimacy between the characters, and the emotional entanglements follow. And in a reversal of traditional roles, the heroine shies away from commitment, while the hero is the one who’s seeking a permanent love. Evelyn Rogers presents an intriguing premise that is imperfectly explored, but she does it with a humorous touch.

Charlotte Hamilton’s marriage was a disaster – when Roger wasn’t cheating on her, he was off fishing with some scuzzball named “Redeye.” Immediately following her divorce, the San Antonio geriatrician runs into Roger, who gets in a parting shot: she was never any good in bed, anyway. Fearing there might be some truth to his accusation, Charlotte does something she’s never done before: she goes to the bar of a hotel, picks up a total stranger, and indulges in a night of incredible, steamy sex. There – now that that’s out of her system, she tells herself, she can get on with her life.

Ex-athlete and sportswriter Sam Blake is supposed to be celebrating his fishing buddy’s divorce from a frigid witch, but Roger never shows. So when a gorgeous blonde comes on to him, Sam takes her up on the offer, never dreaming how alone he’ll feel when the woman he knew as Charlie is gone in the morning. Bribing the bar staff, he gets hold of her credit-card slip, and is stunned to discover that the passionate woman of the night before is none other than his pal’s ex-wife. He goes to her office and tells her he’s interested in more than a one-night stand, but Charlotte resists. She’s finished with men. Sam, however, has a different idea, and he proves it right there in her office, filled with the senior citizens who make up Charlotte’s medical practice.

Charlie proves more stubborn than Sam realizes, and he has to enlist the help of his cantankerous uncle, as well as some of the good doctor’s elderly patients, in his efforts to woo her. How can he convince Charlotte that he’s different from Roger, that he knows how to cherish her, that he loves and admires her and wants more than mere physical involvement? And how in the world is he going to tell her that he’s “Redeye”? What will she do when she finds out?

For me, this is a perfectly adequate book – nothing more, nothing less. Parts of it are amusing; the author has a way with sexy double entendres. But the sexual tension feels forced in parts, and Charlotte’s sense of humor is nowhere near as well developed as Sam’s. I thought he deserved a woman who could loosen up more, outside of the bedroom. As for that bedroom (and living room, and bathroom, and examining room), things get pretty steamy, although more emphasis on emotions and less on mechanics might have been in order.

Dialogue and storyline are acceptable. The secondary characters are agreeable, except for Charlotte’s best friend, a stereotypically aggressive female lawyer (I did not accept as reasonable whom she ended up sleeping with, and I didn’t believe Charlotte’s reaction when she found out about it). Charlotte’s patients who play matchmaker for her and Sam are for the most part pleasantly forgettable, although one of them, a society maven determined not to let Charlotte end up as she did – old and alone – stands out. And while reading the book made me wish I could visit San Antonio (the famous River Walk never sounded so romantic), the read was less than totally satisfying.

My diagnosis of Second Opinion? While it doesn’t enjoy the most robust health, its condition is not terminal. It exhibits no remarkable symptoms, positive or negative. If you’re not looking for severe complications in your reading, examine it yourself.