REVIEW: Not Catching Love by Saxon James (Accidental Love #5)

NOT CATCHING LOVE

Accidental Love - Book Five

by Saxon James

Release Date: January 30, 2025

Review

A slow burn involving Xander, the last uninvolved member of Bertha Boys, and Derek, a Nurse that Xander frequently turns to in a crisis.

It’s a difficult story, Xander has a serious mental health issue and it also involves the idea of a medical professional becoming involved with a patient.

Xander has a lot of struggles and fears and it’s played a significant role in his friend's lives, but also in Derek’s who has put his life on hold to be there for him, which is sweet and also disturbingly co-dependent. It was great that they found a way forward and some healing, but I have to admit, I don’t really like Xander. He’s a bit of jerk and extremely manipulative and it’s not just because of his mental health diagnosis. Of course, he does grow on you, especially once he decides to address his issues.

But I will miss these boys and of course Bertha.

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Synopsis

Xander

There’s something seriously wrong with me.

For once, I’m not talking about the health anxiety that randomly pops up and wreaks havoc on my life. I'm talking about, well, everything else.

All my roommates have found someone to love them, and it hurts to see the guys who used to have me at the center of their worlds pair off and grow up, especially when it’s a reminder of how alone I've always been. I’ve always had an issue with relationships. With forming a connection with people outside of Seven, but this is more.

Because I want to find my someone.

Except the one person my brain has latched onto is the one person I can never have. The one person who’s there to help me when my panic attacks get too much.

Nurse Derek.

Derek

I should never have offered to treat Xander Moore.

And now here I am years later, my life on hold, while I wait day in and day out for the call that Xander needs me. It always comes, and I always answer, but I’m starting to dread those visits.

Lately, I’m looking at Xander in a way a medical professional should never look at their patient.

When Xander starts volunteering at the same nursing home that I do, I get to see a new side of him. The artistic, charismatic side that draws the residents in. I get glimpses of a man who’s so much more than his anxiety, and it does nothing to help my feelings for him.

Lines begin to blur and I have no choice but to stop treating him. That at least allows us to be friends. The only problem is, being friends isn’t enough for either of us.

It’s wrong, unethical, and unprofessional, but my heart won’t listen. It’s decided on Xander, and it doesn’t want to wait. Neither does Xander.

But if I want to keep my job, I have to resist.

I just wish he didn’t make that so difficult.