The Doctor's Orders

Danger - Truth - Drama

It was interesting to see two characters that have real feelings for each other for years finally be brought together to confront those feelings. After years of avoiding Nick has to face some hard truths and make big decisions. Jared is willing to be there with him through the process even when it hurts. It was so satisfying to see them finally have that chance to move forward together.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
This is a satisfying conclusion to an exciting series. The embezzlement scandal has been resolved but hospital politics are still complicated for CEO Nick, and his personal life is becoming increasingly more difficult. Jared has been one of my favourite characters since the first book and I hate how lonely he is with his friends partnered up. Nick and Jared have a long history together, but Nick has to make some difficult decisions before he can be with Jared.

With Nick’s story, I feel a return to the Heidi Cullinan I fell in love with. The author takes a long hard look at race, culture, and sexuality and creates a character who feels heartbreakingly real. As a community leader, the pressure on Nick to set an example is huge. His church is at the centre of his culture and his family – but it doesn’t accept homosexuality. Nick is torn between his white friends and his black family, between his sexuality and the culture he was raised in. I don’t usually like closeted storylines but Nick’s pain feels real and his choices feel impossible.

In the first two books, Jared was the fun character in the background and it’s only in his own book that we understand that his easygoing charm masks his experiences of pain and loss. He’s still charming but a more serious side of him surfaces in this book. Nick and Jared’s stories are almost foils for each other at times and the similarities and differences between their choices and experiences are thought provoking.

With so much history between them, I love the moments where Nick and Jared seem to revert to adolescence together. Until this story, Nick felt very much like a stuffy grown up, so it was wonderful to see the man behind the professional veneer. This is probably the sexiest of the three stories but it is still pretty low heat compared to something like the Special Delivery books. This story feels more thoughtful and reflective than the first two and I love the way it ties up the series. I probably should have been even more horrified by the American health care system in this book than I was in the first two stories but I think I’m becoming a little bit immune to the crazy.

I love that there isn’t the same sense of goodies and baddies in this book as there was in the second one. Nick’s family, even his pastor, are sympathetically drawn and very likeable. The potential investors for the hospital are cast in shades of grey with one character offering unexpected change, support, and hope. I really enjoyed catching up with the first two couples and I love that the author adds yet another fabulous female doctor to the group of friends in this last book.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the third book in the series, and I would suggest that you really need to read them in order, as the underlying story is ongoing and the characters are developed through the three books. My review will assume that you are up to date, so if you have not caught up, I would recommend you do not read on yet!

Although the admin team of CEO Nick and HR Director Erin have, with the help of the trio of Owen, Jared and Simon, and other senior staff of St Ann's, saved it from the embezzlement of the Hospital Board, there is still trouble ahead.

A faulty elevator results in high school secret lovers Nick and Jared having to spend five hours together in a perilous situation. As they sit in the dark, they provide each other with the solace that they once craved, and until recently, have avoided at all costs. We get to learn what happened between them, and the problems that they face should they attempt to be together; there are some strong statements about family, religion, acceptance, and the cost of denying one's own identity. Their romance is a strong thread through the book, but as in previous installments, there are bigger issues which vie for our attention.

St Ann's elevator incident may have been sabotage, but proving it and reconciling the need to either mend it or rebuild the hospital keep CEO Nick and the rest of the gang very busy. There is still fallout from the scandal of the previous book and I love the tension, the importance of the hospital to the town, and the people who work so hard to do the best for the community of Copper Point.

I don't know if this is the last in the series, but it has been a strong trio of stories, but none is stronger than this one. It gives Jared his happily ever after and gives us plenty of time with Owen and Simon and their new loves too.


Veronica – ☆☆☆
This is not a story I was immediately pulled into but I was curious enough to be patient. I didn’t mind taking my time to get to know the characters. Jared is a paediatrician and has been out since his teenage years. Nick, who is CEO of the local hospital, is very much in the closet. The men were friends and lovers as teenagers and I was keen to see them give a relationship a second shot.

Nick’s fear of coming out as a teen has only increased now he is in his 30s. Trying to stay in the closet in a small town is not easy and frankly I don’t think it was fair to either Nick or Jared. But this fear of coming out is what kept me reading because I had trouble reconciling why a CEO, such an intelligent guy was so afraid, and I wanted to know why. It wasn’t until much later in the story that I got an appreciation for how coming out would affect Nick’s life and what was at stake.

I found the pacing of this story a little slow at parts in the beginning and in the middle it really slowed down. There were times when I found the author’s writing to be overly descriptive and when a full page was spent talking about ties, I was ready to scream. Funnily enough, from that point on the story really picked up and the last third of the book was really good and I even teared up.

The Doctor’s Orders is the first book by Heidi Cullinan that I’ve read. It is book three in the Copper Point Medical series but I was able to read it as a standalone. I have to say while I ultimately enjoyed Nick and Jared’s difficult path to romance, reading at times was more of a struggle than I’d like.


Angie – ☆☆☆
This was the first book in the series that I have read. I thought I would have been able to read it as a standalone but honestly, I couldn't. I felt like I was missing something with the hospital drama and several of the characters and their back story. It also took me a long time to read this book, I almost gave up several times, but I tried to muddle through. I found myself skimming this book eventually because I felt like I was missing a few things from not reading the previous books, the author was really wordy and there were pages of the book that were filled with silly descriptions and no dialogue. This book wasn't for me, but I am sure those who have read the previous books will understand and enjoy it more than I did.


Reviewers received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.

Nicholas Beckert is the CEO of St Anne’s Hospital at Copper Point. Jared Kumpel is the pediatrician. Jared and Nick have a past together. 20 years ago, as two young teenagers, they discovered what love is together. But when Jared came out and refused to hide who he truly is, Nicholas chose to hide in a closet and burry half of himself.
20 years later, Nick is still hiding in his closet, and Jared is still trying to forget his first and true love. But life and fate have another plan for them, and after 5 hours in the dark in an elevator that can kill them both, their priorities change. Nick refuses to stay in his closet anymore, and Jared refuses to let him hide again.
The Doctor’s Orders is the third and last book in the Copper Point Medical trilogy. It’s another home run for Heidi Cullinan with The Doctor’s Orders. After the delicious Doctor’s Secret, the breathtaking Doctor’s Date, she gives us the fabulous Doctor’s Orders.
I adored this book, I adored this trilogy. I was looking forward to Nick and Jared’s story.
Nick is the CEO of St Anne. He has a lot of responsibilities; he’s exhausted by his job. He loves it, but he had a rough start with the former board who tried to manipulate him. But after he’d succeed in removing them and avenge his father’s memory, Nick has to face another threat against the hospital and their safety. Despite all these difficulties, Nick refuses to let go of Jared. He refuses to spend another 20 years lonely, but he doesn’t know how to achieve that. How to be with the love of his life without losing everything, his position, his community, and his family. I adored Nick, I really adored him. He’s strong and thoughtful. He used to being in charge. He’s the chief of his family, a strong figure in his community, and the CEO of his hospital. But he’s tired, and only Jared see it, only he can take the burden off Nick’s shoulders. I loved how, despite his fears of losing his family, Nick stood up for Jared. I loved how, despite the cold reaction of his community, Nick stood up and keep pushing them to accept him, to accept the real Nick.
Jared is fabulous. He’s an amazing doctor and friend. He’s funny with a kind heart ready to do anything for the people he loves. But Jared is lonely, really lonely and not just because his two best friends had to move from the house they all shared. He’s been lonely since the day he lost Nick 20 years ago when they were sixteen. I love him so much. I loved his sensitivity as I discovered his fears, pains, and past. I discovered another side of Jared that I didn’t suspect in the previous books. He’s amazing.
This book is about acceptance, family, and community. This book is about two beautiful men who only want to be together, to be loved, and happy together. This book is about how to fight against your worst fears—how to become your true self.
I’m sad to let them go, all of them. It was an amazing series. A must-read that you need to have in your Kindle. It’s the kind of series that you read and re-read with pleasure and love.
5 Stars for Nick and Jared…. Five Stars for Copper Point!

I love these covers; I get an idea in my head of the main character.
This is a book three in the series and I do recommend reading in order since you will understand the gings on and the other characters better.
Nick is the CEO of Copper Point and how and why he is is complicated, but he took the position and turned it around and is making something of the hospital no matter what is thrown in his path and man the obstacles just keep showing up. After a bad time of having to fire and most of the board members going to jail ( see book two), he is now faced with a hospital with hardly any budget and crumbling down around him. When he and his lover from the past are stuck in the elevator and nearly tumble to their deaths he realizes two things: He needs to find a way to get a new hospital and 2: He needs to figure out how to come out and be with the man he has loved since high school.
Jared has loved Nick since high school and coming back home working with him has been rough. He has a dream to find that someone special, build a family two kids each but the man he wants it with may never be able to come out and be with him the way he wants? Are secret lovers enough for him?
I loved all of these books but something about this one just really hit me in the feels. I loved all the characters the friendships, how they all band together to help solve problems, both hospital, and friendships. I think this is the perfect book for any MM romance lover.
If you like office romance, doctors, CEO, interracial romance, family, coming out, second chances, lots of conflict, hot mansex this is for you!

Reviewed by Truus for Diverse Reader

What a journey, what an immensely loving, hurtful, and considerate story this was. My heart hurt, my jaws hurt, my eyes blurred.

To say it’s an easy event would be an understatement.



Nick can’t let his family down, ever. Period! Even when he has to let the love of his life go.



Nick is the CEO of the hospital where Jared is a well-respected pediatrician.

They avoid each other wherever possible, talk to everybody except to the other. Until they are stuck in an elevator, held by just one cord, together. The feelings were never gone they are even stronger.

Only it seems, after twenty years, nothing really changed. The attraction and love are deep-rooted but Nick still doesn’t want to come out, he feels obligated towards his family.

Besides the relationship stress, Nick has an awful lot of stress from his hospital.

People around them have their doubts about a happy ending.



It’s a vastly written story, going into details about a lot of things. The main part was focused on the process of their relationship and the world around them. Some people did accept them, others were very opposed. It’s a cobblestone path they have to walk.

All the considerations, all the doubts, it was hard to watch. But there was never a doubt about their love for each other!

Where Nick comes from a warm, quite conservative, family, Jared struggles with his racist and homophobic parents. Their hypocritical religious belief and racist attitude are unbelievably hurtful. The world around them is making a mess about everything. My heart hurt for Nick and Jared. Both were the kindest, sweetest, sensitive men ever.



The writing was mind-blowing, I couldn’t put it down. It was captivating, intense, emotional, and it felt real, including the good and the bad parts. All the diverse people made this story even more real. The content was one of a kind, it was intelligent, layered, and intriguing. Their love-story, the families, beautiful friends, colleagues, the hospital, all the stress around that business, the undermining, all was extremely entertaining and emotional. Both men, their impossible love, the progression, it all spoke loudly to my heart.

It was a beautiful story about deep-rooted love and second chances, two men fighting all the obstacles on their way to happiness. I cried my eyes out. What a beautiful gem this was. Deep bow!