Downloading Nightingale (Birds and Butterflies Book 3)

London, 1990

Sharon Goldblatt

My best friend Danny is sick. Really sick. We know what it is, we know how he got it, but we don't know how to make him better. Even the doctors and nurses don't know.

Although that doesn't stop one particular nurse on his ward from acting like she knows it all. She's bold, brash and bloody infuriating when she dismisses my questions and concerns at every turn. But I'm determined to do whatever I can to save Danny from AIDS. Because my family rejected me long ago and my social life consists of reading too many superhero comic books, so Danny is all I have.

I'm a 27-year-old lesbian who has never kissed a woman and he's all I have. And more than that, I'm all he has. So Florence F*cking Nightingale better keep out of my way if she knows what's good for her.

Kate Xiao Hong Chiu

People think I'm crazy for loving my job. My husband divorced me because of it and even some nursing friends keep their distance, but these are not my problems. My sole focus is treating my patients or rather making them as comfortable as possible.

Which is why I don't take lightly to people getting in the way of my job, like this Sharon woman who thinks she knows better than me because she read a few articles. Does it matter that I keep wondering if the shaved sides of her head feel like velvet? No. Is it interesting that she seems to love Lady Phantom comics as much as me? Just a coincidence.

Do I wonder what her body would feel like pressed up to mine? Yes, but that's irrelevant. I have a job to do, and when there aren't many of us willing to do it, I'm not going to let anyone stop me from doing it. People's lives literally depend on me so Sharon Goldblatt and her honey-brown eyes can take a running jump... and not into my bed no matter how good that would be.

Nightingale is a frenemies to lovers, grumpy/grumpy sapphic romance with lesbian and bisexual rep, a Jewish MC and a British Chinese MC, and butch/femme representation.