Paramedic Nolan Daniels really screwed up when he fell for an ex-lover's threats of suicide and drove drunk to go "save" him. After realizing that the man just used the suicide threat to get Nolan there and seduce him, Nolan drinks even more and speeds away in his car, drunk and angry. He is pulled over for speeding and lets his anger get the best of him, which in turn, earns him a DUI. Nolan is given 100 hours of community service at a local nursing home. At the nursing home, Nolan meets Mark, the very hot and very gay nursing home director.

Mark is a golden boy, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and to the world, he looks very lucky. Mark may be lucky, but he is miserable. He fits himself into the mold that his overbearing family has set for him. They expect him to stay in the family business and meet a nice girl, get married and have a bunch of kids. Mark has never been able to stand-up for himself and insists that he isn't going to work for the family business, nor has he told them that he is gay.

Alternative Treatment is a story of self-discovery and personal growth, and what happens when two people fall in love for the first time in their lives. Claire Thompson is a master at writing the most complex and realistic characters and filling them with very real emotions. I am never disappointed at her talent of bringing to life a person who could be your next door neighbor, full of emotional baggage and skeletons in their closet.

At times, I wanted to choke Nolan. He is from the wrong side of the tracks and had a hard life. He allowed that background to affect the person he became as an adult. Nolan has a habit of automatically assuming that those who were born with more look down upon him. It makes him sarcastic, rude, and well, a jerk. However, under that tough exterior that he shows the world is a gentle and loving man, and Mark is just the person to dig deep and pull that beautiful person to the surface.

I could identify with Mark on so many levels. He has always lived his life for everyone else. His family owns a string of nursing homes. He and his three brothers were raised to work for that family business, and that is just what they are doing. Mark is miserable, sitting behind a desk doing paperwork for the insurance companies. Even worse, his mother is constantly trying to fix him up with one lady or another, because he has never had the nerve to tell his family that he is gay. Nolan helps him to see that he can change everything for himself. The ensuing journey of telling his family how he feels and who he is, and then following his dreams was the best part of this book. I cheered Mark on throughout the book and was more than pleased by the ending.

Reviewed by: Melissa C.