What I’m Reading (12.26.22)

The Queen of Hearts by Kimmery Martin (★★☆☆☆)

E-Book • Owned (Amazon) • Contemporary Fiction • 2018

This book had the potential to be so good. It’s about two doctors, Emma and Zadie, who met in med school and became fast friends. One is now a trauma surgeon while the other is a pediatric cardiologist. They both live in Charlotte, NC, and lead happy, fulfilled lives. They’re both married with children, and one of the things I really loved about this book is the way it explored motherhood and marriage that didn’t also involve infidelity. It’s hard to find a book that lets married people just… be married and deal with their problems like adults. The crux of this novel is the arrival of a blast from their past who may upend their careful, perfect worlds. I loved all the different medical scenes in the novel, like a literary Grey’s Anatomy! (Kimmery Martin is a former ER doctor, so she knows what she’s talking about.) It was really fun to read about the different surgeries and patient interactions and felt like I was on the set of Seattle Grace.

However, I cannot give this book a high rating because it was rife with casual racism, classism, and fatphobia. Every single POC was a stereotype (down to the “well-hung” Black man). A group of queer men was referred to as “LGBT-ers.” (Not a terrible insult, but it does show that this author doesn’t have any queer folk in her life.) And the fatphobia was absolutely rampant. There was the woman described as “enormous.” A surgeon screaming about being in a “fat forest” when encountering fat in a patient’s body. And the real kicker was this passage: “Hurriedly, I tried to decide if a weight-challenged person near the back counted as one or two people.” First, you can just call us fat. You don’t need to couch it in terms like “weight challenged.” And secondly, fuck you very much. This is a horrendous and hurtful word choice. I will not be reading anything else from this author, and I hope she learns how to be respectful of all people and all bodies in her novels.

Made in Manhattan by Lauren Layne (★★★★☆)

E-Book • Libby • Contemporary Romance • 2022

I read this sweet romance novel in just over a day; it was hard to put down! Violet has been Edith’s righthand woman for years now, and when Edith gives Violet the job of turning her grandson into the NYC elite he needs to be in order to run her company when she retires, she’s ready for it. Only Cain, Edith’s grandson, is gruff and obstinate… but also incredibly sexy? We all know where this is going! I loved watching Violet and Cain fall in love. Their banter with each other was so witty and fun. This was just one of those sweet, uncomplicated romances that are fun to read, especially on a chilly December evening right before Christmas.

The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson (★★★★★)

Audiobook • Libby • Historical Fiction • 2016

I really loved this novel! I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much if I had read a physical copy; audiobook is typically the best way for me to consume longer, character-driven novels. And this one, clocking in at 16 hours on audiobook, is definitely a hefty story. The story starts near the end of summer in 1914 and takes place in a coastal town in Sussex, a county located on the southeastern side of England. The characters include Beatrice, a new Latin teacher who has arrived in town mourning the loss of her beloved father; Agatha, the woman who takes Beatrice under her wing; Hugh, Agatha’s nephew who is studying to be a doctor; and Daniel, Hugh’s cousin who just wants to write his poems and travel the world. Unfortunately, soon after Beatrice arrives in town, it becomes clear that the rumblings of war they’ve been hearing about for months are true, and it may be time for Hugh and Daniel to do their duty. This novel just put me in a really happy space for the majority of the book. I loved being dropped into the lives of these characters and getting a glimpse into what life was like in the mid-1910s before a world war upended everyone’s lives. I thought all of the characters were so well-developed, even the side characters. And I was also impacted by the wartime scenes. Simonson did an excellent job placing you right in the action so you could better understand how much we ask of our soldiers. This is a novel that will stay with me for a while, I think.

What are you reading?