I’ve been having Christina Yang withdrawals.
Don’t get me wrong – I still love Grey’s (I caught up on about 6 seasons over the course of a year), and am firmly back on the TGIT wagon.
But the Christina-Meredith relationship. That was special. That was television gold.
That was something nearly every woman could relate to.
It was my missing that relationship that drew me to Kimmery Martin’s debut novel, The Queen Of Hearts. The book is centered around Zadie and Emma. They’re respected doctors in Charlotte. They’re mothers and wives. They’ve been best friends since medical school.
And one of them has been hiding a huge secret since their third year rotations.
The book deftly flashes between the past and present day, from their lives in the hospital to the work/family/maintaining one’s sanity juggle of motherhood. I was most impressed with how Martin developed each character. While it’s very easy to mark Zadie as the Meredith and Emma as the Christina, they quickly shed those skins and unveil their own complicated, messy, and beautiful selves.
And of course, there’s the medicine. While it’s something that it’s near to my heart, Martin writes it beautifully – it explains the technical details of medicine and hospital politics, without being patronizing.
The Queen Of Hearts is a rare breed of novels that’s both smart and light, sexy and serious, and completely addictive. I’m most impressed by Martin having written this book with her own medical career (an emergency room physician), her prolific book reviews, and her own family at home.
It’s the perfect vacation read – whether you’re jetting off to a beach or need to retreat into a quiet room and take a mental break. I can’t wait to see what she’ll write next.
Other smart brain candy books you may enjoy – The Wedding Date (pre-order The Proposal if you haven’t yet!), the All Souls Trilogy (I re-read this all the time), and The Alice Network. You’ll probably also enjoy Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, which I just reviewed here.
I share a new book review on Fridays. You can find them all here.
