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thephdivabooks's review
4.0
The Antidote for Everything covers timely, relevant, and sometimes polarizing topics with grace, heart, and a bit of humor.
The main character Georgia is fantastic! I may be biased because she’s a fellow redhead, but I find her to just be pretty awesome all around. She’s a rare female urologist in the south working for a hospital founded by a fundamental church. Progressive values have no place in the institution Georgia works for. But overall, Georgia likes her coworkers, her patients, and her life.
The central relationship of the novel is between Georgia and her best friend Jonah. When Jonah came out to his family at 18, he was turned away. Now, Georgia has become his family. Their friendship is completely heartwarming and filled with snappy banter and heartfelt moments.
When Georgia is on her way to a conference in the Netherlands, a medical emergency onboard the aircraft calls her into service, and ultimately leads her to meet Mark. After she saves Mark, he wants to buy her a drink, a train ticket, and get to know her. And of course he is tall and hot! I liked the relationship between Mark and Georgia, but if I’m honest I was more interested in the friendship between Jonah and Georgia.
So that brings us to what I would consider the main tension of the story. Georgia is at her conference while Jonah is back in Charleston worried about his job. Patients who are transgender have been notified that the hospital won’t treat them, and they’ll need to find alternate medical treatment. When Jonah refuses to abide by the hospital’s “morality” policy and turn away patients, he is fired. And it doesn’t end there. My heart went out to Jonah as he suffered character attacks. Friends and former colleagues circulate rumors that he stole medications from the hospital.
Seeing the depth of Georgia’s friendship with Jonah was truly a shining part of this novel. Georgia goes to great lengths to help Jonah, including bringing Mark in. The situation in this book was one that is so timely, and is happening all around our country as political and social tensions escalate. Many feel the need to hold on even more tightly to their own moral code, and the fall out of policies such as this are devastating. Through Martin’s story, we see not only the impact on the patients, but also on the employees at the hospital. When a group has majority control, the options to stand up against something you disagree with disappear.
This book manages to be both deeply thought-provoking and serious, while also being humorous and heart-warming at times. A really great book and one that I applaud for tackling tough issues that many shy away from.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing for my copy. Opinions are my own.
The main character Georgia is fantastic! I may be biased because she’s a fellow redhead, but I find her to just be pretty awesome all around. She’s a rare female urologist in the south working for a hospital founded by a fundamental church. Progressive values have no place in the institution Georgia works for. But overall, Georgia likes her coworkers, her patients, and her life.
The central relationship of the novel is between Georgia and her best friend Jonah. When Jonah came out to his family at 18, he was turned away. Now, Georgia has become his family. Their friendship is completely heartwarming and filled with snappy banter and heartfelt moments.
When Georgia is on her way to a conference in the Netherlands, a medical emergency onboard the aircraft calls her into service, and ultimately leads her to meet Mark. After she saves Mark, he wants to buy her a drink, a train ticket, and get to know her. And of course he is tall and hot! I liked the relationship between Mark and Georgia, but if I’m honest I was more interested in the friendship between Jonah and Georgia.
So that brings us to what I would consider the main tension of the story. Georgia is at her conference while Jonah is back in Charleston worried about his job. Patients who are transgender have been notified that the hospital won’t treat them, and they’ll need to find alternate medical treatment. When Jonah refuses to abide by the hospital’s “morality” policy and turn away patients, he is fired. And it doesn’t end there. My heart went out to Jonah as he suffered character attacks. Friends and former colleagues circulate rumors that he stole medications from the hospital.
Seeing the depth of Georgia’s friendship with Jonah was truly a shining part of this novel. Georgia goes to great lengths to help Jonah, including bringing Mark in. The situation in this book was one that is so timely, and is happening all around our country as political and social tensions escalate. Many feel the need to hold on even more tightly to their own moral code, and the fall out of policies such as this are devastating. Through Martin’s story, we see not only the impact on the patients, but also on the employees at the hospital. When a group has majority control, the options to stand up against something you disagree with disappear.
This book manages to be both deeply thought-provoking and serious, while also being humorous and heart-warming at times. A really great book and one that I applaud for tackling tough issues that many shy away from.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing for my copy. Opinions are my own.
spinesandwines's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
annacmccusker's review
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
maddiela's review
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Enjoyed this book way more than I thought! I really loved and admired the two main characters and I was rooting for them throughout the entire book. There was a little too much religion talk for me to give this a full 5 stars but besides that I would recommend to anyone who likes medical drama storylines that relate to current events in the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Death, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia
Minor: Cancer
brigmr13's review
3.0
I didn't find this as engrossing as her prior book, Queen of Hearts, but enjoyable and I appreciated the focus on transgender medical rights.
rngandossy's review
4.0
While the topics covered in this are ones many people do not acknowledge or speak of in fear of how others will respond, I was not a huge fan of the characters. The foundation of LGBTQ+, health care, romance, politics in a doctors office we’re all very well developed. I appreciated the learning aspect Kimmery brought to the pages. Although I walked away liking the book, if I could have been engrossed by the characters themselves, I would have loved it.
gellyreads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I really enjoy this cast of characters. I know I struggled to connect to this partially because of my own bias against doctors. I also wish, even though this is something that would happen, this didn't have to go into sexual assault .
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Moderate: Drug abuse
toniak's review
3.0
This book felt a little uneven. First it felt like it was trying to be a romance novel, then a thriller maybe? There were way too many pop culture references. I don't know why people think that helps a book. In general, I liked the story once I figured out what it was about, but it seemed to accidentally get there.
One convention this writer used that annoyed me was to be like "She saw the very important thing that changed everything" and then didn't tell the reader what that thing was until later. That's a lame way to try and keep me reading by making something a mystery that doesn't need to be. It's not the "what" that's interesting, its the "why" and how it makes the characters relate to each other.
One convention this writer used that annoyed me was to be like "She saw the very important thing that changed everything" and then didn't tell the reader what that thing was until later. That's a lame way to try and keep me reading by making something a mystery that doesn't need to be. It's not the "what" that's interesting, its the "why" and how it makes the characters relate to each other.
jblair418's review
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Sexual assault
notkb's review against another edition
3.0
Really enjoyed the friendship between Georgia and Jonah. Could have done without the unnecessary love story.