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tiffeck's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
callienicole's review against another edition
2.0
2/5 stars.
So, this book is basically Gray's Anatomy in book form - including dramatic medical situations, philosophical monologues, and bad morals.
Content Breakdown:
Langauge: Bad language abounds, but I've read books that are worse, so I wouldn't necessarily say it was saturated. Still, it was above average on the amount of bad language. There is also a lot of crude language and vulgarity that made me cringe.
Sexual Content: Predictably, one of the characters, Zadie, has a mostly sex-based relationship while she's still in med school with one of her uppers, Nick (sound familiar?). The sleeping together is part of the story, but is thankfully not described in too much detail, aside from cliche references to "passion" and "fire" and "longing" in their relationship. There is cheating, and sex is also used in a bribery/extortion scenario in this story to keep people from telling secrets, and that's despicable. There is also a weird amount of people walking around the house naked in this book. I can't relate to that. We like to where clothes around here.
Religion: Christianity receives a few barbs from some of these characters. Some of the religious beliefs of the characters are described as agnostic. In the final chapters we have a long description of how the universe and life supposedly formed, to this character it was through the Big Bang and evolution. A couple references to Bible verses.
Other: Medical situations are described in gruesome detail. Someone commits suicide.
My Thoughts: The story mostly takes place years down the road from med school, when Zadie and her best friend Emma (also a doctor who went to medical school with her) are happily married with kids. They find out that Nick is moving back to Charlotte and will be working in the same practice as Emma. Emma has an unusual animosity toward Nick, and we start to get the feeling that more scandal happened back in the day than we are aware of, especially at hints of someone dying.
In the flashbacks to 1999, Nick is a total jerk, and I did not get the supposed appeal AT ALL. All I could think of whenever Nick entered a scene was "ewe", and I wanted to slap all the female characters who were fawning over him. I was disturbed by how Nick and Zadie's sexual relationship was held up as amazing and they thought they "loved" each other, even though they barely knew each other. And Nick was a complete jerk, even aside from the fact that he was also sleeping with something else. The relationship was only sustained by his smooth-talking Zadie at just the right time. I wanted to shake the clueless Zadie, who was so infatuated with him, as she thought it was so charming that she had to twist his arm to get him to take her out to dinner, and how it was cute when he cringed at the word "relationship". WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?
I'm trying not to give a spoiler, but we eventually learn that Emma has terrible secrets of her own, secrets that could completely destroy her friendship with Zadie. Basically, Emma has issues, lies a bunch, does whatever she needs to do to get sex, impersonates someone, and covers it all up.
I do have to say though, I really liked how Emma and Zadie's marriages were so solid. They both ended up finding keepers, and at no point in the story are they tempted to cheat on their husbands, and I do give tiny little props to this story for that.
Still, the only likable character was Zadie (and Zadie and Emma's husbands, they were sweethearts), and I've already stated that I thought Zadie was rather clueless and I wanted to shake her. So why did I stick with this book?
I guess I'm just a sucker for medical plot lines and interpersonal drama. As much as I disliked every character except Zadie and the families, I still wanted to see how everything was going to turn out for everyone. Aside from the awful revelations, I like how everything was tied up at the end of the book, and how forgiveness and friendship endured despite everything. But it's not really a book I would recommend, overall.
So, this book is basically Gray's Anatomy in book form - including dramatic medical situations, philosophical monologues, and bad morals.
Content Breakdown:
Langauge: Bad language abounds, but I've read books that are worse, so I wouldn't necessarily say it was saturated. Still, it was above average on the amount of bad language. There is also a lot of crude language and vulgarity that made me cringe.
Sexual Content: Predictably, one of the characters, Zadie, has a mostly sex-based relationship while she's still in med school with one of her uppers, Nick (sound familiar?). The sleeping together is part of the story, but is thankfully not described in too much detail, aside from cliche references to "passion" and "fire" and "longing" in their relationship. There is cheating, and sex is also used in a bribery/extortion scenario in this story to keep people from telling secrets, and that's despicable. There is also a weird amount of people walking around the house naked in this book. I can't relate to that. We like to where clothes around here.
Religion: Christianity receives a few barbs from some of these characters. Some of the religious beliefs of the characters are described as agnostic. In the final chapters we have a long description of how the universe and life supposedly formed, to this character it was through the Big Bang and evolution. A couple references to Bible verses.
Other: Medical situations are described in gruesome detail. Someone commits suicide.
My Thoughts: The story mostly takes place years down the road from med school, when Zadie and her best friend Emma (also a doctor who went to medical school with her) are happily married with kids. They find out that Nick is moving back to Charlotte and will be working in the same practice as Emma. Emma has an unusual animosity toward Nick, and we start to get the feeling that more scandal happened back in the day than we are aware of, especially at hints of someone dying.
In the flashbacks to 1999, Nick is a total jerk, and I did not get the supposed appeal AT ALL. All I could think of whenever Nick entered a scene was "ewe", and I wanted to slap all the female characters who were fawning over him. I was disturbed by how Nick and Zadie's sexual relationship was held up as amazing and they thought they "loved" each other, even though they barely knew each other. And Nick was a complete jerk, even aside from the fact that he was also sleeping with something else. The relationship was only sustained by his smooth-talking Zadie at just the right time. I wanted to shake the clueless Zadie, who was so infatuated with him, as she thought it was so charming that she had to twist his arm to get him to take her out to dinner, and how it was cute when he cringed at the word "relationship". WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?
I'm trying not to give a spoiler, but we eventually learn that Emma has terrible secrets of her own, secrets that could completely destroy her friendship with Zadie. Basically, Emma has issues, lies a bunch, does whatever she needs to do to get sex, impersonates someone, and covers it all up.
I do have to say though, I really liked how Emma and Zadie's marriages were so solid. They both ended up finding keepers, and at no point in the story are they tempted to cheat on their husbands, and I do give tiny little props to this story for that.
Still, the only likable character was Zadie (and Zadie and Emma's husbands, they were sweethearts), and I've already stated that I thought Zadie was rather clueless and I wanted to shake her. So why did I stick with this book?
I guess I'm just a sucker for medical plot lines and interpersonal drama. As much as I disliked every character except Zadie and the families, I still wanted to see how everything was going to turn out for everyone. Aside from the awful revelations, I like how everything was tied up at the end of the book, and how forgiveness and friendship endured despite everything. But it's not really a book I would recommend, overall.
rebeccasreadingrambles's review against another edition
2.0
If you are looking for a book that reads like a Grey's Anatomy book then this is definitely for you. (Beware if you are squeamish, this book is very bloody and gruesome with lots of gory descriptions). I was hoping for more of a friendship based drama, but more than half the book is about patients in the trauma service. Don't get me wrong, I found that part interesting as most people do, but soon discovered that the medical drama was MUCH more interesting than the friendship drama.
We are teased many many times about something that happened in Zadie and Emma's third year of medical school that changed them forever, but they refuse to talk about. The reveal was so dragged out (so many chapters when they would ALMOST start talking about it and then get interrupted). As the past story very slowly unfolds, it becomes obvious what the secrets are very quickly. When the betrayals and the past secrets are revealed, it was so obvious that the drama was kind of lost.
I can say that it was overally written very well and I loved some of the characters, but not so much Emma or Zadie. For main characters, I thought they could be more well developed (though we do get some insight into Emma near the end). For a lot of the book I got confused about who the narrator was - their voices/POVs are too similar.
I have a HUGE problem with how non-white and non-skinny characters were portrayed. So many offensive stereotypes and even if these are based on real people the author know, it just's so unnecessary to have those be her POC voices (while tiny) in the book. ALSO I cringed every time she described someone's weight or looks - when she wasn't sure if she could get in an elevator because there was a "weight challenged" person who might put them over the limit?! Why was this necessary to include?
This book was okay and a quick read, but the story line was too predictable for me to really love it.
We are teased many many times about something that happened in Zadie and Emma's third year of medical school that changed them forever, but they refuse to talk about. The reveal was so dragged out (so many chapters when they would ALMOST start talking about it and then get interrupted). As the past story very slowly unfolds, it becomes obvious what the secrets are very quickly. When the betrayals and the past secrets are revealed, it was so obvious that the drama was kind of lost.
I can say that it was overally written very well and I loved some of the characters, but not so much Emma or Zadie. For main characters, I thought they could be more well developed (though we do get some insight into Emma near the end). For a lot of the book I got confused about who the narrator was - their voices/POVs are too similar.
I have a HUGE problem with how non-white and non-skinny characters were portrayed. So many offensive stereotypes and even if these are based on real people the author know, it just's so unnecessary to have those be her POC voices (while tiny) in the book. ALSO I cringed every time she described someone's weight or looks - when she wasn't sure if she could get in an elevator because there was a "weight challenged" person who might put them over the limit?! Why was this necessary to include?
This book was okay and a quick read, but the story line was too predictable for me to really love it.
sarsarsarsarsar's review against another edition
4.0
This is a great book. The only reason I’m giving it 4 (bc I can’t do 4.5)stars is it wasn’t exactly a page turner, and at times I felt I really had to concentrate to read. This author has an amazing vocabulary and I was looking up words nearly every other page
I love her knowledge base of the medical field peppered in, it felt very authentic and interesting!!
Good story line! Loved the changing perspectives and time frames
I love her knowledge base of the medical field peppered in, it felt very authentic and interesting!!
Good story line! Loved the changing perspectives and time frames
reading_is_my_hobby's review against another edition
2.0
#thequeenofheartsbook was a medical drama set in #charlotte. An entertaining but simple beach read that I can’t necessarily recommend, although I was most impressed the author is also an MD.
“Some grief blots out the world.”
“Some grief blots out the world.”
sarahecamus's review against another edition
3.0
QUEEN OF HEARTS ⭐⭐⭐/5 .
I need to start off by saying that I DID like this book. However, I feel like I had high expectations for it, especially seeing it all over bookstagram world with such positive feedback. That said, it didn't live up to those expectations.
Zadie and Emma have been BFFs since college and both live on to obtain successful careers as doctors. Zadie, had a medical school romance with the cheif resident, Nick, but had her heart broken. Fast forward 20 years later, Emma, a trauma surgeon is stunned to find out Nick is now working at the same hospital she is. Lies and betrayal from 20 years ago surface and the fate of many relationships are compromised.
Here's what I liked: I liked the medical storyline. Yes, it was very much like Grey's Anatomy in the drama + medical story lines. I like the relationships both women have with their husbands and I absolutely adored Zadie's daughter and her way of conversing with her parents ("Hello honey dear" was a fave). I'm also a huge fan of dual perspective stories.
What I disliked: I felt that Martin almost made readers forget about Nick part way through the story. He's introduced, you hear about the love story of him and Zadie, then you don't hear about him in present day for forever. I also thought the end result of Emma's storyline was a little far fetched for my taste. By the end of the story, I just wanted to hear how the drama was resolved and to move on. .
Again, I liked it, but I didn't love it. I would still recommend it to a friend.
I need to start off by saying that I DID like this book. However, I feel like I had high expectations for it, especially seeing it all over bookstagram world with such positive feedback. That said, it didn't live up to those expectations.
Zadie and Emma have been BFFs since college and both live on to obtain successful careers as doctors. Zadie, had a medical school romance with the cheif resident, Nick, but had her heart broken. Fast forward 20 years later, Emma, a trauma surgeon is stunned to find out Nick is now working at the same hospital she is. Lies and betrayal from 20 years ago surface and the fate of many relationships are compromised.
Here's what I liked: I liked the medical storyline. Yes, it was very much like Grey's Anatomy in the drama + medical story lines. I like the relationships both women have with their husbands and I absolutely adored Zadie's daughter and her way of conversing with her parents ("Hello honey dear" was a fave). I'm also a huge fan of dual perspective stories.
What I disliked: I felt that Martin almost made readers forget about Nick part way through the story. He's introduced, you hear about the love story of him and Zadie, then you don't hear about him in present day for forever. I also thought the end result of Emma's storyline was a little far fetched for my taste. By the end of the story, I just wanted to hear how the drama was resolved and to move on. .
Again, I liked it, but I didn't love it. I would still recommend it to a friend.
warner_jessica's review against another edition
2.0
This was a quick read, the story was moderately engaging, and as a doctor I was excited to read a medical school romance drama. Unfortunately, the casual racism and body shaming/idealization of the “thin” female figure that permeated my medical school education in the South came through loud and clear in this book.
versky8's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0