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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
This was a really good read. A really sad read, but a really good one. I'd give it 4.5 stars. There are two story lines, one in the past and one in present day. I knew that the characters were related, but my guess was not right. There were a couple twists that I didn't see coming so it took what could have been a predictable story and elevated it to a more memorable one.
Being a little slow on the uptake on this one, I didn't initially figure out the point of the concurrent story lines - I found some of the medical issues interesting, but some of the story was slow and too predictable (yes, after I brought myself up to speed on the two stories)... but it was a good read.
I sometimes tire of books that go back and forth between the past and present and must admit that was a bit frustrating for me. I do so enjoy how [a:Carol Cassella|1261957|Carol Cassella|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1251175740p2/1261957.jpg] tells a story that involves a lot of medical issues and makes it easy to follow and understand. She wove a solid story between Charlotte, Ramey, Eric and Jake. Each with their own story yet intertwined throughout the book. I must admit I did not discover her reason for the title, but thoroughly enjoyed the book just the same.
A Jane Doe is transferred to the intensive care unit of Seattle Beacon Hospital placed in Dr. Charlotte Reese's care. The unidentified patient is a victim of a hit-and-run. Days pass and Jane Doe's condition worsens forcing Charlotte to make complicated medical decisions. The doctor crosses the professional distance line by enlisting the help of her boyfriend to uncover the identity of her patient. They unlock Jane Doe's shocking secret and possibly a miracle.
Gemini is the first book I've read by author Carol Cassella, M.D. It is also the first medical-based fiction book I've read. Well done! There wasn't a lot of medical jargon making it very easy to understand the diagnosis and dialogue between the doctors and nurses. The chapters alternate narration between Dr. Charlotte and Raney helping the story unfold in a parallel format.
Gemini skillfully combines a medical crisis, life-changing decisions, ethics, love, loss and emotions. This story will make a damn good movie. I was worried whether the book's language would be over my head since the author is a practicing anesthesiologist. She majored in English literature and after finishing Gemini, I realize this makes Carol Cassella, M.D. the best person to write medical-based fiction. Check out the video below of the author discussing Gemini. Then add it to your reading list.
Literary Marie of Precision Reviews
Gemini is the first book I've read by author Carol Cassella, M.D. It is also the first medical-based fiction book I've read. Well done! There wasn't a lot of medical jargon making it very easy to understand the diagnosis and dialogue between the doctors and nurses. The chapters alternate narration between Dr. Charlotte and Raney helping the story unfold in a parallel format.
Gemini skillfully combines a medical crisis, life-changing decisions, ethics, love, loss and emotions. This story will make a damn good movie. I was worried whether the book's language would be over my head since the author is a practicing anesthesiologist. She majored in English literature and after finishing Gemini, I realize this makes Carol Cassella, M.D. the best person to write medical-based fiction. Check out the video below of the author discussing Gemini. Then add it to your reading list.
Literary Marie of Precision Reviews
This was just meh. I wouldn't have wasted time on it if it hadn't been a book club read. The author seemed pretty blown away by the parts of reproduction you cover in 8th grade biology (you did, if you paid attention) and I just wasn't interested enough to love a story about it. I also felt that the ending was trying to hard to be predictably unpredictable. If you read a few descriptions of this one, you don't really need to read the book.
An excellent suspenseful novel that's also sort of a family drama. It tells the story of a childhood friendship that twists and turns into a tragic, yet ultimately healing end.
This would be a good one for a book club. I enjoyed the Seattle/Kitsap Peninsula settings..
This review originally appeared on my blog at www.gimmethatbook.com.
Many thanks to author Carol Cassella for gifting me this book in exchange for an honest review. At the bottom of the page there will be a link to a Q&A I did with the author–enjoy!
An unidentified woman is hit by a car and abandoned along a rural highway in western Washington. She is life-flighted to a Seattle trauma center, where she’s admitted to the intensive care unit overseen by Dr. Charlotte Reese, who battles to keep her “Jane Doe” patient alive while a police investigation tries to discover who is responsible for this hit and run—a charge that could turn into murder if this gravely injured woman dies. Charlotte also senses a more covert battle brewing with the hospital’s legal department when they assign a professional guardian to stand in lieu of Jane’s unknown family and make critical decisions about her care. In frustration, Charlotte and her boyfriend Eric, a science journalist, begin their own efforts to find Jane’s family, veering across the professional boundary between physician and patient. As their lives become more entangled, the truths Charlotte learns will radically alter her own life more profoundly than they alter her patient’s.
This book made my heart ache with sorrow and joy so much, that I had to put it down at times to let my feelings ebb away, in order to absorb what was happening next. Cassella strikes a chord as she writes about young love, loss, and coming to terms that your life could be so much more, but isn’t. The separate plot of Raney and Bo, who meet as children and move in and out of each other’s lives, is told as flashbacks, interspersed with the present tale of the nurse Charlotte as she navigates her relationship with Eric while she is trying to find out the identity of Jane Doe. Eric has a health issue that prevents him from being able to commit fully to Charlotte, and she is becoming discouraged. As she learns more about Jane and who she is, she becomes forced to make decisions that will affect the rest of her life, while putting Eric at a crossroads he never wanted to reach. Cassella’s writing allowed me to empathize with Charlotte, and captured the stress and wariness of both partners as they face things that could tear them apart.
However, the story of Raney, a young artist from the poor side of Quentin, Washington, and Bo, who spends a few summers in Quentin with his aunt, is where the story really shines. They grow older and develop feelings for each other that never really fade away, no matter how many times life causes them to part. Each emotion is told with heartbreaking texture, first from Raney’s perspective, then from Bo’s. Life gets in their way, as Raney must care for her ailing grandfather while Bo, from a well to do family, attends college and travels the world.
Each of the four characters must make sacrifices and learn how to make the best out of every situation. Raney, by far, is the one that shines brightly throughout, as a girl who guards her heart and nurtures her feelings for Bo over the years. I was overcome with emotion time and time again, turning pages as quickly as I could to see what would happen to Raney next. I was affected by her story so much I still think about her to this day and feel as if I could cry. Not many fictional characters get under my skin, but Raney did.
Cassella is adroit at mixing medical situations with real life problems, and the story comes to a resolution that is plausible and bittersweet. If you can get to the last page and not be affected, perhaps you had better check to see if your heart still beats within you. These characters will stay with you for a long time. GEMINI is a must read. You can pick up your copy here.
Click here to be taken to the page with the EXCLUSIVE interview I did with Carol!
Many thanks to author Carol Cassella for gifting me this book in exchange for an honest review. At the bottom of the page there will be a link to a Q&A I did with the author–enjoy!
An unidentified woman is hit by a car and abandoned along a rural highway in western Washington. She is life-flighted to a Seattle trauma center, where she’s admitted to the intensive care unit overseen by Dr. Charlotte Reese, who battles to keep her “Jane Doe” patient alive while a police investigation tries to discover who is responsible for this hit and run—a charge that could turn into murder if this gravely injured woman dies. Charlotte also senses a more covert battle brewing with the hospital’s legal department when they assign a professional guardian to stand in lieu of Jane’s unknown family and make critical decisions about her care. In frustration, Charlotte and her boyfriend Eric, a science journalist, begin their own efforts to find Jane’s family, veering across the professional boundary between physician and patient. As their lives become more entangled, the truths Charlotte learns will radically alter her own life more profoundly than they alter her patient’s.
This book made my heart ache with sorrow and joy so much, that I had to put it down at times to let my feelings ebb away, in order to absorb what was happening next. Cassella strikes a chord as she writes about young love, loss, and coming to terms that your life could be so much more, but isn’t. The separate plot of Raney and Bo, who meet as children and move in and out of each other’s lives, is told as flashbacks, interspersed with the present tale of the nurse Charlotte as she navigates her relationship with Eric while she is trying to find out the identity of Jane Doe. Eric has a health issue that prevents him from being able to commit fully to Charlotte, and she is becoming discouraged. As she learns more about Jane and who she is, she becomes forced to make decisions that will affect the rest of her life, while putting Eric at a crossroads he never wanted to reach. Cassella’s writing allowed me to empathize with Charlotte, and captured the stress and wariness of both partners as they face things that could tear them apart.
However, the story of Raney, a young artist from the poor side of Quentin, Washington, and Bo, who spends a few summers in Quentin with his aunt, is where the story really shines. They grow older and develop feelings for each other that never really fade away, no matter how many times life causes them to part. Each emotion is told with heartbreaking texture, first from Raney’s perspective, then from Bo’s. Life gets in their way, as Raney must care for her ailing grandfather while Bo, from a well to do family, attends college and travels the world.
Each of the four characters must make sacrifices and learn how to make the best out of every situation. Raney, by far, is the one that shines brightly throughout, as a girl who guards her heart and nurtures her feelings for Bo over the years. I was overcome with emotion time and time again, turning pages as quickly as I could to see what would happen to Raney next. I was affected by her story so much I still think about her to this day and feel as if I could cry. Not many fictional characters get under my skin, but Raney did.
Cassella is adroit at mixing medical situations with real life problems, and the story comes to a resolution that is plausible and bittersweet. If you can get to the last page and not be affected, perhaps you had better check to see if your heart still beats within you. These characters will stay with you for a long time. GEMINI is a must read. You can pick up your copy here.
Click here to be taken to the page with the EXCLUSIVE interview I did with Carol!
Definitely a great read - I loved how it was told from different perspectives and I was definitely enthralled by the story. I could have used a LOT more from the ending, though. A bit disappointed there.
I thought this book was somewhat predictable. The author sets up the premise and then the reader is able to figure out what's going to happen. Thankfully, the author doesn't leave you dangling too long while the characters dither about what to do. The characters are mostly well-developed with the exception of one, which I suspect had several scenes edited out, which left her rather flat and 2 dimensional.
This is the story of an ICU physician, Charlotte, who is assigned to care for a Jane Doe who is brought into her hospital. Jane Doe was in some sort of accident and no one knows who she is or how she ended up there. Other characters in this story include Raney and Bo, a pair of teenagers, Eric, Charlotte's boyfriend, who is a science writer, and Grandpa, a cantankerous old man who is raising Raney all by himself.
I enjoyed this story but sometimes the author didn't show specific scenes that I wanted to see, and instead left it up to the reader's imagination to fill in the blanks. At the same time, I would have liked to see a less predictable story, with more twists and turns.
This is the story of an ICU physician, Charlotte, who is assigned to care for a Jane Doe who is brought into her hospital. Jane Doe was in some sort of accident and no one knows who she is or how she ended up there. Other characters in this story include Raney and Bo, a pair of teenagers, Eric, Charlotte's boyfriend, who is a science writer, and Grandpa, a cantankerous old man who is raising Raney all by himself.
I enjoyed this story but sometimes the author didn't show specific scenes that I wanted to see, and instead left it up to the reader's imagination to fill in the blanks. At the same time, I would have liked to see a less predictable story, with more twists and turns.