Monday, April 24, 2017

Release Review ~ Necessary Medicine by M.K. York


Blurb:

With intelligence and humor, debut male/male author M.K. York delivers an emotionally charged slow-burn romance set in a prestigious Bay Area teaching hospital


In the high-intensity world of hospital residency programs, there's no room for romance. So it's a good thing for first-year surgical resident Neil Carmona that his crush on the gorgeous cardiologist Eli Newcombe is sheer fantasy. Not only is the sexy doctor Neil's superior, he's also recently divorced. 

As Neil's skill as a surgeon grows, so does his friendship with Eli, and his silent, hopeless longing for more. It isn't until Neil's final year that Eli at last admits his own deepest desires. But Neil's joy is short-lived: Eli has no intention of pursuing a relationship. Their positions in the hospital would make it unethical, even if he was emotionally ready for someone new. 

Wounded and furious, Neil is determined to forget about Eli once and for all. But when a near-tragedy strikes, a new question arises: Is a life without love—without Neil—a greater risk than laying his heart on the line?







3 Stars

I truly wanted to love this book. The cover is gorgeous and the blurb sounded so promising, but, unfortunately, it didn't deliver. The book, while well-written, was overly long and had more details regarding a surgery residency and hospital politics than I ever wanted to know. I guess the author wrote what she knew about since she's a resident herself, but really, she got lost in all the details and the romance fell to the backburner, to the point where Neil and Eli only get together for the last 15% or so of the story, taking slow burn to a whole new level.

I think there was more chemistry/scenes between Neil and his mentor Pete than between Neil and Eli. I could see why Neil would have a crush on Eli, but I never felt it reciprocated until the end, so yeah. *shrugs*

So, if you want to read an account of what a surgeon goes through during their five years of surgical residency with some romantic undertones, then, by all means, this is the book for you.

*Copy provided to the reviewer via NetGalley for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*


*Copy provided to the reviewer via NetGalley for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*

Necessary Medicine is the first book for author M. K. York. Here are two key elements from the blurb you need to know before cracking open this book:

1. "slow-burn"
2. "there's no room for romance"

This is not a gay romance book. The last 10% or so of this book does have a gay romance, and I absolutely loved that part of the book, but all the words that came before it was a medical journal. Well, I don't read medical journals, so that's just a guess, but it felt like what I'd think a medical journal was like if a Dr had submitted an article on his/her life and journey through medical school and residency. When I initially read this blurb, I thought it was going to be a sexy gay version of a medical drama on tv. It was not.

This story is told completely from Neil's POV. Neil is a first-year surgical resident working in a busy hospital. If there's any person who is considering becoming a doctor, I would definitely recommend they read this book. It definitely would serve to show them exactly what their life will be like. How they won't have time for friends, relationships, eating, sleeping, leaving the hospital, or pretty much anything. It involves procedures, surgeries and various other medical terms and things I didn't understand. Kudos to everyone becoming doctors that you survived this!

At the end of the book, there was a little information about the author, and it was not a shock to find out she is a medical student. This book was definitely not written by someone outside the medical field. I was happy the author included information and discussion about diversity in the medical field and situations of discrimination within the field. It's an important issue, and it shows no matter how much education some people receive, they can still be biased.

Rating: 3 stars



No comments:

Post a Comment