Medicine Man
Ratings4
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings4
Average rating3.8
Willow Taylor lives in a castle with large walls and iron fences. But this is no ordinary castle. It’s called Heartstone Psychiatric Hospital and it houses forty other patients. It has nurses with mean faces and techs with permanent frowns. It has a man, as well. A man who is cold and distant. Whose voice drips with authority. And whose piercing gray eyes hide secrets, and maybe linger on her face a second too long. Willow isn’t supposed to look deep into those eyes. She isn’t supposed to try to read his tightly-leashed emotions. Neither is she supposed to touch herself at night, imagining his powerful voice and that cold but beautiful face. No, Willow Taylor shouldn’t be attracted to Simon Blackwood at all. Because she’s a patient and he’s her doctor. Her psychiatrist. The medicine man. NOTE: A STANDALONE novel set in the Heartstone world. KEYWORDS: Forbidden romance, age gap romance, older man younger woman romance, angsty romance, patient doctor romance, alpha male romance, coming of age romance, opposites attract romance, grumpy hero sunshine heroine
Series
3 primary booksHeartstone is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2017 with contributions by Elle Katharine White, Saffron A. Kent, and NOT A BOOK.
Reviews with the most likes.
~WRITING - PLOT - PACE~
To start off with I just have to say that this author is an AMAZING writer. Every book I have read by her to date has been fantastic. Did I love this one as much as the previous two I have read (The Unrequited and Gods & Monsters)? Well, not quite, and I'll get to the reasons why in a bit, but I did very much enjoy it overall (hence the 4-Star rating). The writing was excellent (as usual). The pace was OK. This is really where the book lost half a star for me. It was a fairly long book, and the first half of this book moved REALLY slow for me. That said, the pace does pick up quite a bit after the 50% mark. The plot was engaging (more so in the second half). It was also quite unique. Last, it was all wrapped up in a very sweet epilogue that gave us just a TINY hint about what lies in store for a couple of the secondary characters.
~HERO~
SIMON...So Simon is the other reason this lost half a star. I liked Simon, but I didn't love him. This may be because I absolutely ADORED Willow, and in comparison I felt Simon was maybe a bit weak. On top of that, some of his decisions, and how he went about certain things in regard to Willow didn't strike me as being very astute for a psychiatrist of some repute. And I'll be honest I was kind of pissed off about how the big drama played out at the end, and how Willow basically took all the heat for Simon's callous actions by having to spend another four weeks locked up. I sound like I hated the guy, but I didn't. I think for me he was just the weaker of the two main characters. Having said that, he did earn A LOT of extra brownie points for his behavior near the end. So his character was a bit of a mixed bag for me.
~HEROINE~
WILLOW...I ADORED Willow. A-D-O-R-E-D her. She was strong (especially near the end). She was feisty. She had balls to go after what she wanted. She was a good friend. A good human being. She was funny. She was sweet. She was a bit nerdy. Her struggles hit very close to home for me both personally and through extended family, and I just wanted to reach into a book and give her a hug. Willow was by far my favorite character in this book, and probably in the top five of all-time favorite heroines, I have ever had the pleasure to read about.
~SECONDARY CHARACTERS~
This book had a plethora of excellent secondary characters. I adored Willow's friends (Renn, Vi, and Penny), and I am super excited that Renn and Vi are going to be getting books of their own.
~HEAT LEVEL~
MEDIUM...The sex was a bit slow to come (50%), but boy oh boy was it smokin' hot when it did finally arrive. These two set my tablet on fire. They also had a fantastic on page chemistry.
~ANGST LEVEL - SEXUAL HISTORIES~
MEDIUM...This was a fairly angsty book simply because of the plot set up (patient/psychiatrist). There is also a bit of an age difference, the heroine just turned 18 and the hero is 33. The heroine was a virgin (groan), but OK, it was believable enough in this instance. The hero wasn't a manwhore and hadn't slept with anyone in three months, and there wasn't any OW or OM drama.
~IN THE END~
Did I enjoy it? Very much so.
Was it perfect? It had a few small issues, but nothing too major.
Would I recommend it? Yes, for sure!
Who would enjoy this book? Pretty much everyone.
