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A review by lucysmom828
The Antidote for Everything by Kimmery Martin
2.0
I had such high hopes for this book as it promised to tackle difficult (and current) topics. Unfortunately I felt that the book tried to cover too much ground and suffered for it.
Georgia is a urologist who works at a private hospital. She learns that the hospital is going to stop treating patients who are transgender and are also looking to fire her friend, Jonah (who is gay). Had this have been the main plot, I think this book would have fulfilled it's promises. Unfortunately the hospital's new policies are barely mentioned after this introduction. We only hear about one patient's outcome, and even that was a paragraph later in the book. I wanted more focus on these patients and their lives, and how this new policy will effect them. This is such an important issue, and it's put on the back burner as soon as it's introduced.
The plot lines that were added didn't always make sense. Georgia travels overseas for a conference, saves a stranger on the plane, and eventually falls for him. I cannot figure out why this plot line was included. Was it so they could market it as a romance? To me, this character added nothing to the book except for someone for Georgia to talk to that furthered the plot. The romance wasn't necessary and seemed out of place (not to mention rushed).
But let's not forget the other main character, Jonah. The hospital is planning on firing him due to the possibility that he is stealing narcotics. This is another important discussion (providers that abuse drugs), but I don't think it was handled well. The scenes where the drug allegations are mentioned are convoluted at best. There is video evidence (but wait, is there?! or was it doctored?!), the involvement of providers who may or may not have seen Jonah at the scene of the crime, and Jonah's history of depression. Georgia also gets involved at one point to try to help clear Jonah's name, further muddying the waters. Put simply, there's too much happening for any of it to make sense. Let's not forget that there's also discussion of sexual harassment (again, another important topic to discuss, but it's not given the necessary space to properly discuss this issue).
This book had a lot of potential, but that's all it was. It did not live up to expectations. There are so many important topics introduced, but they are too many topics to properly flesh them all out. The author should have focused on a few and really explored them in depth, and saved the remaining topics for another book (even a sequel).
Georgia is a urologist who works at a private hospital. She learns that the hospital is going to stop treating patients who are transgender and are also looking to fire her friend, Jonah (who is gay). Had this have been the main plot, I think this book would have fulfilled it's promises. Unfortunately the hospital's new policies are barely mentioned after this introduction. We only hear about one patient's outcome, and even that was a paragraph later in the book. I wanted more focus on these patients and their lives, and how this new policy will effect them. This is such an important issue, and it's put on the back burner as soon as it's introduced.
The plot lines that were added didn't always make sense. Georgia travels overseas for a conference, saves a stranger on the plane, and eventually falls for him. I cannot figure out why this plot line was included. Was it so they could market it as a romance? To me, this character added nothing to the book except for someone for Georgia to talk to that furthered the plot. The romance wasn't necessary and seemed out of place (not to mention rushed).
But let's not forget the other main character, Jonah. The hospital is planning on firing him due to the possibility that he is stealing narcotics. This is another important discussion (providers that abuse drugs), but I don't think it was handled well. The scenes where the drug allegations are mentioned are convoluted at best. There is video evidence (but wait, is there?! or was it doctored?!), the involvement of providers who may or may not have seen Jonah at the scene of the crime, and Jonah's history of depression. Georgia also gets involved at one point to try to help clear Jonah's name, further muddying the waters. Put simply, there's too much happening for any of it to make sense. Let's not forget that there's also discussion of sexual harassment (again, another important topic to discuss, but it's not given the necessary space to properly discuss this issue).
This book had a lot of potential, but that's all it was. It did not live up to expectations. There are so many important topics introduced, but they are too many topics to properly flesh them all out. The author should have focused on a few and really explored them in depth, and saved the remaining topics for another book (even a sequel).