Official Review: Doctored by K'Anne Meinel

Jennifer Allsbrook · Post by **Jennifer Allsbrook** » 03 Jan 2017, 21:06

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Doctored" by K'Anne Meinel.]

4 out of 4 stars

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To love someone is a precious experience that comes along only once in a lifetime, or, does it? For child prodigy and brilliant, young doctor, Deanna Kearney this seems to be the case. In Doctored, by K’Anne Meinel, the main character, Deanna falls in love while in Africa on assignment with Doctors Without Borders. This relationship fails and life throws one challenge after another at Dr. Kearney. Against the odds, Deanna comes through these challenges with focus and strength of character, allowing her to become an infectious disease specialist and take the reins of her family’s pharmaceutical company.

Flash forward ten years. Nurse Madison MacGregor, a recently divorced mother of two, begins receiving anonymous floral arrangements at work: Birds of Paradise, Proteas, African violets. Each and every flower acts as a reminder for Madison of her time in Africa. Who could be sending these flowers? Guarding her secrets, Madison has buried the past.

To her surprise, Deanna walks back into her life. Living in the harsh and often dangerous conditions in war-torn Africa, stress, high pressure, and close living conditions drove these two young women into each other’s arms. Facing memories of their tumultuous, yet forbidden love affair from a decade ago plunges Madison into a cascade of self-reflection and doubt. Can she again delve into this forbidden part of her sexuality? Can she be brave enough to weather the gossip and scorn of friends and family and again embrace her one true love? In Doctored, Meinel brings to light the struggles of these women who want a second chance at love.

Doctored intrigued me and I enjoyed the story very much. Using the literary devices of flashback and flash-forward, Meinel provides a past, present, and future for her characters. They have depth and intelligence and face very difficult emotional challenges. From questioning sexuality to embracing a new way of thinking, Meinel forces her characters to explore these complex issues. Meinel takes the reader through the love, bravery, fear, and loss of this relationship. Madison, a “good” Catholic girl who wanted children and was afraid of the stigma associated with homosexuality, gave up her first real love and tried to move on with her life. Through emotional turns, Meinel walks us through Madison’s journey of self-discovery.

Overall, I rate this story 4 out of 4 stars. With well-written prose, strong dialogue, and foreshadowing, Meinel’s story and characters are well-developed, and I found myself hoping for a “happily ever after” for Madison and Deanna. Romance excites me as a reader, but I must admit that this was my first foray into a LGBT romance novel. I would recommend this novel to others interested in the LGBT romance genre. If intense sex scenes offend you, then this story may not be for you.

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Doctored
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Swiftmover07 · Post by **Swiftmover07** » 04 Jan 2017, 18:23

nice review! The book seems like a nice read as well. Congrats to the author for the positive review

Jennifer Allsbrook · Post by **Jennifer Allsbrook** » 04 Jan 2017, 20:37

Swiftmover07 wrote:nice review! The book seems like a nice read as well. Congrats to the author for the positive review

Thank you for the positive feedback. This was a nice read!

Post by **Annelore Trujillo** » 08 Jan 2017, 00:35

This sounds like a really interesting book. I just read another book that dealt with some of these same emotions. I love that more and more authors are comfortable writing about homosexual relationships. Thank you for the great review!

Jennifer Allsbrook · Post by **Jennifer Allsbrook** » 08 Jan 2017, 00:40

anneloretrujillo wrote:This sounds like a really interesting book. I just read another book that dealt with some of these same emotions. I love that more and more authors are comfortable writing about homosexual relationships. Thank you for the great review!

It was an interesting story and very well written. To be honest, when I chose the book to review I didn't realize it was a LGBT love story. When I realized it, I was already sucked into the story and couldn't wait to find out how it turned out.

Post by **Annelore Trujillo** » 08 Jan 2017, 00:50

Jennifer Allsbrook wrote:
anneloretrujillo wrote:This sounds like a really interesting book. I just read another book that dealt with some of these same emotions. I love that more and more authors are comfortable writing about homosexual relationships. Thank you for the great review!
It was an interesting story and very well written. To be honest, when I chose the book to review I didn't realize it was a LGBT love story. When I realized it, I was already sucked into the story and couldn't wait to find out how it turned out.

That's exactly what happened to me! I had no idea until I started reading it. I loved the book, and was really glad I had picked it out!

Jennifer Allsbrook · Post by **Jennifer Allsbrook** » 09 Jan 2017, 00:57

anneloretrujillo wrote: That's exactly what happened to me! I had no idea until I started reading it. I loved the book, and was really glad I had picked it out!

That is one of the best ways to discover good books!