Reviewed by Dee
TITLE: Doctored
AUTHOR: K’Anne Meinel
PUBLISHER: Shadoe Publishing
LENGTH: 323 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 27, 2016
BLURB:
A brilliant child protégée, she dreams of becoming a doctor and a surgeon…and accomplishes her goals. Unfortunately, her youth and round, child-like face work against her. No matter how skilled she becomes, how knowledgeable, the old school, male-dominated medical hierarchy wants to keep her in ‘her place.’
Deanna has worked hard to become an expert in her chosen field, but few believe this ‘child’ capable. Specializing in infectious diseases, she travels the world—from the States to Europe to South America—honing her skills before winding up in Africa where her skills are desperately needed.
Meeting a nurse by the name of Madison MacGregor, she finds they share an insatiable curiosity and a love of helping others, but falling in love was not what she intended. Later, when she loses Maddie to a misunderstanding, she is haunted by the one that got away…
Ten years have passed and both the doctor and nurse have moved on with their lives, but fate intervenes when they find themselves working at the same hospital. Their friendship is revived…can their love be rekindled? Will the past haunt them or bring them closer? Will the secrets that both harbor keep them from realizing a future together?
REVIEW:
This story is different than I expected. Not that I’m entirely sure what I expected. The synopsis suggests this is Deanna’s story. However, it begins with Madison and her family, her husband dropping off her two young children. They are amicable for the kid’s sake, but by the end of the story he has a head transplant and becomes a violent man with a restraining order slapped against him.
A few chapters in, the story rewinds ten-years and there are pages upon pages of Deanna and Maddie’s time in Africa. As per the title suggests, there’s a lot of medical talk, complete with maggot therapy, a girl with a tape worm in her gut, and talk of guinea worms crawling out of a person’s skin. EKE!
Fast forward to the middle of the story and we jump forward ten years, when the ladies cross paths again. The story goes in many directions, some that bored me to tears and did little to advance the plot, the trip to the lake for one. Deanna is rich and wants to take care of Madison. The biggest obstacles they have to overcome are Madison’s fear of coming out as a lesbian, and Deanna being technologically challenged and unable to keep in contact via mobile phone/texting. The one and the same genius who graduated at the age of fourteen and manages a business, can’t figure out how to use a mobile phone? Hell, my grandmother knows how to send text messages.
Numerous times I became confused who was saying what, as the story is told from everyone’s point of view. Every time a new character enters a room, or conversation, the reader is thrown from one head to another and back again… it made my head hurt. This type of narration totally throws me out as a reader. At one stage the cat even got a say, I quote “Spot wanted nothing to do with it and left the humans to this disgraceful display of behavior that didn’t befit his dignity!”
The overuse of adverbs and ridiculous dialogue tags frustrated me to no end… she said importantly, she said musingly, he began whiningly. And the killer – “Shit!” Deanna ejaculated under her breath. I have no clue what that even means, no sex was involved. Speaking of such, the story contains some explicit sex, something I normally love, but…*shrugs*
When I become frustrated with a book, the smallest of things become annoying, so I will stop with my negative comments. The story had potential but the writing style drove me to distraction.
As the story stands, I cannot recommend it. However, the story has a number of 5 star reviews, so I urge potential readers to check those out. We all know not every book can be for everyone.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
As a fan of K’Anne Meinel’s work i may be biased in my view on her work. I found the book ‘Doctored’ as usual to be very detail orientated. As such the author often goes back into a characters life in order to explain the situation they now find themselves in. Yes she does often narrate from each characters view point, it’s not for some i guess, if your not able to follow the plot or who is saying what but it’s usually very clear cut as to who is saying / thinking what. I find her use of adverbs and dialogue tags refreshing and thought provoking rather than the boring ‘she thought’ or ‘muttered’. Maybe the use of the term ‘ejeculated’ for some is only used in a sexual manner, perhaps a good dictionary or thesaurus is in order in this instance??? after all it can also mean:-
say something quickly and suddenly.
“‘That will do!’ he ejaculated”
synonyms: exclaim, cry out, call out, yell, sing out, utter suddenly, blurt out;
In reading a book there is nothing wrong in my opinion in learning a new phrase or use of a word. Fiction doesn’t mean that we also can’t learn a thing or 2 about the use of adverbs, dialogue tags, grammar, synonyms or simply enhance our own grasp of basic English. We’re never too old to learn after all.
Obviously the books K’Anne Meinel writes wont be for everyone, they do have detailed, complex well thought out characters and she does go out of her way to paint a portrait of them throughout the book. This often involves jumping back into their past lives to explain who they are and where they have come from. It’s not for everyone, but that’s why there are so many books and author’s out there.
Personally I truly enjoy K’Anne’s style of writing and have gotten a variety of my friends hooked on her books as well. To some i suppose they may appear too wordy or ‘intellectualized’ but then that’s why there is a whole gambit of books starting with things like teen fiction and even the old ‘Mills and Boon’ style romantic love stories where nothing is complex and everyone lives happily ever after. It’s all about personal choice and the style of writing you resonate with.
I personally loved this book, am waiting on the next episode in her series of ‘Malice’ and have just re-read her book ‘Lawyered’ which i guess if you didn’t like ‘Doctored’ you may not like either but i thoroughly enjoyed. I’m also waiting on her next release ‘Veil of Silence’.
Have a read of the book and decide for yourself.
‘ Maybe the use of the term ‘ejeculated’ for some is only used in a sexual manner, perhaps a good dictionary or thesaurus is in order in this instance??? after all it can also mean:-
say something quickly and suddenly.’
The dictionary also says that using ‘ejaculated’ for ‘to talk quickly’ is outdated. The only time I’ve personally run across that word being used to mean ‘to talk quickly’ it was in an historical fiction. Published in 1955 (Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer). The book itself was set somewhere between 1811-1820.
Was Doctored set back in time? An historical fiction? I believe it’s both contemporary and published recently. Using ‘ejaculated’ pulled me out of an historical fiction book written in 1955. It certainly wouldn’t be easy to overlook in a book published recently.
‘nothing wrong in my opinion in learning a new phrase or use of a word.’ I already knew both definitions for ejaculated. Still pulled me out of the story (the Heyer historical fiction one, not Doctored. I’ve not read Doctored.)