Bookshelf Friday - Life Support by Candace Calvert

It's been a little bit since I've picked up a Candace Calvert book, and when I saw she had a new one coming out, I realized how much I'd missed reading her. So I snatched it up and read it this week. You  know the drill, here's the blurb and we'll chat on the other side:)

Nurse Lauren Barclay put her life on hold to keep a watchful eye on her troubled sister. It’s why she’s back in Houston. But that means confronting the brooding physician assistant who caused painful turmoil in her family--and left Lauren with memories her heart can’t forget.

PA and single parent Elijah Landry is no stranger to stormy relationships, including one with his father, who is threatening him with a restraining order. It won’t stop Eli from protecting his disabled brother--or from making peace with Lauren. He wants that and so much more.

But as Lauren and Eli draw closer, a powerful hurricane roars toward Houston. Survival instincts take priority and everything changes. Can hope weather the storm?

As far as medical romantic suspense, Candace writes it, and writes it well. Being a retired ER nurse, she more than knows her stuff. It helped keep a quick pace to this book, because something is always happening.

For me, however, I think that is where the book lost a little. At times it felt there were too many story lines going on, and that detracted from Lauren and Eli's story. Could this be because Candace wrote their story so well I only wanted to see more of them? Quite possibly:) And while I liked the secondary characters, and their stories dealt with some very important topics, I didn't want to see all of their points of view. I would have preferred to deepen Eli and Lauren's time together on page and perhaps lessen one of the subplots that takes place.

That said, the book still more than held my attention. Putting everyone into the eye of a storm mimicked not only what was happening in so many of the characters' lives, but also kept the suspense angle moving. I truly loved how the theme of storms in our lives and trusting God to handle them was woven throughout the entire story.

All in all, Candace is an author I thoroughly enjoy reading and highly recommend to my friends. I will definitely be going back and reading the second book in this series--it's the only one of hers I've missed.

I happily give Life Support 4 out of 5 stars. If you're looking for a weekend read, you can purchase it here.

Former ER nurse, wife, Mom and proud grandmother, Candace Calvert believes that love, laughter, and faith are the best medicines. Her popular medical fiction offers charismatic characters, pulse-pounding drama, romance, humor, suspense--and a prescription for hope. Think, “Grey’s Anatomy finds its soul.” She is . . .

A Northern California native who spent several years in Hill Country Texas--where she learned to check her shoes for scorpions and plucked an armadillo from her swimming pool. Thinks cruising is the best way to travel: honeymooned in Venice, swam with stingrays, rode a camel at the pyramids, and sang (badly) with a Newfoundland country band. She’s passionate about cooking, loves bird watching, gardening, and gets goose bumps when her handsome husband hits the low notes at karaoke.  She writes inspirational fiction because . . .

God blessed her with a quirky wit, buoyant optimism, and a contagious sense of fun--but she didn’t come to know him until after the Triple Whammy that turned her life into a bad country song. A painful and unexpected divorce, the Northern California floods of 1997, and (just when she was coping like a champ, no problem) an equestrian accident that left her with fractured ribs, a bleeding lung, broken back, neck fractures and a spinal cord injury. She’ll tell you that God took drastic measures to get her attention.

In the months of rehabilitation, Candace healed in body and spirit. And came to fully understand the difference between being a strong woman and a woman of strength. The difference is faith, and that lesson has been her biggest blessing. Her story, “By Accident,” appears in Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul, and launched her writing career. Now . . .

She is honored to bring readers medical fiction that offers exciting entertainment and a healthy dose of hope. If you'd like to learn more about Candace, check out her website, here.

If you'd like to see a break-down of what my stars equal, check out my page My Ratings System to the right there. And a big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free ecopy of this book in exchange for my honest review.