Kimmery Martin | THE QUEEN OF HEARTS

Plot (via Goodreads):

Zadie Anson and Emma Colley have been best friends since their early twenties, when they first began navigating serious romantic relationships amid the intensity of medical school. Now they're happily married wives and mothers with successful careers--Zadie as a pediatric cardiologist and Emma as a trauma surgeon. Their lives in Charlotte, North Carolina are chaotic but fulfilling, until the return of a former colleague unearths a secret one of them has been harboring for years. 

As chief resident, Nick Xenokostas was the center of Zadie's life--both professionally and personally--throughout a tragic chain of events in her third year of medical school that she has long since put behind her. Nick's unexpected reappearance during a time of new professional crisis shocks both women into a deeper look at the difficult choices they made at the beginning of their careers. As it becomes evident that Emma must have known more than she revealed about circumstances that nearly derailed both their lives, Zadie starts to question everything she thought she knew about her closest friend.

Review:

Kimmery Martin has written a shimmering, hypnotic literary drama full of intrigue. The plot to this novel is not only brilliantly executed, but addictive as our story starts off with a hint of comedy following our two main characters intertwining two storylines. The novel is not only something that catches you from the beginning, but is full of exciting detail and brilliantly well written as we get to know Zadie and Emma. I was pleasantly surprised with how well Martin kind of dragged me as a reader into both of their lives and gave an intoxicating look into what these women are going through. These are two genuinely written women who feel like new friends that you immediately get to love and support. 

The pacing with this novel is not only excellent, but I loved how the pacing between the present and past is syncopated; each next chapter a notch more exciting, thrilling, and a bit dangerous than the other. As we dive deeper into what happened in the past and how it is effecting so many different lives in the present, I was dumbfounded with how well this was carried out as I continued to read and read, promising myself I would stop at the next chapter. Reading this novel was like falling into a black hole of drama, love, and betrayal and I ate up every word.

I have previously read reviews of this novel that compare it to Greys Anatomy and while I can see the similarities due to the medical jargon used in the novel and the plot that has some rather steamy elements, I could also describe this novel as being on a whole other level. This novel is heartfelt and warm at times, devastating and beautiful at others, and by the end of it I was grasping at ideas as to what could happen next. While I enjoyed this read wholeheartedly throughout, the ending was a glorious conclusion that not only wrapped up any question I could have had, but proved to me that while this one is called THE QUEEN OF HEARTS and it is about a cardiologist, I think that once you read this one, the real queen of hearts is none other than Kimmery Martin.

*Special thanks to Berkley Publishing for providing me with this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 4/5