The Queen of Hearts

The Queen of Hearts by Kimmery Martin

Emma and Zadie have weathered the most challenging of times, yet still remain steadfast friends.
The grueling days of medical school are behind them. Life now consists of finding balance between career and family, often navigating that slippery slope between raising children and finding time to unwind. But there's a festering wound beneath the surface of their friendship, a wound that's about to be ripped open, a wound that may never heal.

Aloof, brooding, and brilliant, Emma is a trauma surgeon with a husband who adores her; he's the antithesis of what everyone expects to see on the arm of this beautiful woman. Patients adore delightful Zadie. As a pediatric cardiologist, she radiates a zest for life at work and home with her successful husband and four rambunctious children. What Emma and Zadie don't talk about in their busy lives is the traumatic event that occurred during their third year of medical school. And they certainly don't speak of Dr. Nick Xenokostas, the charming, wildly attractive surgeon who had such a profound impact on their lives many years ago. Surprisingly, Nick has accepted a position in town working in Emma's practice, and his presence is hard to ignore. Harboring all sorts of secrets, the good doctor feels bound and determined to reveal sins of the past. And one of these women will go to extraordinary lengths to keep him from doing just that, feverishly anticipating the dire consequences that are sure to follow.

Exactly how much duplicity can a friendship withstand? This story, clearly written by an emergency  room physician, examines the heart...the one that steadily beats to keep us alive and the one that can be easily broken by deceit and lies. Pack this debut novel in your bag for that relaxing, upcoming spring break. You'll laugh, cry,  and be thoroughly entertained by a tale that explores how vulnerable we all are when it comes to matters of the heart.

Educated

Educated by Tara Westover

She gazes at the valley below as the bus rolls down the highway, never stopping at her home in Buck's Peak, Idaho because she doesn't go to school. She has no birth certificate. She's never seen a doctor or nurse. Along with her survivalist father, mother, and siblings, Tara prepares for the "Days of Abomination, watching for the sun to darken, for the moon to drip with blood". This is the only life she knows.

Tara Westover's intoxicating words tell a story that few of us can fathom. She chronicles her life growing up in an authoritarian Mormon household, with a controlling father at the helm. She works grueling, dangerous hours with her brothers in a junkyard, salvaging steel and car batteries to put food on the table. She becomes a reluctant apprentice to her mother's role as a midwife and mixer of herbal remedies. She endures violent abuse from a brother, learning to appease him in order to escape an even worse fate. She listens to the preaching of a father who accuses her of deeds of the Devil, while he basks in the glow of her heavenly voice. She's never heard of the horror of the collapse of the Twin Towers, the Holocaust, the Civil Rights Movement. This is the only life she knows.

When brother Tyler dares to go to college and encourages her to do the same, she follows his lead and eventually earns a degree from Brigham Young University. From there it's across the sea to Cambridge University, and the hallowed halls of Harvard. However, these documented, defining moments are wrought with anguish and pain. The joy and pride of great accomplishments are often followed by  grave doubts, as she questions the decisions she's made. Loyalty and love of family are still at the center of her existence.

This memoir is a soul-crushing story of self-preservation. It's about one woman's courageous journey to discover the power of education beyond the unconventional confines of a small town in Idaho. It's about finding peace, acceptance, and happiness after a childhood of turmoil and isolation.