The Surgeon (Harlequin Historical Series) Review
After reviewing Kate Bridges' latest work, "Alaskan Renegade," I felt I should reassure her potential readers that the woman can, in fact, write. Very well, too!
"The Surgeon" is a thoroughly enjoyable piece of Romantic fiction. Part of the "Mounties" series, one needn't read any other installment in order to understand the action in this novel. Bridges does an admirable job of filling in the backstory in a coherent and concise manner, without resorting to long mental soliloquy or paragraphs-long narrative. She tells us just enough to fully appreciate the novel and flesh out the state of current events.
The two main characters - Sarah O'Neill and John Calloway - are realistic, grounded, and believable. They act, and interact, like real people. Their motivations are believable, their flaws and lies are understandable, and their dialogue is human, authentic, and entertaining. They stumble along the way - she's a mail-order bride, not a childhood friend - but their conflicts and interactions are believable, and not in the least contrived.
John Calloway is arrogant, true; but not in the way of the stone-cold-inflexible Dukes, Renegades, Cowboys, Rakes, and Pirates who populate most "book of the month" historical romance selections. No, he's arrogant in the way that many mature men seem to be - comfortable in his decisions and determined that they are the correct ones for everyone involved, including Sarah. Instead of being annoyed and exasperated by him, and mentally urging the heroine to break his spirit, I couldn't wait for John and Sarah to finally come to an understanding.
As for the plot, there's little I can tell without resorting to spoilers. Suffice it to say that there is just enough suspense to keep you reading, just enough action to keep you cheering, and just enough romance to keep you swooning. Nothing in this novel was out of the realm of possibility; "The Surgeon" grounds itself firmly in the facts of the frontier and not a romanticized ideal of "life on the Northern plains." The conclusion was satisfying on every level.
After reading this book, I eagerly anticipated the release of Ms. Bridges' new novel. Sadly, "Alaskan Renegade" was a dissapointment. However, "The Surgeon" was such a superior novel that I am purchasing the compiled Kindle Edition of the author's "Mounties" series in order to further enjoy the magic she's created with THIS set of characters.
The Surgeon (Harlequin Historical Series) Overview
A wife shouldn't be a surprise package. But Mountie surgeon John Calloway suddenly found himself saddled with a special delivery he hadn't signed for--mail-order bride Sarah O'Neill. He had no room in his life for marriage! But why then did he feel compelled to protect Sarah from all things dark and dangerous--including her own unspoken past? If John Calloway didn't want her, fine! Sarah would survive--and thrive!--without him! The rugged, committed doctor dismissed his proposal as an elaborate prank. So how come the two of them kept finding themselves in each other's arms? And what would Sarah be forced to deny in order to stay there?
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Customer Reviews
Strong, intelligent characters and a good story - Barbara L. Lemaster - Pompano Beach, Florida
Normally, I don't read many romances but I will definitely be looking for more of Kate Bridges' work after reading "The Surgeon."
The title of the book refers to the main character, 40-year-old John Calloway, a surgeon with Canada's Royal Mounted Police (which immediately reminded me of the actor Paul Gross from Due South). Apparently, the men under his command have set him up with 28-year-old Sarah O'Neill, a mail-order bride looking for change. Both John and Sarah carry emotional baggage with them: he is somewhat inflexible in dealing with people and she is looking for her estranged brother, who's on the wrong side of the law.
The story is based on a true life experience, and Bridges does her research well. Sarah and her brother are gunsmiths, and there's a great piece of dialogue near the end between smart, intelligent Sarah and the town blacksmith regarding the making of rifles. The last romance I read had a heroine who was dumber than dishwater, and it's refreshing to read about a woman who knows not only how to be a homemaker, but how to support herself by watchmaking or gunsmithing.
I also liked how the author made the characters question their relationship and themselves. Usually, it's true love conquers all after a romp in the bedroom, but here we have two wildly different personalities and backgrounds coming together, and the fact that they're not sure about each other until nearly the end of the book makes it all the more realistic.
mail order brides, mounties, gun smithing, AND a monkey:) - retroredux -
highly entertaining Harlequin Historical. This book is chock full of unusual themes for a romance-a old west book but set in Canada. The heroine-a spunky, intelligent "spinster" of 28 who loves to fix clocks and is a excellent gunsmith, the hero-a 40 year old Mountie who is also the towns primary Doctor, who is in for a big surprise when Sarah shows up but handles that surprise very well.
I had heard many good reviews for this book-they were all correct. I look forward to reading more by Miss Bridges!
4.5 stars!
I liked this book but... - ThisThatNEverything - Columbus, Ohio United States
I liked this book but I didn't understand why the couple was arguing 4/5 of the book.
At the beginning of the book Sarah arrives in Calgary, Canada as a mail-order bride. She believes that she is there to become John Calloway's wife & what they discover is that John's men had been corresponding with Sarah as a prank. John offers to pay for Sarah to return home but she objects to that because of her other reason for wanting to come to Calgary. She believes her long lost brother is there.
After the town treats Sarah very badly because of some embarrassing information that got out he decides to do the right thing by marrying her. So they wed & consummate their marriage & then they practically separate themselves from each other until the end of the book. They don't even sleep in the same room. At the very end of the book they realize their love for one another but I really don't understand why it took so long. I just really couldn't understand what their conflict was all about. Seemed silly to me.
I also found many errors in the book. The author used the wrong name a few times in the book & it had you wondering what was going on. Also at the end of the book you hear John's friend Logan state that he heard John had helped make guns for the enemy & earlier when that whole part was taking place Logan was actually one of the only people that knew about it but he commented about it as if he heard it through the grapevine.
Other then those few errors & the lack of romance 4/5 of the book there was a good story line. It's a quick read & if you don't need the steamy romance they you should like this book.
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Oct 06, 2010 04:30:04
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