Candace Calvert's By Your Side ~ Reviewed

By Your Side (Crisis Team)
by Candace Calvert (Author)
February 19, 2015
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1414390327

Description:

ER nurse Macy Wynn learned essential, gritty lessons in the California foster care system: land on your feet and trust no one. She’s finally located the fellow foster child she loves like a sister, but the girl’s in deep trouble. Macy’s determined to help, no matter what it takes. Her motto is to “make it happen” in any situation life throws at her—even when she butts heads with an idealistic cop.

Deputy Fletcher Holt believes in a higher plan, the fair outcome—and his ability to handle that by himself if necessary. Now he’s been yanked from Houston, his mother is battling cancer, and he’s attracted to a strong-willed nurse who could be the target of a brutal sniper.

When everything goes wrong, where do they put their trust?

Review:

   If you enjoy medical thrillers, you will love By Your Side by Candace Calvert. As a former ER nurse, the author is able to write about medical issues with accuracy and in a realistic manner. To be honest, stories with lots of medical terms and details about sickness and disease are not my favorite. I had trouble with the first third of the book because of all the medical terminology but if you enjoy that kind of novel, this is a good one. 

The fact that I stuck with the book shows that Ms. Calvert wrote in a way that engaged me with the story in spite of those issues. She grabs the reader from the beginning by opening with action and drama. Right away we see that Deputy Fletcher Hope is a man you can depend on as he comes to the rescue when a sniper starts shooting. He rescues Macy (a nurse) who is more comfortable being the rescuer instead of the one being rescued.

The author has created characters that have depth and we discover more and more about them as the novel progresses. We learn why Macy has put such a protective guard around her heart. We feel her pain when she makes some shocking discoveries. I found myself really hoping for her to open up to Fletcher and allow him to know her. There are many other levels to the story. There is the medical side for those who enjoy that. There is the sniper who is killing in cold blood. Will they find out who it is? There is the story of Fletcher’s mom who is battling cancer. What about Macy’s longtime friend Elliot and his wife? Is there more to the story? The author gives insight into various other characters and leaves it open for more books to come, as this is book 1 in the Crisis Team series. The author also explains in detail about Crisis Care and what that involves. I do recommend this book, in spite of my own struggle with lots of medical terms. It is a great love story. It has action, suspense and a few surprises. It is also heartbreaking as one character shares their story of being a foster child. Overall, I enjoyed it.

   

I received a copy of By Your Side to review but I was under no obligation to give a positive review.

Reviewed by: Susan Aken