Customer Reviews

Quality of Care

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I like these NAL Accent books. They're trade paperback size and on the bottom it says "Fiction for the Way We Live" - Other authors in this line include a favorite of mine, Lisa Wingate; and several books I have in my TBR pile. I even like the feel of this book. The smooth pages, the size. I also like the conversation guide in the back which includes an interview with the author as well as a discussion guide. I do admit to sometimes reading the conversation guide before the book, allowing for spoilers sometimes, but it has never ruined my enjoyment of the book itself.

I am a sucker for a good medical story and this is a doozy. Letts, a midwife herself, writes about Dr. Clara Raymond an obstetrician who is on-call but busy with another patient when a childhood friend (Lydia) who is 34 weeks pregnant arrives in labor and delivery. Lydia happened to marry Clara's former live-in boyfriend, Gordon but Clara has lost touch with the two until they show up rather unexpectedly at the hospital. Lydia has vague symptoms but since Clara is busy with the other patient, goes unattended by other than the nursing staff for a brief period of time. Soon things go tragically wrong and eventually Clara ends up taking a trip to her childhood home in California to find answers regarding her own past. This book is really well done and is a great debut by an author to watch. The California portion of the book takes place on a horse ranch and it says in the bio that the author is not only a midwife but a former competitive equestrian. I enjoyed nearly everything about this book and my only big complaint is that the book wasn't longer. For those of you who are tired of the run-of-the-mill women's fiction or coming-of-age stories, I would highly recommend QUALITY OF CARE for a great chance of pace. This is an exceptional read and I can't wait to see what the author comes up with next. It can't be too soon for me.

Letts has written a beautifully lyrical and compelling story full of well-drawn characters. As she reveals the layers of Clara's story, she pulls the reader into a vivid world that will stick with you long after you've put the book down. And don't count on putting it down until you've read every word. This is a book to be devoured in one sitting!

Quality of Care will have an obvious appeal to horse lovers and those with an interest in medicine, but the issues addressed in this novel will matter to any reader. Highly recommended.

I've always loved medical novels. It was great to read a really good medical novel that wasn't a thriller type story.

Great story, believable characters, well written, very descriptive - felt like I was there.

I hope this is just the first in a long list of titles from Elizabeth Letts.

It's hard to believe that this amazing effort is the author's first novel! Quality of Care is a tremendously well-written book, with realistic and natural-sounding dialogue and likeable characters who pull the reader into an emotional connection. It's an awesome medical drama that could be an episode of the television show ER. I love the way it starts in the present, and then uses flashbacks to fill in the details. At about 280 pages, it was a surprisingly fast read for such an intense storyline.

Clara is a methodical, professional and highly conscientious ob/gyn on duty the fateful night her childhood friend, with whom she lost touch years earlier, is wheeled into the ER. What seems like a routine case goes terribly wrong. The patient dies, and the baby is severely injured. Conflict of interest, intrigue and feelings of guilt ensue because the patient is married to Clara's former boyfriend, whom she still loves. The hospital suspends her pending an investigation, and although most of her colleagues rally behind her, a few try to discredit her. She retreats to a beautifully described dude ranch in the Southern California coastal town where she grew up, for some introspection, to settle fascinating 'ghosts' from her past, and to come to terms with her feelings for her former boyfriend (the patient's husband), her medical partner, and the ranch people whom she has reluctantly grown to care about.

This is a wonderful book. As with almost all the NAL Accent books you can depend on an amazing story. We dive into Clara's life, we hear her story of an accident in childhood and we also hear of her current situation. Both dealing with the "care" of others and the "care" of ourselves. Clara deals with caring for people everyday as a doctor. She was also taken care of as a child in her accident. When things change and life continues we meet her childhood friend Lydia, who cared for Clara during an accident as a child, which then turns around and Clara cares for Lydia during labor. We are introduced to a handful of other key characters during the book that also care for one another and tell us some of their stories. In the end, we learn the connection and we really understand the title of the book a little bit more.

This is one of those books you read and realize you've been sucked in. A book that makes you feel and see exactly what's going on. From the smells of the horses, the scent of the barn, and smell of the ocean. Since I rode horses growing up, I was whisked back to a time and place I loved so much. Not to many books take you somewhere...literally. And, when they do, you know you found an amazing book.

I look forward to reading Letts new book "Family Planning."

This is a wonderful, moving debut novel. Letts perfectly handles dramatic storylines without letting them veer into melodrama; her characters are real, honest, and not without a sense of humor when necessary. She writes with authority and grace. I look forward to her next novel!

I noticed this title in one of my library newsletters and the word "horse" jumped out at me, so naturally, I had to get the book.

Elizabeth Letts has a soft and stirring way with words; the story grabbed me, moved me to tears, and kept me glued to the pages until well past the witching hour.

I loved this book!

I'm an acquaintance of the author's parents so I read this book largely out of curiosity. Well, much to my delight, this is a wonderful read. It's much more satisfying than most "women's fiction" I've read recently. Elizabeth Letts is a talented writer and I look forward to her next novel!

Astonishingly good first novel! Interesting characters and plot that beautifully portray the complex decisions we make in life. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and hope to read more work by this gifted author.

Amazing first novel, very engaging and loaded with personality. Letts expertly manipulates the phenomenon of coincidence into a fantastic story.

The horse content is spot-on; no one who hasn't mucked out a stall or galloped over the landscape on the back of a horse can write about equines like this. The horses sparkle right off the page right along with the people. And only a person who grew up around the rugged coastline of southern California can bring the Pacific, the Santa Ana winds, the wildflowers and the wildfires right into your head the way Elizabeth Letts has. Of course, being a nurse/midwife herself also helps with the accurate medical descriptions, and Letts makes the excitement and trauma of birth as real as it can be on the written page.

The only thing I stubbed a toe on was a character that vacillates from downright mean to nurturing, and it seemed a stretch to call it tough love, but maybe that's just me. All in all a very enjoyable read.