I typically don’t read medical series or watch medical shows on TV. They usually get it wrong, and after spending many years in the medical field as a Neonatal Intensive Care and Labor and Delivery nurse, I tend to nitpick their discrepancies.
The series I am sharing today actually gets it right. Candace Calvert, the author of the series, is a former ER nurse who writes in such a reality based way you can smell the alcohol wipes, blood, and vomit. I hope that doesn’t gross you out;) It’s a nurse’s way of life.
As you can see from the picture, I own most of this amazing author’s books, and if you would like to read true to life hospital dramas, where the characters depend on God to get them through each crisis, these are the books for you.
I recently pulled several back off my shelf to read once again. That’s what you can do with really good writing. Wait a few months and read them again. I love all of the characters in each book, but I do have some favorites, so I will list them in order of favor.
Maybe It’s You is my all time favorite book. The protagonist, Sloane Ferrell, shows up in another book in the series where she is spiraling downhill and is a mean, nasty nurse, you love to hate. In Maybe It’s You she is working on redemption when her past rears it ugly head and threatens to make her think she can never be a better person. This story of turning your life around, against adversity, is very appealing to me. Sloane is a very three dimensional character that shows… even as we struggle with the biggest sins, our heart is being pulled to the love that only a Savior can give.
My second favorite book in the line up is Code Triage. It is about a female doctor, Leigh Stathos, and her paramedic husband losing their marriage due to an affair, however, there were many things going wrong before that happened. When the other woman shows up in the hospital, to take care of one of her social worker cases, and seems to find it appealing to march herself through Leight Stathos ER on a regular basis, things heat up. Several crisis occur that throw Leigh, her husband, and “the other woman” together. I found it interesting to see a fictional pattern woven in, of God’s intervention in everyone’s life.
My third favorite book is Trauma Plan. The main character is former ER nurse, Riley Hale, who is no longer able to work due to a traumatic injury caused by a violent assault that left her unable to use her right arm. She is working as a hospital Chaplain while she uses therapy to try to regain her nursing skills. The story line is very interesting because she comes from a family of affluence, but ends up working at a free clinic to prove she can function as a nurse once again. Some heart wrenching turns happen as the doctor running the clinic causes life to be very unsettled, Riley is betrayed by a friend, and a sweet mentor dies in a tragic fire.
I have enjoyed every book in the series, but these three stand out to me as superior. I found it interesting to have the element of the paid position of a hospital chaplain available to the patients and medical staff alike, in several of Candice’s books. Since she writes about hospitals in Texas and California, I thought maybe that is an option available to them. In her books, the chaplains were very involved and revered as part of the team. In the hospitals I have worked in, in North Carolina, the chaplains were all volunteer and might occasionally show up to pray for a patient but were never there for the medical personnel that I know of.
I highly recommend these books for late teen girls or women, especially anyone thinking of getting into the field of nursing. With the action and drama of the storylines removed, and by focusing on the nursing aspects Candice shows so clearly, you can get a bit of a feeling of what it might look like to work as an ER nurse. Try the books out for a good read, or a new calling in life.