The Hands of The Potters #1
Kindle e-book, Audible audiobook
Author: Kristy Marie
Narrators: Heather Firth and Conor Crais
Dr. Vance Potter is the best in the field of reconstructive plastic surgery but he hasn’t touched a patient in the OR for over a year. All we know is that he is facing a a traumatic lawsuit and his brothers, with whom he shares the practice, are worried about him. He’s still taking consultations, but he has cancelled every single procedure.
One of these consultations is Halle Belle. She’s saved for years to come see Dr. Potter. She needs scar revision on her hips and things and these scars are her roadblock to her acting career. She’s determined to have them fixed by “The Potter” and comes from Georgia to Texas for that. When he says he can’t help her, she just won’t take no for an answer. His brothers are impressed by how not intimidated she is by the grumpy surgeon (eliciting reactions from him they hadn’t seen in months) and offer her a job at the clinic. Soon after, when looking for a bathroom, Halle finds Vance blacked out from a full blown panic attack on the bathroom floor and offers him the kindness he seems to be unable to show himself. A bond forms between them and it will complicate their lives immensely.
I liked the story of Halle and Vance, but I definitely can see why the author added a note saying she took “massive creative liberties with , not only the Law, but the field of Medicine. Things that go down at Potter’s Plastics do not generally happen at physicians’ offices”. Well, if they DID, I’d he horrified! To begin with, the lawsuit if frivolous and no lawyer would even take it. Then, a rule that seems wise to me is that doctors can’t get involved with patients and, most importantly, they don’t operate on/treat people they are emotionally connected with. So many questionable things happen at that practice that I thought it was an episode of Nip/Tuck, romance edition. However, I could live with the fictional liberties, even if some stuff made me cringe. What I had the biggest problem with was the pace of the story. I was way into the book and it still felt that nothing had really happened and when they did it was a little “meh”. It was a good audiobook experience, though.
Narration: I just love Connor Crais and he shines with grumpy characters. Heather Firth is new to me but she does southern to perfection.
Possible triggers: as this is set in a medical practice, there are talks of loss of patients, PTSD from losing patients and mentions of living with disfiguring scars.
