Aimee

I wasn't sure if I should read this one or not. I wasn't sure it was my kind of romance. I read plenty of reviews that said it was a tear jerker and be prepared for the hard stuff. They weren't kidding. Over all, it was an interesting read, but by the time I finished, it felt like something was missing.

This spans quite a few years. From the time that Kat is a baby to a new doctor about ready to leave for Africa for 9 months to 5 years after Africa. For the most part, most of the book is spent on Africa and the 5 years after. Which was interesting. The reason I thought it might not be my type of book was the whole doctor setting. Actually reading about the work they are doing. Mostly because the doctor stuff is way over my head, but as it turns out, none of this was complicated and was all to easy to understand.

I was actually looking forward to reading about Kat's adventure in Africa. I know, she spends most of her time working but there was nothing really to paint the picture she was in another country except for the heat (winter back home) and her hard mattress and sulfur shower. We really only saw three of her patients. I expected more. I expected more about the conditions of the people living there, the poverty, something. It was mostly glossed over to pick out three.

I was just about done reading the book when I realized what I was missing. There isn't much for showing the readers what's going on. It's told. It felt very mechanical in description. Such as, Kat did this, then she did this. She had to pick up this. The only time you really knew what was going on with Kat was through dialogue. The story is told all through Kat's perspective but we don't get to see anything that she's thinking or feeling until it's told through her mouth. There was some pretty heavy stuff that was going on and I think that would have helped to make a connection to the character instead of crying over the idea of it. There are plenty of things that will make me shed a tear just trying to imagine, but if we could have been on the same page as the character, it would have helped to make a better connection.

It was a decent read. And it did make me cry. But I didn't agonize over it like I should have. I finished it last night and I'm already moving on and forgetting.