#BookReview: Deadly Cure by Mahi Cheshire @MahiCheshire @vintagebooks @NetGalley
Hi everyone! Today, I have a book review for an author new to me, Mahi Cheshire. I came across this book via NetGalley >>>
About the Book:
THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH: FIRST, DO NO HARM…
Dr Rea Dharmasena is devastated when she loses out on her dream research job to her med-school rival and best friend, Dr Julia Stone.
To add insult to injury, Julia used Rea’s own cutting-edge research to get it.
But just as Rea finds it in her to forgive the betrayal, Julia, after a life-changing medical discovery, is found dead.
Despite finding herself caught up in a murder investigation and a complicated new romance, Rea is finally happy; she has the dream job she’s always wanted.
But at what cost?
My Review:
🌟🌟
Too Plodding for a Thriller
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Vintage for this Advanced Review Copy.
The title, cover, and description all intrigued me, and I was delighted to receive a review copy of this book. Having worked as a nurse in past decades, I looked forward to a good medical thriller. Unfortunately, the read didn’t deliver for me. I found the pacing too slow and the characters flat and like cardboard cutouts. Basically, I couldn’t care less what happened to any of the people populating this novel. As for the plot, I found this too fantastical to believe. And the way the characters responded didn’t resonate. Finally, what happened at the end, and what got uncovered, just made things worse. The writing suffered from a lack of polishing with overuse of words such as “practically”, over and over and over again, and miswritten sentences such as “it got and worse” and “I take a tissue from box on the bedside” etc.
I wanted to like this book. I truly did. But it simply didn’t deliver for me. A few lines stood out for me, but so many more didn’t. I offer a soft 2 stars for this read.
***
NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.
5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book
I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
For anyone interested, here are the Amazon links …
UK … https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08R8XRTB2/
US … At the time of writing this review post, no Amazon US page is showing for this book.
Too bad it didn’t live up to the promise of that blurb. Thanks, Harmony.
It was a great blurb. Thanks, Jacquie 💕🙂
Sorry this one disappointed, Harmony. Not sure I could have finished this one.
It was a struggle. Thanks, Denise 💕🙂
At least you stuck with it, Harmony. I’m reading one now from NetGalley that I’m tempted to ditch, but don’t want to ruin my NetGalley rating. 🙂 So, I’ll plow on through. Thank you for sharing your honest review!
That’s the main reason I stuck with it. Sorry you’re suffering through a poor read. Thanks, Jan 💕🙂
Thank you for this honest review.
Thanks, Molly 💕🙂
It sounded like it had promise from the blurb, so I can understand why it intrigued you, Harmony. Sorry it didn’t work out. It’s hard sticking with books like that but I know you did because it was an NG read.
It was hard to keep going for sure! Thanks, Mae 💕🙂
Oh, that’s a shame. It did have a lot of promise. Thanks for your candid review.
So much promise! Thanks, Staci 💕🙂
Ok, so that one worked. Let’s try again.
At first I thought, ‘This sounds like a good read’, but then I read your review. Since you got it from Random House, it is traditionally published, I assume. What a pity if traditional publishers are letting their standards slip. A decent edit should have got rid of the errors. And also, if the plot is so unbelievable, and the characters so boring, why did they take it on?
My thoughts, exactly, Vivienne! I’m seeing this kind of thing more frequently and wonder why? Thanks so much for making another attempt. I appreciate you so much. Hugs 💕🙂
I read a medical thriller several months ago. It just didn’t work for me. Like you, I found too many unbelievable things (and it was written by an anesthesiologist). I tried another and couldn’t finish. Strange because I work in the medical field.
Sorry this one was a disappointment for you, Harmony.
I had such high hopes for this one. I think only someone incredibly ignorant of such things would find this believable. Thanks, Joan 💕🙂
Now we’re wondering what you said! 🙂
Lols. I wondered what Vivienne had said originally, too! I get so frustrated with WordPress at times. Some blogs, I cannot comment on at all. 💕🙂
I checked this on the Amazon UK link, Harmony. At the end of the blurb is the following claim. READERS ARE LOVING DEADLY CURE:
‘Refreshingly original’
‘Found myself reaching for every spare second I had in my day’
‘Dark, chilling and disturbingly unpredictable’
It isn’t on Amazon Com, so I looked on Goodreads. Most of the words are there if you read all the high-rated reviews carefully, but I couldn’t find direct quotes.
Losing readers’ trust with a first book seems unwise.
For sure. I picked up this book partly because of the good reviews. At that time, there weren’t many negatives. Now there are more. I agree totally about the pulling quotes thing …they have to be actual quotes not simply stringing words together from here, there, and everywhere. Thanks, Sarah 💕🙂
Every now and then, WordPress tells me my comments are spam. I just tried to leave a completely spam-free response, but it was rejected.
Oh, Vivienne, WordPress is useless lately … actually, for quite a while now, ugh. Sorry you’ve had issues, and thanks for making the effort 💕🙂
Oh well, not every book is going to work for every reader. On to the next!
For certain! Thanks, Priscilla 💕🙂