I loved this one.

Audiobook isn’t always my preferred format, but it was so easy to listen along!

I was only halfway through The Girl in His Shadow when I decided to read the rest of the Nora Beady series.

Interesting detail I discovered on goodreads: Audrey Blake is a pen name! This book was co-written by Regina Sirois and Jaima Fixsen (2 authors who met online). I would have never suspected this on my own.

It makes me like the story even more. I love collaborative work that feels like one strong united voice.

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SYNOPSIS

Raised by the eccentric surgeon Dr. Horace Croft after losing her parents to a deadly pandemic, the orphan Nora Beady knows little about conventional life. While other young ladies were raised to busy themselves with needlework and watercolors, Nora was trained to perfect her suturing and anatomical illustrations of dissections.

Women face dire consequences if caught practicing medicine, but in Croft’s private clinic Nora is his most trusted—and secret—assistant. That is until the new surgical resident Dr. Daniel Gibson arrives. Dr. Gibson has no idea that Horace’s bright and quiet young ward is a surgeon more qualified and ingenuitive than even himself. In order to protect Dr. Croft and his practice from scandal and collapse Nora must learn to play a new and uncomfortable role—that of a proper young lady.

But pretense has its limits. Nora cannot turn away and ignore the suffering of patients even if it means giving Gibson the power to ruin everything she’s worked for. And when she makes a discovery that could change the field forever, Nora faces an impossible choice. Remain invisible and let the men around her take credit for her work, or let the world see her for what she is—even if it means being destroyed by her own legacy.

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REVIEW

I love how graphic the medical scenes were. I have a strong stomach for gore, but some scenes still made me queasy (one involving childbirth and a few involving animals).

Nora’s father/child relationship with Dr. Croft made me happy. He was quite endearing. It was refreshing how quickly he came to her defence in various situations. He manages to be a good father while having significant flaws and maintaining his peculiar personality. Great character.

I’m not usually a fan of love triangles, but this one was okay. I preferred the one who gets away, as usual (but neither options were bad).

The ending frustrated me a little. I disliked the men’s reactions to Nora’s wishes and how long it took them to get on board.

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