The Queen of Hearts

By: Kimmery Martin

Narrated by: Shannon McManus, Catherine Taber

Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

A powerful debut novel, praised by The New York Times, Bustle, Southern Living, and Hypable, that pulses with humor and empathy as it explores the heart's capacity for forgiveness....

Zadie Anson and Emma Colley have been best friends since their early 20s, when they first began navigating serious romantic relationships amid the intensity of medical school. Now they're happily married wives and mothers with successful careers - Zadie as a pediatric cardiologist and Emma as a trauma surgeon. Their lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, are chaotic but fulfilling, until the return of a former colleague unearths a secret one of them has been harboring for years.

As chief resident, Nick Xenokostas was the center of Zadie's life - both professionally and personally - throughout a tragic chain of events during her third year of medical school that she has long since put behind her. Nick's unexpected reappearance at a time of new professional crisis shocks both women into a deeper look at the difficult choices they made at the beginning of their careers. As it becomes evident that Emma must have known more than she revealed about circumstances that nearly derailed both their lives, Zadie starts to question everything she thought she knew about her closest friend.

©2018 Kimmery Martin (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Fantastic book!

This book was interesting right from the start! I loved hearing about the characters days in medical school in contrast to their life as physicians. The plot kept me interested at all times as it unfolded. The narration was outstanding! I would especially recommend this book to those
looking for a great fast paced book that entails humor, intrigue, exciting medical cases and very interesting relationships amongst the characters. I could not put it down!

Intelligent Romantic Suspense!

You know a book is good when you can't wait to get back in the car and listen to more. When you take the long way home to listen to more. What I loved most about this book was the level of vocabulary. I found myself cheering when a word I don't hear very often was used, like superfluous. I wanted to write them down to remember for this review, but I was driving.
Its rare to find women's fiction with this level of intelligence and it elevated the story to a cerebral place.

The relationship between Zadie and Emma was familiar in its complexities of female relationships. Fierce and loyal at times, jealous and deceitful at times.

I loved the medical backdrop and there were only a few instances of my pet peeve in novels of too many details about unnecessary things, however the medical details were excellent.

Debut novelists "write what they know" so I suspect there is a lot of the author in this story. I'm going to guess Zadie is her story because Zadie is always bright. Emma is so flawed in her deepest betrayal almost to the point that you can't believe all that happened.

The pace of the story was great, the buildup was great, the reveal was disturbing in a what the hell, suspenseful sort of way.

The narration was fantastic with the perfect tone and cantor.

Queen of hearts will make a great movie someday.

Wanted to like it but just couldn’t

The description sounded right up my alley but I had a hard time liking the book. It was very wordy and full of unnecessary medical terminology. I wasn’t crazy about the characters. I kept listening hoping it would get better but for me it didn’t.

Masterful readers; very girly story

These are two incredible VO artists... who bring to life one character who is so lifelike you have to grin at her lovable foibles, and the other who is totally unrealistic and has villain written all over her from page 1. Nobody gets to the top of their med school class from abject poverty without at least one person who believes in them. The main reveal in the plot turns out to be hard to buy on various levels, yet also so minor and catty it’s a disappointment. The readers were the best thing about this otherwise very GIRLY story. And don’t listen to any of the surgery scenes while eating! Yuck!

Sad

I was hoping for an interesting read. Instead it was very depressing. Warning a child dies. This was so unnecessary to the story but made it brutal to listen to. Loved the character Emma. She was fully developed and interesting.

Fans of Grey’s Anatomy

Loved this book! The narrators were excellent and the story compelling. I found excuses to keep driving so I could finish the book.

Let’s be like Z

I really liked his story. It was very entertaining and the twists surprised me. I think one of the voices was too high pitch but it grew on me by the end. I recommend it.

Fabulous!

I could not turn off this book! Highly recommend! Very entertaining with well developed characters!

Great book!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Queen of Hearts to be better than the print version?

I don't know because I have only listened to it.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both

Any additional comments?

Great combo of emotions. Touching, witty and well-written.

Great book!

Really enjoyed this book! Loved the mix of medical storyline and friendship. Brought me to tears at times. Can’t wait for another book, Kimmery!