Life Support by Candace Calvert

Lauren’s sister Jess is somewhat troubled, so Lauren goes back home to Houston to keep an eye on her. She works at a nurse at the hospital where Eli, a PA, works.

Eli is watching over his sibling as well. He takes care of his disabled older brother, despite many complicated issues in his own family.

Throughout the book both Eli and Lauren deal with troubled family relationships and struggle with how to best protect those they love while getting them the help that they need. For Lauren, that’s dealing with her sister’s mental illness. For Eli, it’s dealing with his brother Drew’s advance directive.

Eli and Lauren have just a tiny bit of romantic history that has been complicated by misunderstandings and difficult family dynamics. They begin to build their relationship, and as storms rage in their personal lives and a hurricane rips through Houston, they find hope and love.

My review:

This book was written by a former ER nurse so it has all of the interesting medical/ hospital stuff that I like without getting too technical for the average reader who knows nothing medical-related.

Each character has their own personal story, but the stories aren’t so intricate and separate that you can’t keep up. It’s just enough to keep you interested and paying attention.

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the characters, their stories, the complicated issues they dealt with, and the fact that in story form, the book addressed real-life problems. It fought some of the stigma that comes with the label of a mental illness. It dealt with some of the difficulties that families face when individuals are dealing with their own personal guilt. The book touched on domestic violence. Overall, the book far exceeded my expectations. Although my expectations were low, it really was a good book.

I had my doubts when I chose this book to review. It sounded like it would be a good story, but it was one of those that you think could go either way – really good or really lame. I know that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I did just that. In fact, the only thing I didn’t like about this book was the cover. Rather than encouraging me to pick up the book and read it, the 90s-era-cheap-medical-drama type cover really turned me off. I would give this book 5 stars for content and 2 stars for the cheesy front cover.

I would definitely read another book by this author.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*