Sawbones

New York 1817, Catherine Benneth is a doctor which is a rarety in those times. She sometimes has to dress like a man to practice the job that she loves. One night, she's attacked and is saved by her friend James. Her gratefulness doesn't last when he tell her she's accused of murdering a man from a respected and wealthy family. Wrongly accused and afraid of being hang, she changes her name to Laura Ellington and runs away with her maid Maureen to Colorado.

On their way there, the are brutalized violently by Indians and she ends up in Texas. She becomes a war doctor but she still has to look behind her back afraid someone will recognize and turn her in.

Catherine/Laura is a fierce, stubborn and brave woman, a rôle model to some woman for her time but not respected with most of the men. With the murder accusation, the violence and the disrespect of many, she's still is strong, determined person.

I truly enjoyed this suspense/mystery novel. Lots of twists that will keep you guessing and of course there is love and passion included. There is graphic violence and language but it goes with the story.

Great characters, great story makes this one an amazing book.

2.5 stars

I made it through!!! Wow, I did not really like this book.

This book was very difficult to get through. I pushed through, wanting to know what people found so interesting about this book, but I ended up being more repulsed than encouraged to read more. Let me explain. 

Because Catherine is a doctor during a time when there is little that can be done to save people, I expected some medical gore. I did not expect attempted rape, rape, scalping, mass murder, and more. That came as a complete surprise and is something I feel that books should make sure people know they are getting into. There was so much detail. If I had not been reading this for an assignment, I wouldn't have continued. Also, the portrayal of Native Americans was pretty horrible. True, there is one or two instances of showing they aren't so bad, but considering our main character hates them and is attacked by them, there is a lot of negativity. It can make the reader feel quite uncomfortable. 

Besides that, the book is quite slow-paced for my taste, but I have read that many others have found it to be at a good solid clip. The beginning is slow, in my opinion, the middle is okay, but the ending is decently fast. This mixed pacing along with the abruptness of the next parts, makes the book confusing at times. For example, at the end of part one, everything is going great, then the next page, the beginning of part two, they are in the middle of an attack. At first, I thought I was missing pages. 

The characters are developed well and the setting is described nicely. So, there are some good parts to the book. The medical knowledge of the time is interesting to learn about as well. 

 I will not be continuing this series.