Release Date: September 27th
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Willow Taylor lives in a castle with large walls and iron fences. But this is no ordinary castle. It’s called Heartstone Psychiatric hospital and it houses forty other patients. It has nurses with mean faces and techs with permanent frowns.
It has a man, as well. A man who is cold and distant. Whose voice drips with authority. And whose piercing gray eyes hide secrets, and maybe linger on her face a second too long.
Willow isn’t supposed to look deep into those eyes. She isn’t supposed to try to read his tightly leashed emotions. And neither is she supposed to touch herself at night, imagining his powerful voice and that cold but beautiful face.
No, Willow Taylor shouldn’t be attracted to Simon Blackwood, at all.
Because she’s a patient and he’s her doctor. Her psychiatrist.
The medicine man.
WARNING: This book discusses sensitive issues including but not limited to, depression and suicide.
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Review
4 Stars
Willow Taylor is on The Inside, wishing she was on The Outside, desperate to convince everyone she's fine, that the Incident will never happen again. Though she's clinically depressed, she doesn't believe she needs to be at Heartstone and she definitely doesn't need more doctors psychoanalyzing her. When a new doctor arrives she knows he'll be the same as all the others, old and unbearable. Simon Blackstone is anything but. He's handsome, gruff, knows all the answers, and lights her on fire, but he's also her doctor, her Medicine Man.
If there is one thing Saffron A. Kent does well is tell a story that borders on taboo, but is also so beautiful and believable. Medicine Man features a character, Willow, with clinical depression. She's beautiful, naive, sad for no reason, and exactly like many of the readers who will connect with her. I was able to put myself into Willow's shoes, Kent wrote about her with so much detail. I understood her frustrations and I felt her desires. Simon, oh Simon, what's there to say about the first doctor in a series that I have truly understood the lust for? He's an enigma, in fact beyond his natural connection with every person at the facility and his desperation to show Willow he is more, we know very little about him. We're aware there's some accusations against him, with the events in this book only adding fuel to the fire, but it isn't until much later on in the novel that we truly see who Simon is and how he became the hurt, angry man we know in the story. I loved his connection with Willow, no matter how wrong it is described as being.
Simon and Willow see one another, though at first it's purely lust. They're two magnets, driven together by force and chemistry and the unique understanding they offer one another. While Willow is acting out Simon is truly seeking a solution to help her. It's a push and pull relationship, one very much so of a doctor and a patient at times and one of two lovers in secret at others. When the two aren't sneaking around Willow is leading a normal patient life, introducing us to two incredible secondary characters, Renn and Vi, who I can't wait to meet in future novels. We experience lunch, bed checks, the fights, the drama, and of course, medicine time. While it does drag on, some of what could be seen as useless time for the main character is really world building, something I think Saffron A. Kent does an incredible job with. I could see the facilities, every character, and the interactions between Willow and Simon were easily visualized thanks to being able to picture the setting they were in.
Medicine Man was a unique read for me, one I wouldn't have reached for had it not been penned by an author who I love to read from. This one was very much so a contemporary romance read for me, less dark than I expected and the taboo didn't stand out to me as incredibly illicit. I actually really enjoyed it, I found myself rooting for Willow and the journey she goes on to discover her strength. Additionally, I think Saffron A. Kent handles the subject of depression in a delicate way, in a way that comes across as reassuring and empowering, in a way that I appreciated. If you're a fan of forbidden romance, Medicine Man is sure to be a winner for you. Now we settle in and wait for Vi and Renn's upcoming standalone novels.
About the Author
Writer of bad romances. Aspiring Lana Del Rey of the Book World.
Saffron A. Kent is a Top 100 Amazon Bestselling author of Contemporary and New Adult romance. More often than not, her love stories are edgy, forbidden and passionate. Her work has been featured in Huffington Post, New York Daily News and USA Today’s Happy Ever After.
She lives in New York City with her nerdy and supportive husband, and a million and one books.
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