More Than Bones – Craig David Singer

I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an objective review.

Newly minted Doctor Emily Norton is Baltimore bound as she is preparing to start her surgical residency. Freeing herself from her religiously tyrannical father, and determinedly agnostic herself, she rents an attic bedroom in a flamboyant home owned by Mr. Norton Wharton, a large imposing man who surprises her with a super effeminate voice. As she settles in, she begins to get to know Norton’s eclectic friends, including the elderly gentleman next door, Frank Norton and his cat, Helga. Despite just meeting her, Frank gifts her with a rare piece of jewelry, and the admonishment to wear it always. Initially, Emily wears it to appease the older man, but all to soon removes it and adds it to the neckline of an old skeleton that adorns the corner of her rented attic.

As Emily begins her residency and its challenges, she finds comfort in a fellow female resident, Mondra, as she finds herself championing for the underdog. She befriends a young woman undergoing treatment for breast cancer and does her best to assist an under privileged patient escape a hospital bill. Tending to a young man’s lacerations after a motor vehicle accident, she draws the ire of his father – a powerful community businessman, and in a series of unfortunate encounters Emily finds herself fired from her residency and scorned by the community she has just started to call home. At the same time, her fiancé tells her he has met another girl and wishes to end the relationship.

As Emily’s world comes crashing down, she eyes the skeleton wearing its charm and replaces it around her neck. Almost immediately, things begin to change…. Is it magic? Or an old curse of kings? Or coincidence?

A sweet story about Emily and a crew of ‘different’ people, and the importance of acceptance, tolerance, self love, and being yourself! I loved this book and its messages!!