Jaime Maddox

The Scholarship by Jaime Maddox

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This book is an excellent whodunit story wrapped into a delightful romance. Maddox does an excellent job of keeping you intrigued in the slow burn romance all the while knowing there is a cold case being unearthed simultaneously. While the love is brewing between our two mains there is a killer getting more skittish by the day.

Ella Townes spent weeks every summer in the Poconos at Lake Winola, as a young girl visiting her grandparents and making friends with the neighborhood kids at the lake they lived on. For Ella, this idyllic time in her life has a strong hold on her heart and at forty she jumps at the chance to move back to this beautiful lakeside town. Taking a new position as the VP of development at Poconos Mountain University, Ella accepts that her life will probably now include a special lady, she believes wholeheartedly that work will be enough to keep her satisfied.

Reese Ryan is a local ER doctor who has spent almost her entire life in her sleepy hometown. She loves her town, her friends, and her family. She is undeniably connected to this community. She has always been single, never thinking much about it. All of her relationships have been casual, except one, her childhood sweetheart, who was mysteriously murdered right before their high school graduation. When Ella Townes, moves in next door to Reese’s parents, all bets are off, this is one woman Reese cannot look over.

What’s great about this book is it has a well thought out plot, involving a murder mystery cold case wrapped around a delightful love story. Each part is done so well and balances each other beautifully. Ella and Reece’s romance is a slow burn filled with attraction and friendship. They circle around each other in the great push-pull that holds your attention and keeps you flipping the page into the night. All the while Maddox is slowly unraveling the mystery of Stephanie Gates death. A great romance with a smart mystery, this is one book of 2017 that you do not want to pass up. So good!

5 out of 5 stars

The Scholarship

Hooked by Jaime Maddox

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I was super intrigued when I read that Jaime Maddox was going to write a story about Dr. Jessica Benson. She was an important character in Deadly, and quite frankly came across as a giant jackass. I wanted to see how the author would bring this character some redemption.

First, you really want to read Deadly Medicine before you take a go at this one. Do you have to? Well no, who am I to tell you to follow the rules, but I would recommend it.

If you remember Jessica is Ward’s ex, who basically trampled her heart, cast her out like a stone, all the while popping OxyContin and Xanax like tic-tac’s.  She was a hot mess before being held hostage by the psycho serial killer doctor from Lucifer’s lair, and now it has gotten even worse. So Jessica decides to take treatment for her PTSD and drug addiction, before life spins even further out of control.

Enter Mac Calabrese as Jessica’s love interest in this novel. Mac is your all around dashing, do-gooder detective for the Pennsylvania State Police. One-hundred percent committed to her job, never meeting anyone who interested her more than catching bad-guys.  Mac meets Jessica as she tries to put the pieces together of the Edward Hawk case.

Do sparks fly? Well kind of.  Jessica is going through such a huge transition in her life after completing her stay at a rehabilitation center and getting sober, but she doesn’t really know what to do with her attraction to Mac. Mac being the good gal knows that Jessica is totally off-limits while the Hawk investigation is open. Really, you would have hoped for more tension during these trying times, and it’s there, it’s just not tense enough, in my opinion.  Plus there are these other sub-plots going, which to be honest were super unnecessary and trivial.

I will say I enjoyed this book. I absolutely did not like this character coming out of Deadly Medicine and surprise she is redeemed. This is a solid book that will entertain you for its duration.

3.75 out of 5 stars

Hooked
by Jaime Maddox
Link: https://amzn.com/1626396892

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Deadly Medicine by Jaime Maddox

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I hate going to the doctor, not a fan. I always freak out when they want to take my blood pressure. No clue why. I’m a healthy lady. I put in miles and miles of running every week and am contentious about what I eat. Why does the doctor freak me out? With that being said I LOVE books where doctors are the main focus, so a no brainier when this one came up with relatively good reviews.

The book begins as a relationship between Dr. Ward Thrasher and Dr. Jess Benson is in its final stages. Jess and Ward have been together for years. They have seen each other through medical school, buying a house, the loss of a parent, but for whatever reason Jess has begun to pull away. Jess has always been Ward’s everything thing, but things go awry. No matter how hard she tries she cannot save their marriage. Heavy right, now let’s throw in the fact that Jess’s father has decided that Jess needs to give up her lady loving ways and marry a man. Wowzers! He’s found a match for her too, and decides to add some Rohypnol to Ward’s beer at the local tavern. Let’s just say all hell breaks loose and Jess does not have Ward’s back?

So Ward leaves the small idyllic Pennsylvanian community and the house she shares with Jess and takes a job as a traveling Doctor, hopping from one ER to the next on a monthly rotation. On her last rotation, with plan to move back to Philly when its all said and done she meets hospital CEO Abby Benson. Abby is a breath of fresh air not only to Ward’s life but the book’s too. Abby has charisma, she fun and her banter with Ward is the highlight of the story.

Now there is one more player to the story, an evil villain, Dr. Edward Hawk. This guy is as sick as they come. He doesn’t save patients. He hunts them, looking for one’s he can murder while no one is the wiser.  He delights in pain and suffering. As the body counts begin to rise, you are literally on the edge of your seat trying to figure out how in the world is her going to be caught and for heaven’s sake WHEN!

My thoughts are mixed on this one. I loved Ward and Abby’s relationship, and I was mesmerized by the evilness of Edward Hawk. My problem was the beginning is so awkward and time consuming.  Quite a bit on the book is spent on Jess and Ward’s relationship’s demise. And there are parts of that that are just ridiculous. The whole story line with the father and his desire for Jess date a man, and the fact she entertains it, is asinine. It detracted form the work, when more time could have been spent on furthering the better parts of story line. Overall the book is good, the beginning is just too long and too artificial.

3.75 out of 5 stars

Deadly Medicine
by Jaime Maddox
Link: https://amzn.com/1626394245

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