Nothing Matters

Family By Choice #1

by Robin Nadler

Dr. Jack Stephens didn’t care. Nothing mattered to him. He didn’t care about feelings. He didn’t care about love. If it wasn’t on the operating table, he never cared about the heart. For a world-class cardiac surgeon, he was as closed off to love as they come, the living definition of irony. It wasn’t until he took a minute for himself on the hospital roof and saw a woman standing on the ledge that he realized once and for all that just maybe, something did matter.

Dr. Stephanie Brown was lost. She had been through something so unimaginable and she was in trouble, no, she was drowning. There was a killer after her and her reasons for fighting were gone. The only thing she could do was take the power away from him and end things on her terms. She stepped onto that ledge as a means to end all that mattered. Everything hurt her. Every breath was filled with pain and her bruises and burns brought nothing but reminders of what she lost. There was nothing that mattered to her except an end to the pain. Nothing would stop her, not even the tall surgeon who caught her standing on the ledge.

Nothing Matters is Book One in a series. It is a story of love and of discovery. It doesn’t matter how much education we have or how secure in our lives we are, sometimes something happens that throws us off our axis. What we think and what we know to be true are as corporeal as who we are, but when that security is taken away; we are forced to learn what we are truly made of.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary

610 pages, Paperback

First published December 21, 2011

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read and is a stand alone book. It has so many twists and turns in that it kept you into the book. I will add this one to my read again list.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a really great book. And the drama that the two went through together was just so tragic, but it just seemed a little much with them having to explain their feelings over and over again got to be a little much. I don't know if was a little over board or if it is a real issue for some. Like I said, it was a wonderful book and wonderfully written and I plan to read part two. Thank you for the copy of the book. I will share it with others to read and hopefully they will read the next one as well.

[Nancy Stopper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a good story. It was well written. I think maybe the crises were a bit overplayed - it was like the author felt like every 20-30 pages or so they needed to have another crisis - and not just a little one. But, I liked the transformation of the characters and the fact that they weren't perfect but found each other anyway.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to sum up in a review how awesome I thought this book was without giving a lot of the book away. My best advice to all readers... get the book... read it.

[Veronica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this from an online store under the marketplace with Barnes and Noble. I am almost certain I had an advance or proofreader edition. The opening flap said - written in marker by Nadler - "To Gina - my friend, my mentor, my family by choice. Thank you!" And Nadler signed it. I'm guessing this was either the dedication or a note to someone who previously owned the book.

The layout/format was very plain and condensed - didn't seem organized. The chapters were headers that I missed because they blended into the text; it read almost as one large transcript. Minor spelling or grammar errors here and there too.

This novel was a bit too sappy for my taste. I love when a good triller and romance novel merge together, but this was just too much - almost unbelievable. Instead of adults in love they sounded and acted like teenagers.

About a quarter of the way in, I wanted to know how the novel was going to continue. It felt like the same stuff was unfolding over and over again, which I couldn't handle over the next 400 pages. I just didn't know what else could unfold; everything that had unfolded felt disconnected like it was in spurts.

I was confused over what Jack knew of Stephanie's story with her past and the Fire versus what we knew as we read. I like when an author doesn't leave things to question and the fact Stephanie didn't reveal anything could be frustrating if we didn't know the details. I would have held off in revealing the details and had us - the readers - learn the details when Jack learned them.

The use of the name Jack for the hero and Josh for the villain threw me off sometimes. Otherwise, the book was moving.

I didn't like how Stephanie said she needed to go back to the crime scene then the next chapter she said to Jack that she was happy that he was with her, yet they were at the courthouse for another hearing. My mind set was ready to revisit the crime scene and it didn't happen.

There was all this worry for Tommy but we never learned if he made a fully recovery. It seemed like it but it was never shared.

I didn't like how the flashback scenes were organized. It was regular text so I wasn't sure that we went on a flashback until read past it. Some of the flashbacks were italic, but a lot of them towards the end were not; the italic worked for me. Again, I did have what I assume is a pre-final edition so a lot might have changed before the final.

Overall I didn't like how it was broken up a lot and seemed like a lot of filler text. It was almost like we needed to follow every detail as it was planned and unfolded. The novel could have been shorter. I found myself reading to just finish the book.

1.5 out of 5 stars.

[Nessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book 1 of a fairly long series, a series which I have been wanting to make a start on for some time.

So finally got around to reading book 1 to this series, and I am happy to report that I really enjoyed it. The whole storyline was great, pretty well written and it flowed real nice, it was a bit like watching a soap on TV, that sort of storyline. I found it engaging and entertaining throughout.

I enjoyed getting to know all of the characters, main two being Jack and Stephanie for this story, getting to hear their backgrounds and seeing how they come together as a couple, they certainly don’t have it easy and have a lot of emotional situations to get through first.

I will definitely be continuing with the series, although will probably take a break in between each book with other authors books.

[Gail Gemlich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lengthy

The same conversations again and again.
I am a regular reader, and I did not finish this book.
It was more and more of the same. To bad because the orginal storyline eas good.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

You will go on an emotional roller coaster when reading this book.

It's hard to say that I felt like the book needed to be longer because it was a pretty good size book already but there were parts that felt a little rushed to move the story along. Some of those parts worked and some make you say is this really happening altogether?

Despite the few parts that I felt were rushed through, it was an amazing story about creating your family around you.

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but it just didn't hook me. I had to pick it up to start reading many times, and ultimately gave up after many months. I can't really put my finger on why, just not memorable in my opinion.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

First Reads Giveaway

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good read, and I am excited to get to the next book! So love Jack and Stephanie, and can't wait to see what lies ahead for them, for Tommy, and for Julie and Bill!