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What It Is
Some might say working at the morgue is a dead-end job. It's true it's not the best place to meet eligible bachelors, but med school reject Lexi Hadley has no other choice. Faced with a heavy dose of post-college reality, Lexi has to reconcile dealing with death every day at her new job with losing her older brother years ago. Not to mention confront her overbearing father, keep her best friend from turning into a frenemy, and do something with that unfinished grad school application in the desk drawer. Her one diversion is ogling the bartender in the pub below her new apartment, who also happens to be her former high school crush, Christian Holmes. But they won't ever get the chance to get together if Christian's annoying roommate Derek has any say.
The witty and heartfelt What It Is follows Lexi's journey as she learns to accept the people around her--alive and dead--for who they really are, flaws and all. This book will appeal to fans of Emily Giffin and Jane Green, and to anyone who appreciates "chick lit" starring smart heroines.
The witty and heartfelt What It Is follows Lexi's journey as she learns to accept the people around her--alive and dead--for who they really are, flaws and all. This book will appeal to fans of Emily Giffin and Jane Green, and to anyone who appreciates "chick lit" starring smart heroines.
- GenresNew Adult
257 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 31, 2017
11 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Kit Sergeant
17 books109 followersLike her character Addy in Thrown for a Curve, Kit has a practically useless degree in marine biology. A teacher by profession and at heart, she loves to impart little-known facts and dares you to walk away from one of her "light-hearted" chick-lit books without learning at least one new thing. Kit's female leads are all intelligent, strong, and stand fine on their own... but then again, a Prince Charming waiting in the background is always appreciated. As long as he puts the toilet seat down.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 18, 2017
What It Is by Kit Sergeant is not the book I thought it was going to be. I won this from Kindle Scout and I thought it was going to be a paranormal type book. Boy was I wrong. It is exactly what I don't read. A "touchy, medical romance, chick book", gag me. Now, it is not the book's fault for what it is suppose to be. The blurb at Kindle Scout didn't make it too clear. For what it is suppose to be, it lives up to it. Good characters, good plot, romance, and things most people that read those kind of books would really go for. So, it would be excellent for that. For me. I have been a nurse all my life, nothing new under the sun there, hate romance novels unless there is a were or vamp in the picture and even then I really don't like them. But this was a good book for "what it is".
February 7, 2017
The book started very strongly and led the reader to believe that it will be a fast paced book. It turned out completely different. It was interesting to see the growth of Lexi's character and how her experiences with the coroner matures her. All in all it was a romance with a bit of medical happenings to make it interesting.
January 31, 2017
When I nominated this book for publication in the Kindle Scout program, the substantial excerpt provided gave me the impression that the storyline would be a contemporary mystery with possible hints of the paranormal. By the 20% mark of the book, I knew that interpretation was wrong – very wrong – and not pleasantly so.
Up to this tipping point, there certainly had been elements of mystery – Alexandra Hadley’s unexplained rejection from acceptance into med school and a brother who had disappeared some years earlier. As for the paranormal aspect, Lexi’s new job as a pathology technician provided an excellent plotline opportunity there but not even a hint of ghosts or other creatures had yet occurred.
However, the real problem with my initial interpretation showed up in the more detailed scenes about Alexandra herself. Such as – at 23 years old, Lexi has never lived away from her parents or a dorm room. She has never had but one single female friend. And she has had very few actual romantic relationships with men. Not because she was too busy studying to get into med school but because she prefers fantasy relationships conducted from afar rather than actual relationships that risk revealing the imperfections in the personality of her “crush.”
Aha – not Mystery, not Urban Fantasy, not even Romantic Suspense but New Adult / Coming of Age. And, frankly, the works in this genre are one step above the bottom rung of my reading choice ladder (erotica thinly disguised as romantic suspense takes that dubious honor).
Since I never check out the Romance or Literary Fiction sections of the Kindle Scout Program, I paused my reading and went back to the promotional blurb to see how I could have so thoroughly misunderstood. And there it was: “The only men falling at Lexi’s feet are already dead,” coupled with “…Lexi must learn to accept the people around her – alive and dead – for who they really are, flaws and all.” I simply read those words one way and the author meant them in another.
Since accepting a book through Kindle Scout implies that a review will be eventually submitted, neither a DNF nor a review based on 20% completion is acceptable to me. So on I went.
The fact that the book is more like a novella, less than 200 pages, helped – but only so much. While Sergeant’s writing style is grammatically well-structured, the editing superb and the pages flow well from one scene to the next, her pacing is slow, as in S-L-O-W! No catalyst for action actually occurs until approximately the 70% mark.
Furthermore, I just could not like, sympathize or empathize with the main character, whose POV is all we have. Lexi is written as so emotionally immature that it feels like we are reading the diary of a 13-year-old rather than participating vicariously in the life of a 23-year-old. And the secondary characters lack sufficient dimensionality to make up for that.
The book’s best parts – and the reason for 3 stars rather than 2 – are the morgue scenes. These scenes are detailed, fact-filled and realistic without being gruesome or gory. Of a caliber often found in some of the better police procedurals, they are blessedly absent of the selfish whining so often found elsewhere in the entry.
Up to this tipping point, there certainly had been elements of mystery – Alexandra Hadley’s unexplained rejection from acceptance into med school and a brother who had disappeared some years earlier. As for the paranormal aspect, Lexi’s new job as a pathology technician provided an excellent plotline opportunity there but not even a hint of ghosts or other creatures had yet occurred.
However, the real problem with my initial interpretation showed up in the more detailed scenes about Alexandra herself. Such as – at 23 years old, Lexi has never lived away from her parents or a dorm room. She has never had but one single female friend. And she has had very few actual romantic relationships with men. Not because she was too busy studying to get into med school but because she prefers fantasy relationships conducted from afar rather than actual relationships that risk revealing the imperfections in the personality of her “crush.”
Aha – not Mystery, not Urban Fantasy, not even Romantic Suspense but New Adult / Coming of Age. And, frankly, the works in this genre are one step above the bottom rung of my reading choice ladder (erotica thinly disguised as romantic suspense takes that dubious honor).
Since I never check out the Romance or Literary Fiction sections of the Kindle Scout Program, I paused my reading and went back to the promotional blurb to see how I could have so thoroughly misunderstood. And there it was: “The only men falling at Lexi’s feet are already dead,” coupled with “…Lexi must learn to accept the people around her – alive and dead – for who they really are, flaws and all.” I simply read those words one way and the author meant them in another.
Since accepting a book through Kindle Scout implies that a review will be eventually submitted, neither a DNF nor a review based on 20% completion is acceptable to me. So on I went.
The fact that the book is more like a novella, less than 200 pages, helped – but only so much. While Sergeant’s writing style is grammatically well-structured, the editing superb and the pages flow well from one scene to the next, her pacing is slow, as in S-L-O-W! No catalyst for action actually occurs until approximately the 70% mark.
Furthermore, I just could not like, sympathize or empathize with the main character, whose POV is all we have. Lexi is written as so emotionally immature that it feels like we are reading the diary of a 13-year-old rather than participating vicariously in the life of a 23-year-old. And the secondary characters lack sufficient dimensionality to make up for that.
The book’s best parts – and the reason for 3 stars rather than 2 – are the morgue scenes. These scenes are detailed, fact-filled and realistic without being gruesome or gory. Of a caliber often found in some of the better police procedurals, they are blessedly absent of the selfish whining so often found elsewhere in the entry.
March 23, 2017
Between 3 and 4 stars.
"I'm not afraid of death, I'm not afraid of living." A mantra that Lexi has to discover and learn to live by.
This is pretty much a story about growing up and finding love, with the passing of friendships and many other complications of life.
I found the sections in the morgue fascinating and have to say that without them this is not a book I would usually read. At first I wasn't particularly keen on Lexi but by the end of the book I was quite fond of her.
Close to 4 stars, I know others will love this book but I found the characters very irritating at times so it's a 3 + .
"I'm not afraid of death, I'm not afraid of living." A mantra that Lexi has to discover and learn to live by.
This is pretty much a story about growing up and finding love, with the passing of friendships and many other complications of life.
I found the sections in the morgue fascinating and have to say that without them this is not a book I would usually read. At first I wasn't particularly keen on Lexi but by the end of the book I was quite fond of her.
Close to 4 stars, I know others will love this book but I found the characters very irritating at times so it's a 3 + .
June 3, 2017
The book is a well-written treat for people of all ages. The reader gets to experience working in a morgue from Lexi’s perspective, including the sights, sounds, and smells. It’s also a comment on the nature of life and death. Lexi lost Mitch, her brother, years ago. That profound loss impacts her now. Will she decide to embrace life, with all of its risks?
August 13, 2017
If you've ever wanted to learn more about autopsies, this is the book for you. If you want to read a medical romance, don't look here. This story is more about relationships and learning to look at people as they really are, not some fantasies we make them out to be. Lexi learns this valuable lesson only after she can see life from the perspective of death. Well written and insightful.
February 19, 2018
The book started off rather slow but it still held my attention. It covered everything from romance to mortality. It's very much a coming-of-age novel. It would be a great read for any young adult still trying to find their place in the world.
May 15, 2018
I was intrigued by the setting (the morgue) and a young woman learning to be a mortuary assistant, but the protagonist finding true love and learning to say no to her parents was far less interesting.
August 10, 2017
What it is
I enjoyed this story. It showed the how life changes. I would read another book by Kit Sergeant ... Thanks
I enjoyed this story. It showed the how life changes. I would read another book by Kit Sergeant ... Thanks
February 23, 2017
Living
What begins as a fresh-out-of-college adventure in autopsy plunges into a masterful character growth into ones maturity. Lexington grows so much, from fixation on idealized crushes, to genuine love. We learn with her as she goes from the gagging first day observing an autopy to her nonchalant wielding of scalpel and rib cutter. As she interacts with her wasps best friend and high school crush, she slowly realizes how many character flaws she ignores to keep them both idealized. In contrast is her high school frenemy, who still secretly holds his crush for her even as they develop into real not idealized best friends.
What begins as a fresh-out-of-college adventure in autopsy plunges into a masterful character growth into ones maturity. Lexington grows so much, from fixation on idealized crushes, to genuine love. We learn with her as she goes from the gagging first day observing an autopy to her nonchalant wielding of scalpel and rib cutter. As she interacts with her wasps best friend and high school crush, she slowly realizes how many character flaws she ignores to keep them both idealized. In contrast is her high school frenemy, who still secretly holds his crush for her even as they develop into real not idealized best friends.
February 14, 2017
Having read a couple of reviews, it seems that I picked up the wrong end of the stick too with regard to what this book was actually about. My (wrongly thought) expectations were that this was a supernatural/paranormal story. These expectations were based on the book's tagline on the cover, "The only men falling at Lexi's feet are already dead", and the way the blurb was worded. Ah, as the saying goes,"You only hear what you want to hear".
I was halfway through when I realised that there wasn't going to be any spectral visitors... I was disappointed, but I decided to carry on anyway.
Despite the mixup, this is a very easy read, well written and a great story. I found some of the characters a wee bit young in the way that they interacted with each other. Lexi is the most grown-up of them all, and you gradually see her becoming more and more adult as the book progresses. It was a nice change to have a young female character who doesn't have sex with every guy the first time they meet.
On the surface, the story may feel quite frivolous, but there's a deep undercurrent to this story. Life is far too short, you don't know what's around the corner, and then you will die. Perhaps you might end up on a slab. When you're young, your death doesn't mean anything to you as it is decades and decades away. You may think that you are immortal. However, working in a morgue means Lexi has seen the reality of death every day, and that it can happen to her age group too.
Having also lost a young member of her family, Lexi understands loss more than her friends and can help one of them deal with losing someone to cancer.
The best bits for me were the explanations of things happening in the morgue, and I thank all the corpses for their interesting clues. I received a free ecopy of this book from Kindle Scout, and this is an honest review.
I was halfway through when I realised that there wasn't going to be any spectral visitors... I was disappointed, but I decided to carry on anyway.
Despite the mixup, this is a very easy read, well written and a great story. I found some of the characters a wee bit young in the way that they interacted with each other. Lexi is the most grown-up of them all, and you gradually see her becoming more and more adult as the book progresses. It was a nice change to have a young female character who doesn't have sex with every guy the first time they meet.
On the surface, the story may feel quite frivolous, but there's a deep undercurrent to this story. Life is far too short, you don't know what's around the corner, and then you will die. Perhaps you might end up on a slab. When you're young, your death doesn't mean anything to you as it is decades and decades away. You may think that you are immortal. However, working in a morgue means Lexi has seen the reality of death every day, and that it can happen to her age group too.
Having also lost a young member of her family, Lexi understands loss more than her friends and can help one of them deal with losing someone to cancer.
The best bits for me were the explanations of things happening in the morgue, and I thank all the corpses for their interesting clues. I received a free ecopy of this book from Kindle Scout, and this is an honest review.
January 20, 2017
What I t Is
I was not too happy with this book. The pace was slow. I kept waiting for a dead body to be found not a body already in the morgue string an autopsy. The characters could have been boosted up a little bit more.
Started. 1-16-17
Finished 1-17-17.
I was not too happy with this book. The pace was slow. I kept waiting for a dead body to be found not a body already in the morgue string an autopsy. The characters could have been boosted up a little bit more.
Started. 1-16-17
Finished 1-17-17.
March 4, 2017
Excellent book
I loved this book. The exceptionally well written close third narration really let's you get into the main character's head. The author has a nice touch with dialogue, and her characters really come to life. I can't recommend this book enough.
I loved this book. The exceptionally well written close third narration really let's you get into the main character's head. The author has a nice touch with dialogue, and her characters really come to life. I can't recommend this book enough.
March 25, 2017
Kit Sargent does a nice job with Lexi and the complications a young person faces starting out on life on her own. All the unknowns, the insecurities, changing friendships, figuring out what she wants from life and love. On one hand are leftover crushes from high school, and on the other are her failed med school application and her new job in the morgue where she comes face to face with the harsh realities of life as shown by some of the tragic deaths whose causes she has to assist in determining. I found the morgue scenes fascinating, educational, and well researched. A new adult/women's fiction book, this is a quick read that gives the reader a great character arc with themes about living life, dealing with death, friendship, and personal growth.
April 8, 2017
This is not what I expected. From the blurb, I had the impression this would be a romantic comedy or at least be humor filled. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The premise of the story is a good one and had a lot of promise, but the story did not live up to its potential.
I found myself rolling my eyes several times throughout the story, and it was obvious who the heroine would end up with even though she dislikes him through most of the story. At the end, when she consents to date him, she decides she really did like him from well back in high school. The story doesn't support this.
I also didn't understand why the heroine continued to consider her best friend her BFF because....[removed the spoiler]...of the way the best friend treats her.
This is a depressing, angst-filled chick lit story with characters who have graduated from college but act like teenagers.
I received this book from the Kindle Scout program.
The premise of the story is a good one and had a lot of promise, but the story did not live up to its potential.
I found myself rolling my eyes several times throughout the story, and it was obvious who the heroine would end up with even though she dislikes him through most of the story. At the end, when she consents to date him, she decides she really did like him from well back in high school. The story doesn't support this.
I also didn't understand why the heroine continued to consider her best friend her BFF because....[removed the spoiler]...of the way the best friend treats her.
This is a depressing, angst-filled chick lit story with characters who have graduated from college but act like teenagers.
I received this book from the Kindle Scout program.
April 13, 2017
Good book
I loved the technical information from the morgue and I couldn't wait to find out which guy she would end up with. Well written and interesting.
I loved the technical information from the morgue and I couldn't wait to find out which guy she would end up with. Well written and interesting.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews