I know why I chose Peaceful Valley Hospital by Juliet Simone Roy to read.  Do you remember that era of time in the early 2000’s where parody movies had just started to become a thing and they didn’t suck yet?  Scary Movie had just come out and it was funny and interesting.  It was witty, made fun of a ton of tropes and ideas, while still SOMEHOW having a storyline.  When I read the book blurb for this book, I thought this was going to be kind of like that, a parody type comedy novel about life in the workplace of a hospital. 

I made it 46% of the way through this book before I honestly could not continue.  I tried so hard to finish this book, I really did.  I would pick it up and put it down, trying to get back into it, I would try to force myself to read it, literally nothing worked.  I expected something like Scrubs, and it did not even come close.

That being said, the story I made my way through did have potential, but it was not realized.  It did not take long at all for the drama to start and work its way through the characters and as someone who loves someone else’s drama this was a real treat for me.  The problem is there are so many characters without any real development that eventually they all blur together and you end up with a mental image of one weird character that takes on all of the personalities.  In addition, the drama that happens is not anything that unique and it is easily forgettable.

As you continue into the story it feels like the author continuously makes up rules for the characters to follow, such as no dating between the nurses/doctors just so her characters can break those rules to try and add more of a plot point.  In addition, by almost halfway through the book you would assume you could figure out what the overarching plot was, but I have zero idea what the overarching plot is to this book.  I just know there were a ton of characters, and a shit ton of drama that I could not decipher all that well.

Overall – This book had some real potential.  At least in my personal opinion.  I wish it had been a parody book of dramas and soap operas and the like because I would have loved a funny book such as that.  Ultimately it felt like a bunch of ideas thrown onto paper that were never really fleshed out and I am disappointed in it.  As I said, I did not finish this book, so there is a chance that the last 54% of this book is exceptional, but somehow I doubt it.

Plot – 2/10

Characters – 2/10

Originality –  2/10

General Joy of Reading – 0/10

Overall Score – 6/40

Peaceful Valley Hospital: Romance: with some crime on the side