Trauma Plan

March 12, 2012
Injured in a brutal attack and uncertain whether she still can perform as an ER nurse, Riley Hale hopes for reinstatement while serving as a chaplain, offering comfort and prayers to patients at Alamo Grace Hospital, the setting for a new series from Calvert (Mercy Hospital series). To hone her skills, Riley volunteers at a clinic run by daredevil doctor Jack Travis, who battles his mysterious past—and hostile neighbors seeking to shut down the clinic, which brings clientele to the community considered “undesirable.” A budding romance between Riley and Jack is nicely balanced by the couple’s interactions with family, patients, and co-workers, all toting their own baggage packed with fear, ulterior motives, and past mistakes. Calvert, herself a former ER nurse who was sidelined by an injury, infuses her story with detailed medical procedures and terminology along with honest questions about faith that anyone might ask in the face of difficulties. The characters are likable and receive rich and thorough development in this enjoyable “hope opera” page-turner. Agent: Natasha Kern.

May 15, 2012
Lives hang in the balance in the ER of Alamo Grace Hospital in San Antonio as Calvert tells a tale in which the misfortunes and predicaments of doctors and nurses are just as urgent and painful as those of their patients. Just like an outstanding episode of Grey's Anatomy, Trauma Plan weaves medical, community, and personal issues with blossoming romance and strands of mystery. Dr. Jack Travis is battling with the neighbors of his free clinic, but is he doing it for the right reasons? Meeting Riley Hale, Alamo Grace's ER chaplain, forces him to question his motives even as he falls for the wounded yet tough woman who is struggling to recover physically and emotionally from an attack. The events surrounding Jack's clinic are no help to her still-fragile recovery, but maybe the man himself will be. Full of memorable characters and guided by Calvert's own experience as an ER nurse, the first novel in her Grace Medical series evokes a realistic and intriguing world readers will definitely want to return to.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)