Today’s featured book is Step by Step, the middle child of the Crisis Team series by Candace Calvert. This series is on my all-time favorites shelf!
about the book
Step by Step by Candace Calvert
Three years after a tragic accident left her a widow, ER nurse Taylor Cabot is determined to move on, checking off one item after another on her survival list. Her relationship with a handsome plastic surgeon even gives her hope for the last point—“fall in love again.” At least until crisis chaplain Seth Donovan steps back into her life, reawakening unanswered questions about her husband’s death.
While in San Diego to train community volunteers, Seth hopes to learn why Taylor is backing away from the crisis team and from their friendship. But nothing prepares him for the feelings that arise when he sees Taylor again . . . and sees her moving on with another man.
When a community crisis hits home and puts lives at risk, emotions run high and buried truths are unearthed. Will hope make the survival list?
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my thoughts
I enjoyed Taylor and Seth’s characters so much in Crisis Team #1 By Your Side (my review) that I HAD to find out what happens next in Step by Step by Candace Calvert, stat! I am pleased to say Crisis Team #2 exceeded my high expectations, I loved it!
Taylor’s newfound obsession with controlling her life and forcing herself through her grief truly touched my heart. I can really relate to that tendency to white-knuckle the steering wheel of life when the road gets bumpy. She has not only moved away from the home she shared with her late husband, she has taken fitness and nutrition tracking to nearly neurotic levels. No judgment here, I get it! Making those little graphs track just the way you want them to and getting that sense of accomplishment is exhilarating and satisfying.
Seth is an intuitive guy, especially when it comes to Taylor. I don’t think he even fully realizes why it’s so important to him to make sure she is okay, he just follows his instincts without overanalyzing his motives. It’d be nice to switch off my overanalyzing every now and then, tends to crowd my brain waves. Readers have already been given a glimpse of the great comradery these two have in the first book and it just gets better!
Of course, this is Crisis Team so the relationship dynamics are played out amidst a series of high-stress situations to really keep your blood pumping. I cannot get enough Candace Calvert, thankfully she has two more series I can read while waiting for Crisis Team #3 (my review)!
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and was under no obligation to post a review. The opinions expressed are my own.
This review was originally posted on 04/28/16.
about the author
Former ER nurse, wife, Mom and proud grandmother, Candace Calvert believes that love, laughter, and faith are the best medicines. Her popular medical fiction offers charismatic characters, pulse-pounding drama, romance, humor, suspense–and a prescription for hope. Think, “Grey’s Anatomy finds its soul.”
She is a Northern California native who spent several years in Hill Country Texas–where she learned to check her shoes for scorpions and plucked an armadillo from her swimming pool. Thinks cruising is the best way to travel: honeymooned in Venice, swam with stingrays, rode a camel at the pyramids, and sang (badly) with a Newfoundland country band. She’s passionate about cooking, loves bird watching, gardening, and gets goosebumps when her handsome husband hits the low notes at karaoke.
She writes inspirational fiction because God blessed her with a quirky wit, buoyant optimism, and a contagious sense of fun–but she didn’t come to know him until after the Triple Whammy that turned her life into a bad country song. A painful and unexpected divorce, the Northern California floods of 1997, and (just when she was coping like a champ, no problem) an equestrian accident that left her with fractured ribs, a bleeding lung, broken back, neck fractures and a spinal cord injury. She’ll tell you that God took drastic measures to get her attention.
In the months of rehabilitation, Candace healed in body and spirit. And came to fully understand the difference between being a strong woman and a woman of strength. The difference is faith, and that lesson has been her biggest blessing. Her story, “By Accident,” appears in Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul, and launched her writing career. Now she is honored to bring readers medical fiction that offers exciting entertainment and a healthy dose of hope.
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author q&a
also available
Crisis Team series
The Mercy Hospital series
The Grace Medical series
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Do you try to take control when life gets rough? This is also something I grapple with!
Have y’all read the Crisis Team series or other titles from Candace Calvert?
Are you adding Step by Step by Candace Calvert to your tbr right now?
Faithfully Bookish 