Gemini

Written by Carol Cassella

Narrated by Mozhan Marno

An ICU doctor in one of Seattle's most respected hospitals, Dr. Charlotte Reese is used to listening for the chop of the Medvac helicopter and preparing for the worst. But when a Jane hurtles through the doors of Beacon Hospital with tubes keeping her alive, Charlotte's stoic resolve begins to fail her and she becomes obsessed with unraveling the mystery of her patient's identity to solve what is looking more and more like an attempted murder. As Jane Doe's condition worsens over the course of days, Charlotte must decide what matters most as she grapples with the concept of life quality and the idea of letting Jane's fate be decided by a court-appointed guardian with no links to the patient. Filled with stunning medical detail and set against the backdrop of the Pacific Northwest, GEMINI is a vivid novel of moral complexity and emotional depth that will resonate with readers of Sue Miller and Jodi Picoult.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781470393618

Carol Cassella

Carol Cassella, MD, is a practicing anesthesiologist, novelist, and speaker. She majored in English literature at Duke University and attended Baylor College of Medicine. She is the bestselling author of the novels Gemini, Oxygen, and Healer, published by Simon & Schuster. Carol lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, with her husband and two sets of twins. Visit the author at CarolCassella.com.

Reviews for Gemini

[bettysunflower · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Charlotte Reese is a doctor in Seattle Washington. She is from a family of Doctors and most of the people she interacts with are doctors. However, her boyfriend is a writer. She has never really had much time for a personal life away from medicine, but Eric pursued her over a period of time and was always very patient and allowed her the freedom to be a good doctor. The down side is that he seems satisfied with their lives the way they are and doesn't push for marriage and children. He seems so content. Charlotte has a new patient, one who appears to have been hit by a car. She had been found on the side of the road in very bad condition. She was able to talk prior to her leg surgery. However something happened during the surgery and she was unresponsive after the surgery. As Charlotte fights to save her life it becomes more apparent that 'Jane Doe' won't make it and if she does will she still be herself. This is a very well written book with fascinating characters. The story line has detours and winds through the lives of several of the characters. There are some medical terms and conditions that play major roles, but are easy enough for a layman to understand and follow along. It really is a fascinating book and one that I am very glad to recommend. *I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[froxgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This plot of this medical mystery combines a heartless hit-and-run victim with a little-known disease, and the entwined backgrounds of Raney and Bo, two teenagers in rural Washington state. Charlotte, an MD, is charged with the care of a Jane Doe brought into her hospital. That story alternates with Raney and Bo's fraught teenage romance and their eventual reunion. Charlotte is adamant about finding out her coma patient's identify, and she's also struggling with her partner Eric's reluctance to commit and to have children due to his neurofibromatosis, which causes unanticipated blackouts and can also be genetically passed on. The author is a doctor, and the reader wonders if she pulled out her medical school training and Physician's Desk Reference for the coma and the disease elements, but it's a well-written plot with very few missing parts.Quote: "Unlimited choice can be as paralyzing as poverty or ignorance."

[junipersun · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I borrowed a friend's book to fill in a few empty hours, assuming it would be a quick light read that I could just abandon when my waiting was done. Boy, was I wrong! I had to keep it for another day to find out what happened.We follow the events in the lives of 3 women. At first I wonder how they are going to intersect, as the connection isn't clear. Charlotte is a physician in an ICU, in her late 30's, and wondering if she'll ever have a child of her own. Her lover has a medical condition that makes him unwilling to commit to having children.
"Jane Doe" is Charlotte's patient for several months, victim of a hit-and-run.
Raney is first introduced as a young teen living in the country with her grandfather, a military vet with a survivalist mentality. I really liked the grandfather: kind but no-nonsense, doing his best to raise Raney to be independent and to give her the love & security her mother (his daughter) was unable to provide when she abandoned Raney. They are poor, living on the fringe of a small town. Raney is passionate about painting and manages to begin studies at an art college but chooses to return home when her grandfather has an accident and requires help. Growing up, she develops an intense friendship with Bo, a rich kid shuffled off to relatives for summers as his parents are too busy for him. He disappears from her life and she again experiences abandonment. Without giving away more plot, she experiences more losses, yet fiercely continues to keep trying to build a good life.

[thursbest · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so much so, that I stayed up till 1 am to finish it. I enjoyed the characters and the story, but it's definitely a sad read of Raney's life just all along. Did feel the ending was a bit.. abrupt, though.

[mel.davidoff · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Eh, this was okay. It was a bit more predictable than I think the author really intended it to be, but it was enjoyable. The chimerism reveal was obvious to me, having heard of the condition through a million different procedural TV shows, but if you are not as into trashy TV as I am, it may have been a more interesting reveal. Overall, I enjoyed the way the story was presented. Pretty good use of multiple POVs, although having only one brief segment from Eric's POV was a strange choice.

[elizabeth1929-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

woo hoo, I won this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
I don't usually read these kinds of books, but for some reason I decided to give this one a try.
I have to admit that the beginning was a bit slow for me. I think it's either because it's not exactly my reading style, or, this book was aimed at readers that are older than me.
I feel like I should read the first half of the book again because embarrassingly, I don't think I was very interested in the book in the beginning, and the description on the back of the book seemed way more interesting than the actual story, I feel like I was rushing through it trying to get it finished, like a chore...
But once I got near the middle, I started to see how Charlotte and Raney's stories were connected.
After I realized this, I enjoyed the book much, much better.
I liked reading about both sides of the story, and noticed the hints I missed before, I did have to go back near the beginning to reread stuff I missed.
The ending satisfied me, and the book as a whole is great.

[bogopea · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Spell-binding as the book progressed. Stayed up til 2am to finish it.

[audrieclifford · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

At first, I didn't like the book switching back and forth between two characters, and then as I got deeper into the story, I really began to enjoy it. I've read some of the other reviews and so I know that I don't need to repeat anything about the plot. In my opinion, it was a good story and well worth reading.

[pjhess · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An ok read for me. Enjoyed the setting but the story just had way too much jumping around. Liked the writing but didn't like any of the characters except poor Raney. After so much build up I felt the ending was too rushed.

[randall6hansen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyed this emotionally-charged novel; author Carol Cassella does a wonderful job telling a story of young love, families (almost all of which are dysfunctional), and relationships. It's also filled with a medical mystery of an unidentified woman brought to a Seattle ICU in near-death condition. The book alternates with chapters about the two main female characters. Besides being such an interesting story, another plus for me was its setting -- in Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula.

[angela7546-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"For the first time she got it-the unappreciated bliss of ignorance; that the street you cross might not be safe, that the child you carry might not be born whole, but no matter the scope of the tragedy, if you are blind to your fate you can be happy until that moment arrives."Gemini by Carol Cassela is a very strange book. It carries all the elements of a great novel but felt insanely boring and dull. At times, it read like a melodramatic movie script.Summary:Dr. Charlotte Reese works in Seattle's Beacon Hospital. One night a Jane Doe, victim of a possible hit-and-run, was found next to the highway and was rushed from a remote hospital to Charlotte's intensive care unit. Days passed and no family showed up. While deputy Blake Simpson searches for the driver behind the accident, Charlotte struggles to keep the comatose patient alive as her body and organs deteriorate. Still, her identity remains a mystery. Soon Jane Doe's condition worsens, and Charlotte faces the difficult decision that may change the woman's life forever. With the help of her boyfriend Eric Bryson, Charlotte is determined to uncover her patient's life and all her secrets.My Thoughts:This is a very well written novel with interesting premise and characters. However, it is also wrong in so many ways.Charlotte Reese is suppose to be the good doctor who treats her patients more than just names on medical charts. At first I really liked her because she was a great character with emotions and feelings. Gradually, she develops this unprofessional obsession with Jane Doe's identity that becomes a bit unrealistic and exaggerated. She constantly questions her own actions, when Eric and her went to Remington's old house, when they confront David Boughton, and again when they visit Jack in the temporary foster home. She transforms from this loving and caring doctor to a stubborn and somewhat annoying person who decides what is the best for her patient and even her family. To me, her ambition to uncover the truth felt more like her personal agenda to compensate for her own problems and relationships.Eric, on the other hand, is just a pathetic character who is egotistical and conceited. It goes the same for David.I did, however, feel for Raney Remington, a kind woman who struggles through a tough life. It was heartbreaking reading her star-crossed love story with Bo and her troubled marriage with Cleet Flores, which ultimately ends in such a shocking and tragic stop. She is a wonderful character who never accepts her fate and manages to provide for her family despite awful and rough conditions. But her life events seemed forced and labored. There are just way to many implausible coincidences to not think of her distressful life as a melodramatic Lifetime movie.Besides flawed characters, the plot is also less than perfect. I never fully understood the cause that lands Jane Doe in the hospital. I had to re-read that paragraph three times and was still a bit confused. The ending was also very disappointing and didn't feel connected to the rest of the storyWhat saved this book is the author's beautiful writing. Cassela is great at using lyrical prose and poetic phrasing to paint a realistic and stunning landscape and setting. She is very good at telling the characters' feelings and depicts emotions that resonate with readers. The book is also very solid and detailed in terms of medical terminologies but doesn't bore you with difficult medical jargon.The story is told in alternating chapters in Charlotte's perspective and a coming-of-age journey of Raney and Bo. Like many other reviewers, it took me quite a while to get used to the style and not to be lost, but once you entangle the different storylines, it was actually very interesting and engaging to read the surprising twists and discoveries.I also wouldn't consider this a medical thriller. At best, it's a love story with lots of dramas. Overall, I did enjoy this book, but it's not my cup of tea. The story can be very depressing and gloomy at times, so I wouldn't recommend this if you are looking for a light read.

[kmt01_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

NetGalley provided this book to me to read and review. I was fascinated from the start by Gemini. The story opens with the main character, Dr. Charlotte Reese, and ICU doctor, getting a new patient during her shift. The patient, an unknown and referred to as Jane Doe, has been badly injured in a hit and run auto accident. Stabilized at the local hospital, when the doctors there operated to repair broken limbs, something terrible happened, and Jane Doe arrives in a coma like state. Dr. Reese immediately becomes attached to this patient, and begins a long journey to determine who she is and what her family wants for her care. Dr. Reese’s personal life is also in flux. She and Eric have been together for about three years, and the relationship has stalled out, with neither one really ready to commit or even make any future decisions. Dr. Reese copes with this as well as with her patient Jane Doe. The author runs a parallel story about Bo and Rainey, a couple of young people who meet when Bo visits his aunt, who lives in the same small town as Rainey. The two are a study in contrasts. She is the tomboy granddaughter of a man who lives in fear of the apocalypse occurring at any moment, while he is the son of divorcing parents who has more money than Rainey’s family and who is a real city slicker, unused to the rigors of small town country life and the rigors of growing up there. Though there is a definite attachment which begins to grow between the two, there are several insurmountable obstacles and events that thwart their budding relationship. How the two stories intersect unfolds as a moving story of romance and conflicts between ethical/moral and cultural values. The story delves into the decisions doctors must make, in this case about Jane Doe. If the patient is brain dead or appears so, how far should the doctor go to promote their health and keep them healthy? How involved should a doctor become with a patient? How can and does a patient-doctor relationship impact on a doctor’s life and those of the people around him/her? The story covers several different angles of these questions/dilemmas, mostly from the point of view of a medical professional. The author is a doctor and has shed light on some of the difficulties a doctor experiences and must cope with on a daily basis. However, through all that, the author has also provided a realistic human portrayal of several lives and how they are formed by past experiences and how they eventually intersect.I have not read any other books by this author. I am going to look for some, as this one was interesting and informative. The author managed to bring out medical information in a way that was understandable to a non-medical reader, with no experience in any of these areas. I debated whether to give this book four or five stars, and finally settled on four because, at times, I thought the book dragged a bit and didn’t hold my interest. If the reader enjoys medical type mysteries/novels and enjoys the books of another doctor cum author such as Robin Cook, he/ she will definitely like this story.

[mckait · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gemini: A Novel by Carol Cassella was a hard to put down read. In the beginning we meet Dr. Charlotte Reese , an intensivist who finds herself caring for a Jane Doe. A woman of about the doctors own age, who was found along a highway after a possible hit and run accident. She was suffering from hypothermia, as well as broken bones and other injuries. She was taken into surgery even though she was disoriented and had no memory of what happened. Unexpectedly, there was a complication during surgery and she was unable to communicate, and was going downhill in every way possible. This is when she was transferred, and was put into the care of Dr. Reese,, Charlotte.For some reason Dr. Reese was drawn into the sad situation of this Jane Doe more than was typical. Perhaps it was the fact that they were of a similar age? Or perhaps just the empathy that Charlotte felt for so many of her patients. After a long shift caring for her Jane Doe, Charlotte was anxious to spend time with her partner Eric. Little did they know that in time he too, would be drawn into this case, and find himself involved in trying to identify Jane. All the while the hospital's Ethics Committee is lurking in the background and looking over Charlotte's shoulder. The police are having little success in finding out what exactly happened that night along the road, and no one has reported a woman of Jane's description missing.The book shifts back and fort from the days Jane Doe spends in intensive care, to a time, years before, and readers are drawn into a story of Renay Remington and her grandfather. Shifting back and forth, it becomes obvious that there is a connection between those long ago days and the woman who is lying, now in a medically induced coma, in the ICU.Both stories are equally compelling and all the characters involved are interesting. As the stories move on, the suspense builds and the ending of the book is quite fascinating and completely unexpected. This book had my complete attention from start to finish, and left me wanting to read and research on my own, once the full story was revealed.Recommended.

[kikoa_8 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I keep thinking that the book I am reading is the best one ever.....Then I pick up another that is even better...I guess I am just lucking out...This is a great read...I thought I knew what would happen and then I didn't and then I did. You owe it to yourself to read this well written and enjoyable novel. It will make you laugh and cry, all in one chapter....