I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an objective review.

Newly minted Doctor Emily Norton is Baltimore bound as she is preparing to start her surgical residency. Freeing herself from her religiously tyrannical father, and determinedly agnostic herself, she rents an attic bedroom in a flamboyant home owned by Mr. Norton Wharton, a large imposing man who surprises her with a super effeminate voice. As she settles in, she begins to get to know Norton’s eclectic friends, including the elderly gentleman next door, Frank Norton and his cat, Helga. Despite just meeting her, Frank gifts her with a rare piece of jewelry, and the admonishment to wear it always. Initially, Emily wears it to appease the older man, but all to soon removes it and adds it to the neckline of an old skeleton that adorns the corner of her rented attic.

As Emily begins her residency and its challenges, she finds comfort in a fellow female resident, Mondra, as she finds herself championing for the underdog. She befriends a young woman undergoing treatment for breast cancer and does her best to assist an under privileged patient escape a hospital bill. Tending to a young man’s lacerations after a motor vehicle accident, she draws the ire of his father – a powerful community businessman, and in a series of unfortunate encounters Emily finds herself fired from her residency and scorned by the community she has just started to call home. At the same time, her fiancé tells her he has met another girl and wishes to end the relationship.

As Emily’s world comes crashing down, she eyes the skeleton wearing its charm and replaces it around her neck. Almost immediately, things begin to change…. Is it magic? Or an old curse of kings? Or coincidence?

A sweet story about Emily and a crew of ‘different’ people, and the importance of acceptance, tolerance, self love, and being yourself! I loved this book and its messages!!

More Than Bones will take you on a roller coaster ride that you won't soon forget! It was not at all what I was expecting but far exceeded all of preconceived silly ideas! A tale of self-exploration with a steep learning curve, it is a perfect read to start your new year!

Dr. Emily Norton has relocated to Baltimore to begin her residency program at a Catholic hospital in order to be closer to her fiancé. She has rented a room – the attic space – in a gorgeous older home owned by a rather odd, effusive gentleman also named Norton – his first name, not last – and immediately is charmed by the elderly next door neighbor, Frank, who insists on gifting her a large, rather chunky, but quite expensive amulet that is hanging around his cat’s neck. It’s all rather strange, I know, but told in a such an amazing manner that you get wrapped up in the story from the very first line. Trust me! The amulet comes with a warning never to take it off – ever! Of course, Emily’s only faith is in science and facts and she promptly hangs the necklace on her skeleton – a gift from her new landlord. She has lived her life having religion crammed down her throat and the only thing she believes in is the here and now – thank you very much. Aaaahhh, but soon Emily finds herself without a fiancé, friendless, in the middle of a city-wide scandal, jobless and the “bad luck” is increasing by the day. Finally, she puts the amulet on and, voila, her luck begins to change. Or does it?

While on the surface this appears to be a story of magical realism, a story about a magic amulet that has brought good fortune to its owners throughout history, it is more the tale of a person being the master of their own fate, of coming to terms with their own beliefs, either with or without religion, either with or without science, and what consequences those beliefs might lead to in our lives. It the coming of age story of a young woman who has been raised without a mother by a somewhat tyrannical father who has to find her own way as an adult. It a story of which I am quite familiar and many of the questions that Emily was asking herself were ones I have grappled with over my own lifetime.

The characters in More Than Bones are hilarious, quirky, humorous, hateful, vibrant and I loved them all – even Norton’s mother! Singer does an amazing job creating people that I feel like I have known my entire life. In fact, I think I have known someone just like them. There are so many areas covered from science to religion, suicide to health care, the LGBTQ community to breast cancer and yet each one of these topics is handled with a deft hand. I was raised on southern literature with eccentric characters from Flannery O’Connor and Fannie Flagg to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. More Than Bones reminded me of all of the good qualities of that genre – the humorous, somewhat over-the-top characters mixed with hell-fire and brimstone religion pulling against the modern world of science and religion – all combined to make a thoroughly marvelous, enjoyable, thoughtful book, one that I highly recommend!

Thank you to #Netgalley, #TwinRabbitBooks and #CraigDavidSinger for allowing me to read this amazing book!

This book turned out to be far more dark and dramatic than I  had imagined before starting it. Up until like 60% it was a very dizzying emotional rollercoaster, and I'm not sure I mean it in the best possible way. In fact, if I had to rate it then, I probably would've given a star less regarding all angle I consider when rating a book. It's well written, and contains many great ideas, but many times I felt a bit uncomfortable reading it. It might be because after all I couldn't really relate to the main character - I understood her thoughts, feelings and motives, but she still felt a bit stoic, stubborn and inconsiderate for my taste. She was a great character, but a person that I found not so likable. That's probably a compliment to the author's skills, but it made a bit harder for me to get sucked in right away. There were some happenings, as well, that I found a bit over-the-top. They had their place and reason in the story, but I felt awkward reading them. Many times I felt like this book was...too crowded. 

I changed my mind by the end, though. All the different storylines were nicely wrapped up, explained or had some kind of a resolution. It was all a round and meaningful story. My problem had been for a long time that I thought this book was about something else: a combat between religion and reason, conservative people and the LGBT community, compassionate doctors and the evil board, father and daughter. After thinking about it, I decided it had been because the protagonist herself thinks this. I realized, though, that this is part of her development. She learns that it's not a war: we're all in this together and we have to figure it out for ourselves. We deal with things differently. There are better and worse people, and there are great and tragic things that happen to us: at the end of the day, it's up to each one of us to decide what way we use to survive. But we all have to cope in some way.

Funny thing is, the more I think about this book, the more I find myself to like it.

This is a light, fun read. Emily Norton moves to Baltimore to start her medical internship and to be closer to her fiancé, also doing an intern in D.C. She rents the attic in the house of larger-than-life Norton Wharton, and immediately becomes enmeshed in the lives of those she works with and lives near. There's a bit of a mystical nature to this book (don't want to give too much away), and a lot of issues are touched upon: religion and faith, LGBTQ acceptance, family relationships. I particularly liked the hospital scenes and how real they felt (no surprise when I was finished reading and looked up the author only to discover he's a physician; those scenes, in some ways, reminded me of Kimmery Martin's The Queen of Hearts). This is perfect for those needing an uplifting read (with a caveat that there are some heavy parts of the book in the middle), and it's a particularly good holiday read (ending as it does with a lovely Christmas).

Had the bones of a good story, but think it needs a few more rounds of editing to fix tone, pacing, loose threads, etc to create a more polished and cohesive story.

Full review to come.
I deeply apologize, but life is a handful lately and I'm using all my free time to read, not review. I hope everybody understands.

I really enjoyed this story. It's set in Baltimore, near where I live so it was fun to know some of the places and traditions mentioned in the book. I also liked the way the author dealt with infidelity, religion, LGBT, poverty and breast cancer all in one book.

Well... this book was a little different to what I was expecting. But, you know what, I actually really enjoyed it. Probably, mostly because of the wonderful characters that the author has created within. Not all of them likeable but they all played their parts very well.
We start with Dr Emily Norton as she starts a residency at a Baltimore hospital. She is very science orientated so she is a but surprised when she meets her new housemate - the coincidentally named Norton who is also referred to as Dr Norton - we have a bit of fun with that along the way! She is trying to juggle work with a long distance relationship but is thrown off kilter when she receives a strange gift from Norton's neighbour - a strange amulet which comes with a warning that she must wear it. Not being one to subscribe to superstition, she doesn't and things start to go a bit awry for her both at work and at home. But she's a scientist and there is no possible way that the amulet could be driving what is happening to her... or could there...?
I could say so much more about the plot, mostly its interconnectedness, but I can't. Most of what you will read, if you choose to read this book, is best discovered at exactly the right moment for it to have the biggest effect. As I was reading I didn't really realise exactly how much was going on until slowly the strands that have meandered around, some for quite a while, started to come together to form a whole. It was a book that for me was definitely more than the sum of its parts, its rich characters, each of their individual stories and how they all connect together to build new ones. Throw in quite a bit of mystery, intrigue and more than a healthy dollop of soul searching and you get a tale that kept my attention nicely throughout and left me satisfied at at the end. I do have to wonder whether we will see any of these characters again in the future, I'd love to reconnect with some of them going forward.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

While I enjoyed this book I felt like it needed to be trimmed down. So many characters and so many storylines. I loved Norton and Dr. Norton. They make great roommates. I loved Noton trying trying to figure out his love life and his mother. Dr. Norton had great empathy when dealing with her patients but horrible empathy when dealing with her father. Definitely a pretty good first novel!

Couldn't get interested in the book. I tried and read the first 30% with no luck The story never grabbed my attention.

I read a digital copy of this book I received via Netgalley.

More Than Bones revolves around friendships, self-confidence, and knowing who one is.

Parts of MTB are completely silly, and other parts are deep and thoughtful. The secondary characters are interesting and have decent depth.

I enjoyed the resolution of the story with regard to Emily's sense of self. Definitely worth a read, particularly if you want a break from thinky books or studying. :D

To be completely honest, I though this book should be categorized as a chic-lit. Emily's character is your typical girl protagonist in that genre-but her story is different. As I read along, I realize that the story is deeper than I though it was. The events in the book leads to a more sinister meaning as the story unfolds. It was short and very fast paced for me but everything that happened in the book was supplemental to the main premise of the story. After finishing the book, I realize that it was not a chic-lit. It was more like a coming-age-story of a person about her faith, about her beliefs.

The reason I gave the book a four star rating is because I though the ending was kind of a bit boring for me. Though I needed all those events in the final few chapters, it felt like I got my ending on the revelation part of the book. All in all, it was a very pleasant read. The detour that the story took from being the chic-lit type to the part of self discovery is something I appreciate from the book and I was taken by surprised by it. It is very recommendable to those who want a fast read but also fun and amazing story.

Emily is a med school graduate embarking on her internship. She was lured into working at a Catholic hospital in Baltimore to be near her fiancée, and manages to find a room in a nicely-appointed house run by a usually sweet, but very temperamental guy whose first name, Norton, is the same as Emily's last name. On day one Emily is given a gift by an old man named Frank who lives next door to Norton. Emily tries to refuse it, but he's so insistent that she accepts just to be nice, and she hangs it on this skeleton - a real skeleton that Norton put in her room as a weird sort of housewarming gift for the surgeon intern.

The amulet is supposed to bring her good luck, and Frank is insistent that she wear it, but she doesn't and sure enough, a host of bad luck comes her way. She's late on her first day because of car trouble; later, her fiancée dumps her; Norton becomes seriously pissed-off with her over a remark she makes about him being gay - which he either isn't or is in serious denial of; a fellow female doctor, Mondra, with whom Emily was bonding also becomes angry with her, and an important guy from the local community files a formal complaint against her over her medical conduct when she treated his son - a patient she was tricked into taking by two other senior doctors who didn't want to deal with this kid's abusive dick of a father! After Frank dies unexpectedly and fails to impart some last words to Emily, a private detective shows up asking about his will, which seems to be missing.

The author has an interesting style, repeatedly tricking the reader into thinking one thing while revealing later how wrong you were to think as you did, but that grew rather old after a while as did the story-telling. Emily is neither an interesting nor a likable character and reading this story from her PoV was neither pleasant not engaging. First person voice is rarely the best one for telling a story, especially one like this, and did the main character no fav ors.

I made it only two-thirds the way through this novel before I quit because I could not stand to read about this whiny little self-absorbed ditz any more. At one point, for example, Mondra approaches Emily in the parking lot asking for help, and Emily just leaves her there and coldly drives away. I already didn't like Emily prior to this point, but that killed-off any hope of me growing to like her. At that point I was thinking Mondra's story would have been far more interesting than Emily's was - but not if it was written the same way this one was!

In the end I could not stand to read any more about her, so I DNF'd this. The mystery was boring and taking far too long to go anywhere for my taste. I cannot commend this as a worthy read.

Interesting plot,good writing but at the end it still does not leave a mark on you. Guess what didn't work for me was that at the end it was not very clear what author is actually supporting- faith or science.It was bit ambiguous throughout.
But leaving all the deep thinking aside, story is a nice one time read.

I must admit I had mixed feelings reading this book. I didn't love it, but then again I didn't hate it either. It was a light and, dare I say a rather, fun read.
I liked the simple writing and the fast pace of the events... but sometimes the plot seemed a little too quick? And yes I know that sounds weird but things were constantly changing in the book, a terrible situation turned into a great one in the span of a few lines; and yes I know that's the whole premise of the book but it almost seemed comical at some parts. I had a hard time taking it seriously and the tough angsty parts really did little to move me, might I say I even laughed at some points.
As for the characters I do have to say that they were the strong suit of the story and I grew to like them. They were quirky and actually had some personality to them. Emily, the main character, was far from a Mary Sue. She had many flaws and made many mistakes (that made me want to shake some sense into her more than once or twice) but all that was what made her human. It made her relatable and pretty much enjoyable to read about.
All in all there were some awkward moments in the story, some plot lines that left me baffled and some comments I just generally couldn't accept, but it was a decent enough read and I liked the over all message the story played out to. I hope to read more books from this new author in the future.

I loved this mystical story. The characters were well defined and enjoyable. Poor Emily faces one obstacle after another. This was truly a delightful read! Many thanks to Twin Rabbit Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The outrageous characters make this book. I laughed with them and cried with them. More Than Bones made me think about what makes a family a family and about all the different variations of family in our society. It made me think about how childhood influences adulthood and how long it takes some people to shed or stand up to negative influences.

What a delightful read! It defies categories so I could see that it has potential for a broad appeal. The protagonist is Emily Norton, a young doctor who is thrown into some crazy situations from the get go.

There is some quirky wrapped in a mystery with a young woman trying to deal with it all. Emily is on the serious side and it’s pretty amusing to see her get thrown one curve ball after another. It’s as if the story is trying it’s best to make her neurotic but with the help (and hindrance) of her friends she sees things through.

There are some dark and suspenseful parts of the story as well so don’t expect a screwball comedy. I just plain enjoyed the story as it ranged through highs and lows and dealt with big topics like friendship, compassion, free will and a physicians relationship with her patients. It would be a great read for med students and those in the health care field as well.

I have had a really hard time deciding what category this book fits it. It could be classified as fiction, chic lit, LGBTQ or inspirational. Whatever the category, I did enjoy this book. It was well-written, well researched (you can tell the author is a physician), and the story flows well. I recommend this book to anyone who wants an emotional and well thought-out read.

If you start this novel and are not quite sure how you feel about it, please stick with it. You will not be disappointed. The emotions run deep and the characters will pleasantly surprise you.
This is a story about faith - but not exactly religious faith, although that plays a role.
It is about finding out what you, personally, believe in, about discovering for yourself your purpose, your passion and your strengths.
It is a story about acceptance, of self and others. Friendship and beliefs and accepting what brought each of us to our present situation in life. About tolerance and miscommunications. And about family, those you are born related to and the ones you gather along your life's journey.

For a debut novel this is a wonderful result. It would make for an interesting book club read.