Norah has always known that she has wanted to be a doctor. Ever since her pediatrician father died in a car accident, Norah promised to carry on her father’s legacy and make him proud. But when on her first day she pricks herself with a patient’s needle and shocks a patient while they’re still awake, she realizes being a doctor isn’t as glamorous as she thought and she has a lot to learn. This novel follows Norah and her fellow crew of interns as they navigate the ins and outs of working in a hospital and how she begins pushing herself out of her comfort zone of books and studying, discovering that it is okay to live a little. It also touches on her major crush on her McSteamy, chief resident Ethan, and when asked to cover up a major mistake that could cost their jobs, Norah finds herself asking just how far is she willing to go? ⠀⠀
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If you’re a Grey’s Anatomy or any hospital drama series fan, you would enjoy this novel. I loved the daily struggles and the author really captured how stressful and intense working in a hospital actually is. Norah was an enjoyable character and I enjoyed when she was beginning to bust out of her shell because she was starting to get on my nerves a little with judging everyone. I loved her best friend Meryl and when Norah makes a big mistake and ruining their friendship, to me it almost seemed random and out of character and personally didn’t make sense at all. All in all, I thought this one was just okay, but not enough character development for me to get fully invested.⠀⠀
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🍷to sum it up: hospital dramedy, coming of age, self love and growth, Indian culture references, really captured the hospital vibe, I’d recommend if you like hospital drama books, but I wouldn’t read it again

I really enjoyed this and couldn’t stop reading - except at a few key moments where I was in such agony over the choices she made, and had to take a break! I especially liked all the behind-the-scenes stuff.

This is a great romantic comedy injected with a healthy dose of gravitas.  Great for fans of own voices and romance.

I was thoroughly impressed with this novel! It was everything I wanted it to be and so much more! It's at once a love story as it is an impressive medical debut. I was just as much caught up in the romance aspect of the book as I was in the medicine storyline. The characters were extremely relatable, particularly the heroine, Norah. I really never knew what to expect. This book was refreshing, witty, and a pageturner. I would most certainly recommend it!

This is a great take on the life of a doctor in training. There are work relationships and personal relationships. The main character is one you root for from start to finish, which is a nice treat for readers. The writing style makes the book flow from beginning to end.

I loved this book! It's not a romcom or a romance, but it's about a young woman learning to become a doctor and her journey of self discovery. More of a coming of age story. I found the main character delightful and relatable, and the plot moves along nicely. I liked how the author layers in the medical information so that it's not overwhelming to a lay person, and how the ethical dilemma—which does come later in the book—is foreshadowed throughout. Careful readers will pick up on the clever way this plot was written. Definitely different from most books I've read, and I really enjoyed it and would recommend it!

2.5 * This was such a fun behind the scenes look into an interns life. The un-glamorous truth of the pressures and politics in hospitals. I really liked Norah and (some of) the supporting characters. Until I didn't.

An issue I had with this book was that there was little to no plot other than the day to day life of an intern until about 75% into the book. The pacing was off as some parts were interesting, and then it just ground to a halt. There were too many story lines and scenarios. 

The resolution was very disappointing to me, but the last few sentences reintroduced a bit of hope. It just seemed extremely out of character for Norah who I had grown fond of and felt I knew her well enough that it just didn't make sense.

A fascinating look at being a medical intern.  Norah was a sympathetic and believable character, and I loved watching her come into her own and make tough decisions.  

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

This wonderfully written book provides a voyeuristic view of the trials and tribulations of our protagonist: Norah Kapadia, a young doctor. Truly eye-opening, we not only get a realistic story of what our medical professionals face, but we also get a story delivered with heart and humor (one particular scene had me laughing out loud), touching upon family/personal relationships and finding yourself. Norah is a flawed character (like all real humans) and she makes mistakes and some very bad decisions. For me, this made her all the more relatable. Life, after all, isn’t perfect and can be very unpredictable.

3.5 stars

Norah Kapadia is a medical intern quickly learning the ropes of Philadelphia General Hospital. Each day presents new challenges and she quickly learns that sometimes, working in a hospital isn't always about putting the patients first. Between trying to follow in her father's footsteps, being the "perfect Indian daughter", and graduating from residency, she wonders how she can handle it all. When a fatal mistake results in a lawsuit, she must decide for herself where her loyalties lie. 

This was an interesting read. I loved the medical detail and appreciated that a practicing physician authored the book. It was like "Grey's Anatomy" with the crazy cases and questionable relationships between medical personnel. The book's strongest aspects were the plots surrounding the grueling life of medical residents and inner working of a hospital. 

Norah was an okay character for me. I didn't think there was much character development until the very end. Likewise, her relationship with her family and constant battle choosing between them and work was important for the first half of the book, then began to disappear, and then seemed to be mostly resolved without much explanation by the end. There was less romance than I expected after reading the book jacket summary and some of the supporting characters seemed to just have disappeared for the last 25% of the book.

It was a good read if you enjoy medical dramas, but if you are looking for a contemporary romance, you should look elsewhere. Overall, it was intriguing and I did enjoy reading about the characters, but I was disappointed by how the plot was resolved. It lacked proper closure and seemed a bit too convenient.

Mixed feelings here. Liked the depiction of desi immigrant experience, the struggles of being a lowly-ranked doctor at a hospital, and the writing. Didn't love the cover-up storyline or the heroine's lack of character development until the last 25%.

I loved this book! As an ER nurse this defiantly resonated with me. Honestly I will be excited to see what non medical people think of this book. I am not sure if I enjoyed it so much because I nodded my head like a billion times going - yep that is how the ED rolls because there is so much truth in this book. If you are expecting a rom-com I would say it really isn't that. It is more like the struggles that a new physician takes on in a crazy environment.  I flew through this book in a day as I was completely entertained. 

Norah - aka Dr. Kapadia is a resident that gets thrown into the craziness of the ED. Welcome to our world Norah. I love that this book shows how things really are. The general public I believe is under the impression that if you graduate medical school, you know it all. Okay people but not every situation can be taught in med school. Although Nora made some major mistakes, I can't say I have not seen things like this happen. Although in real life I think someone would have stepped in and stopped her, but that would not make this as entertaining or as shocking as it was. 

I felt Norah's pain as she questioned herself and hid in the storage room. When she had her first needle stick- yep that will make  you question- why the hell am I doing this? Better yet the abuse you take from the general public. She nailed it on some of that. Quite frankly she downplayed that because the readers probably wouldn't believe that patients actually do this stuff. HAHAHA- believe me they do. I have  had someone pour their urine on my computer keyboard...because their doctor didn't give them what they wanted. So Norah's story nailed it!

Why I did give it 4 stars even though I loved it? It is because I was a bit put off by a huge moral dilemma that takes place. Let's just say I am one of those "ER nurses" that Norah thought were against her. I would not let that happen on my watch. I would go over Norah's head because it is my job to be my patient's advocate- not my job to worry if the physician is going to be mad at me.

I really enjoyed this book and it kept me flipping the pages. It was better than Grey's Anatomy because the author is a physician and knows the proper lingo. I don't know if some of this will be lost on non medical people, but it wasn't lost on me. Very enjoyable read for me. I loved it!

White Coat Diaries is a good book about which I have some mixed feelings. As readers share the experience of a medical intern, we get a taste of the challenges of being low person on the totem pole professionally as well as the rewards and challenges that come with treating patients. While I enjoyed the medical aspects, the naïveté of the narrator made me uncomfortable. While, quite probably unrealistic on my part, I get emotionally squirmy when a character I want to like and identify with keeps making mistakes and/or bad decisions. People do make poor choices and there’s nothing wrong with including them in a novel.  
The subplot involving Norah’s family and their Indian community was also a little uncomfortable to read.—my failing, not the author’s. There is the usual tension between the expectations of immigrant parents and the lives of their American-born offspring. It is very real, but hard to read about. 
As the book develops, we see how Norah works through personal and professional situations, figuring out her place in her world and what constitutes the kind of success she can live with.

I really liked this book. It was not a predictable romance novel and gave an interesting look into the mind of a young female doctor. Family, work, and relationship dynamics all play a role.

Norah Kapadia has wanted to be a doctor and follow in her father's footsteps since she was a young child.  Finally she is about to start her residency at the hospital  of her dreams.  What follows is clear description of the strenuous schedules kept by interns and the unrealistic expectations put on them by their superiors.  A fascinating and eye opening story.

It's definitely an eye-opening look at the life of an idealistic young doctor, just as she begins her residency at a prestigious hospital. We first meet Norah who's having a tough time transitioning into her new role and her chief resident Ethan, whom she obviously falls for despite him not being interested. It reads quickly with engaging language, and does remind me of "Grey's Anatomy," but I like that it is more about her career than just romance and finding a man. It's the story of her residency, friendships, and family. Norah is definitely idealistic which I'd rather see her more realistic and wanting to do this job well and not fawn all over a man. It's engaging and I couldn't put it down though. The ending did feel out of character for her, and I do wish there was no implied romantic interest because the book didn't need it, that part all felt like filler. Other than that, it was a quick, engaging read.

This book started out strong but I felt it skipped ahead in time too quickly. Overall an enjoyable read.

This is usually the kind of book I LOVE - South Asian woman protagonist, highly ambitious, reconciling between two worlds, set in Philadelphia AND in a hospital. It had such potential and I immediately gravitated toward it when I spotted it here.
I wish I could give this book a positive review. I wanted to love it. I did not.
Norah is one-dimensional and I never get any sense of depth or growth from her, nor much empathy until the very end of the book. Her lack of awareness could be attributed to a challenging home life (which I get), but it didn't make her at all relatable or draw sympathy from the reader. None of the characters seem at all developed, and this book read like a mishmash of television medical dramas that didn't bake nearly long enough. This was almost a DNF, and I wish I had trusted my instincts on that front.

“People in other, normal jobs might have their computer crash or someone took their hole puncher—that’s their day-to-day office crap. Our day-to-day office crap is death and human suffering.”

The White Coat Diaries offers a peek behind the curtain, revealing the inner workings of a doctor’s life. It shows the truth of what goes on behind closed doors in a hospital, the unglamorous truth of saving lives. And I’m not gonna lie, it was not exactly an easy pill to swallow. Norah slowly learns the importance of work-life balance, and the book makes the bureaucratic structure of the healthcare system clear. We get to see just how hard our doctors work to keep us safe, and how heavily every mistake weighs on them. Still, seeing how many mistakes occur is bone-chilling. It is no one’s fault exactly; there are just too many patients and far too few doctors. More than anything, The White Coat Diaries made me realize just how fragile the human body is, and that doctors are often just shooting in the dark. It’s not exactly comforting stuff. 
As far as the plot goes, there isn’t really one. The “cover-up” does not occur until 75% of the way into the novel (I know because I was reading on my kindle). This means that the first 75% passes by with … no plot. It kind of just flows by like a memoir. The resolution did not sit well with me, and I feel like it left a lot of strings loose.  
There isn’t really a clean ending, and characters just drop out of the story. While this happens in real life, it’s pretty disconcerting when it happens in a novel. Interesting stuff does happen throughout the story, but there is no real overarching plot tying it all together. Everything turns sideways in the last 10% of the book, and the book ends rather abruptly. Without giving too much away, it just seemed extremely out of character and sudded. While I understand that Norah is supposed to grow, her final actions do not seem like they belong to her at all. 
The characters are all relatable and realistic, but they all seem lightweight and do little to impact the story. We mainly focus on Norah and her struggles with her work, which is the main point of the story after all. We get to hear just how exhausted she is, over and over, until it makes you kind of exhausted with the book itself. There were many points in the book where I genuinely had no idea where the story was going. I was expecting a drama, with a dose of righteousness, but I stumbled into a humdrum expose about the medical industry instead. I feel like the blurb itself was rather misleading, because I just immediately started imagining a rom com. 
One of the reasons I picked up this book was because of the representation. The White Coat Diaries fared well on this point, portraying Norah’s struggle with her family in a relatable and understandable way. Sinha weaves in points that all Indian families can relate to, while also making Norah’s mother a real character and not just a stereotypical Indian mom. The mental struggles surrounding the South Asian community are well developed and feel natural rather than forced. At the same time, it never becomes the focal point of the story and is slipped in every now and then as an underlying conflict. 
Overall, The White Coat Diaries provides a sneakily harrowing peek into the life of a doctor-in-training and the frustrations that plague her at every step, both personal and professional. While Norah is an inherently interesting character, she is let down by an ultimately underwhelming plot.

So interesting to see the trials and tribulations of a medical student during her first experiences in a prestigious city hospital. That includes relationships as well. I look forward to recommending this to readers who enjoy women's fiction, but are looking for something a little different, perhaps a little more realistic. Great book!