Out of Practice by Penny Parkes

Meet married mum of two and successful GP Holly Graham as she relocates her family to join the team at The Practice at Beckerford, hoping to find the peaceful life she craves, despite the chaos that comes with her two year old twins and the troublesome state of her marriage. It will certainly be a challenge to keep her private and professional lives separate in such a tight-knit community. Her colleagues have their own issues to contend with. 

The gorgeous Dr Dan Carter is struggling with to focus on work and the last thing he needs is any more stress; having his ambitious ex-girlfriend Dr Julia Channing working alongside him isn't really helping. Thankfully, the rather delectable Dr Taffy Jones is on hand to distract Holly from the escalating situation at home. 

Feisty octogenarian and resident celebrity, Elsie Townsend, is Holly's favourite patient and saving grace. Elsie's inspirational Life Lessons come at the perfect moment, as The Practice is suddenly under threat of imminent closure and Holly rediscovers her voice and her priorities just in time …

Out of Practice is Penny Parkes debut novel and if dishy doctors make you go weak at the knees then this book will be right up your street.

Holly Graham has relocated to Larkford with her adorable little twin boys and husband Milo. Hoping for a fresh start Holly is thrilled to be close to her best friend Lizzie and is looking forward to starting her new job as a GP at The Practice but the new life that Holly envisioned soon starts to show signs of trouble.

The book gets off to a welcoming start with a touch of humour and it soon becomes clear that the author has a wonderful writing style that manages to pull you into the storyline from the first chapter and hold your attention the whole way through.

There is such a likeable group of characters in this book alongside our main character and the community spirit is buzzing through the pages. Elsie Townsend was a wise and wonderful character who has lived a fulfilled life and she takes an instant shine to Holly and I constantly found myself looking forward to her popping up during the book. We watch Elsie encourage Holly to find her true self rather than being a people pleaser and this is where Holly’s character really develops as she learns that it is ok to say no and put yourself first and do what you want to do rather than what you feel you should do.

I was really hoping all the way through that Holly would walk away from her husband Milo, he was such a controlling and egotistical character who I could not stand and I didn’t want someone as vibrant and loving as Holly to waste her life with a man like that. I was hoping she would fall in to the arms of one of the dishy doctors but one minute I wanted her to fall for Dan and the next moment I wanted her to fall for Taffy but ever way I was happy to take whoever didn’t tickle her fancy!

There were some predictable parts of the book but equally the author also managed to conceal some little snippets too that came as a surprise. This was a terrific debut and I wouldn’t be surprised if we find ourselves revisiting Larkford and its loveable characters in a future book by Penny Parkes but either way I will definitely look forward to more books from this author.

THIS BOOK IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ON KINDLE FOR AN AMAZING PRICE OF ONLY 99p SO GET IN QUICK! ( price at time of review )

Kindle

THE PAPERBACK RELEASE DATE IS 28th JULY BUT YOU CAN PRE_ORDER BELOW