What do readers think of The Doctor and the Diva by Adrienne McDonnell? Write your own review.

This is a story about a love triangle, set in the early 1900s in Boston, Trinidad, and Italy.

Overall, I found The Doctor & the Diva to be a disappointing read. While the book started on a strong note and kept me engaged at first, less than a quarter of the way into the story the plot petered out. As the book went on (and on), I never developed a connection to any of the main characters -- Erika, her husband Peter, or her lover Dr. Ravell. Additionally, I found a lot of the story and the situations of the characters to be unbelievable. And the ending was a bit too much like a fairy tale to be at all believed.

I found it very hard to really care about the characters or what happened to them. The story lacked any believable passion - whether it was the relationship between Ravell & Erika or Erika & Peter or Erika's rather contrived desire for a child -I don't think Ms. McDonnell developed any of the storylines enough initially. While I think the author did a good job capturing the atmosphere and cultural norms of the early 20th century - her writing was so dry that it made the story and characters feel pretty "flat." I was disappointed as I generally love historical fiction.

I like historical novels and thought the premise of this one sounded good. I didn't enjoy reading it as much. I never became interested in the characters and didn't really care what happened to them. I thought that the author's writing style was stiff, just didn't appeal to me. Other people may enjoy it. There is a lot of material to discuss for book groups about women's roles in the early 19th century and fertility techniques.

I found The Doctor and the Diva to be a disappointing read, although it had moments of potential. Both the doctor and the diva led interesting lives, yet their choices were regularly selfish and predictable. In the end, I found the main characters to be unlikable, and therefore, I didn't much care about what happened to them.