If a woman is old enough to push a ten-pound child through her birth canal, she can hear words like 'penis' and 'cervix'. And even if you were, there's no need for either of us to be missish about the matter. And in all that dark ignorance, we're sometimes granted a rare moment of illumination, of understanding. The body itself is scarcely understood we can only examine the secrets of the dead. “If I've learned anything, it's that we know next to nothing. I'm finding it difficult not to just quote the whole novella, but here's a few things Jonas has to say: I'm pretty passionate about truth telling myself, especially when it accompanies things like women's reproductive rights, so you can imagine that I have a substantial crush on Jonas. There were so many things I connected to on a personal level about this book, but I'd have to say the biggest draw is Jonas, a doctor who believes that the truth will set you free. Lydia's determination to see the best in everything, combined with Jonas' determination to help people as much as he can, make the book uplifting as well as touching. While that premise may sound grim, and the book is certainly intense, Lydia and Jonas engage in much-needed banter throughout. Jonas's attempts to court Lydia have to involve helping her come to terms with her past so that she can see Jonas as something other than a specter of old shame. She is Lydia Charingford (“the eleventh prettiest woman in Leicester”), and she is determined to set all memory of her past behind her.

He stays silent during a consultation between the older doctor and the family of a young, unwed pregnant girl despite his concerns that the doctor gives not only insulting and moralizing advice but advice that is also actively dangerous.įive years later Jonas meets the girl again. The story starts in 1857 with a young doctor, Jonas Grantham, who is supposed to silently shadow an older doctor. Kiss takes place partly during and partly after the events of the full-length book, The Duchess War (although I don't think you have to have read Duchess to follow Kiss). I thought this book was just amazing and my only real criticism is that it is too short. I never would have thought I'd find this line sexy, but I most certainly do… “Besides, the hymen is just a membrano-carneous structure situated at the entrance of the vagina”.

It has a flawed but interesting heroine, it has a hero who is scientific, compassionate, and basically amazing, and it takes its characters through a powerful emotional journey with lots of angst but also lots of humor.

A Kiss for Midwinter is my new favorite novella.

A Kiss for Midwinter by Courtney Milan