Boundaries (Scope of Practice Book 1) by Jessica Aiken-Hall – Review by Jennifer Gordon

Boundaries by Jessica Aiken-Hall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this first book in Aiken-Hall’s new series, ‘Scope of Practice’. Valerie Williamson works at Lawrenceville Regional Hospital and is known as the ‘Anti-social Social Worker’ by her colleagues. Having experienced a traumatic event sixteen years ago Valerie has closed herself off from everyone, except for Gabriel, her cat. Valerie’s job as a deceased patient coordinator makes her more comfortable with the dead than the living. However when she is asked to start up a trauma support group, she wonders how she can comfort people with trauma, when she can’t even talk about her own past. When the death of a nineteen year old, Carmen Davidson plays on Valerie’s mind she lets the detective, Tim that she’s been pushing away get closer to her as they try to get to the bottom of Carmen’s death. Valerie is concerned that her boundaries are blurring.
This novel has a fast paced storyline with plenty of suspense, mystery, action, and great characters. Valerie is a very realistic character who you can relate to and I liked how her relationship with Tim developed during the story. Although the book does deal with issues surrounding mental health, trauma and grief it is dealt with honestly and sensitively. The narrative also has plenty of humour along with the drama. I was hooked from page one and found myself completely immersed in the story. I look forward to future books in this series.

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