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A Taste of his own Medicine

Linda Fawke

3.47 · Rating details · 17 ratings · 14 reviews

How long can the desire for revenge last?

Kate Shaw, a successful pharmacist, goes to a thirty-year reunion at her old university and uses the weekend to settle some old scores. Her main target is her ex-lover, Jonathan. She decides to scar him for life as he scarred her. Her bizarre plan works but he shocks her with his strange, unwanted reaction.

What is the unexpected ...more

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Kindle Edition, 254 pages

Published November 28th 2016

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· 17 ratings · 14 reviews

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Dec 02, 2020 Dash fan rated it really liked it

Shelves: blog-tour, dark-humour, favorites, mystery, profile, publisher-review, romantic-suspense, series, womens-fiction

4☆ Dark, Twisty and Compelling with a good dash of Dark Humour.

If you had the chance to go to your university reunion would you go?
I know I definitely wouldn't!

Well that's exactly what Kate’s planning to do.

It's been 30 years since Kate was at uni studying Pharmaceutical.
After much deliberation and some gentle persuasion from her husband Neil and good friend Bella, she decides to attend her reunion. After all she runs a very successful chain, has a handsome hubby and has a good few scores to ...more

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Nov 25, 2020 Elaine rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020, adult, alternative-story, contemporary, family-drama, funny, mystery, puzzles, series, suspense

Wow - I never realised the intrigue and shenanigans in the world of pharmacists! This is a story in which Kate Shaw is convinced by her husband to attend the thirty year reunion of the pharmacists who all graduated with her. When her friend and fellow graduate, Becky, agrees to go, too, Kate decides to go with plans to get her revenge on some of them who she believes blighted her university life . . . . including Jonathan, her ex-lover, and a few others!!

Get ready for memories, apologies, plots, ...more

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Nov 06, 2020 Felicity Terry rated it liked it

Proof that the female of the species is more deadly than the male? I don't so much know about that but A Taste Of His Own Medicine certainly lends some weight to the quote Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned/Nor Hell a fury like a woman scorned.

A what; a romance albeit one with a dark twist? A thriller; a story of long awaited revenge? The story of Kate, a woman with a long memory and a score to settle, A Taste Of His Own Medicine is both.

Set at an interesting time educationally; unive ...more

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Mar 26, 2017 E.L. Lindley rated it liked it

A Taste of his own Medicine by Linda Fawke is a romance with a decidedly dark twist. The plot sees us crisscross from the 1970s to the present day and Fawke does a good job of drawing us in with her intriguing tale of revenge.

This is a novel with a lot to recommend, in particular Fawke’s attention to detail and the way she creates a vivid picture of university life in the early 70s. The main character Kate Shaw is a pharmacist and former member of the “class of 75” and Fawke cleverly constructs A Taste of his own Medicine by Linda Fawke is a romance with a decidedly dark twist. The plot sees us crisscross from the 1970s to the present day and Fawke does a good job of drawing us in with her intriguing tale of revenge.

This is a novel with a lot to recommend, in particular Fawke’s attention to detail and the way she creates a vivid picture of university life in the early 70s. The main character Kate Shaw is a pharmacist and former member of the “class of 75” and Fawke cleverly constructs her story around Kate’s experience at university and the 30 year anniversary reunion of her class. Fawke effectively highlights how universities were changing and becoming more inclusive and accessible to people from lower socio-economic classes and all of the tensions that came with that.

Fawke also uses her eye for detail to create characters that we all recognise such as the tight-fisted scrounger, lecherous womaniser and pompous, self-aggrandizing oaf. My main stumbling block with the novel, however, is that the negative characters are relentless and there are no positive characters to offset them.

There’s no doubting that Fawke is a talented writer and she writes assuredly with total control over her story which is told almost exclusively in 3rd person narrative. There are a couple of paragraphs where Fawke switches to 1st person and although I understand her reasoning for this, for me it jarred with the rest of the story.

Kate Shaw who drives the story is a 50 something successful workaholic with a string of pharmacies and enough money to afford an affluent lifestyle. This is in contrast to her humble beginnings when she was the first member of her family to go to university and her unworldliness is reflected in the fact that she’s shocked when she sees a gay couple and isn’t used to eating out or big city life. The diversity of university is a shock to Kate but instead of immersing herself into it she focuses totally on work. Essentially Kate is not a likeable character, dismissing other students as “a waste of space” and anything less than a First as failure.

We warm to Kate slightly when she begins a student romance with her polar opposite, the unreliable, easy going, part-time male model, Jonathan Carson. However, when the romance invariably doesn’t last, Kate seems to become totally unhinged. To such an extent that 30 years later, despite having been married for over 20 years, she is still harbouring a toxic grudge which goes on to encompass everyone else she feels did her wrong at university.

As I mentioned earlier, the main problem I had with the novel was the overwhelming set of unpleasantly selfish characters. There is no moral compass to give the self-destructive revenge plot any context. There are a couple of characters who initially seem to be positive and honest but by the end even they become embroiled in selfish, disloyal behaviour.

What for me might have made the characters easier to relate to would have been the use of 1st person and maybe multiple viewpoints. This might have helped give some humanity to the characters, particular Kate, who I think the reader really needs to connect with in some way.

My favourite parts of the novel are the sections at the reunion which reflect all the humour and farce that tend to go hand in hand with these kinds of functions. There are lots of comic moments in Fawke’s description of the goings on and this did serve to detract from the unpleasantness of Kate’s behaviour.

All in all, I think if you like a dark romance and enjoy stories of revenge, scheming and intrigue then you will get a lot out of A Taste of his own Medicine. I suspect that I just didn’t connect with it in the way that other readers might. And, as always with reviews, it’s merely a personal response and I look forward to reading what other readers make of this well written tale of settling scores. ...more

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Nov 29, 2020 Amanda rated it really liked it

I read the synopsis for ‘A Taste Of His Own Medicine’ and it certainly sounded appealing. Plus Linda Fawke is a new author for me and I love discovering new authors. So without further ado, I grabbed a cup of tea, grabbed my Kindle and settled down for what I hoped would be a fab read. Well ‘A Taste Of His Own Medicine’ was an interesting and fab read, which I thoroughly enjoyed but more about that in a bit.
It didn’t take me long at all to get into this story. In fact by the time I got to the en I read the synopsis for ‘A Taste Of His Own Medicine’ and it certainly sounded appealing. Plus Linda Fawke is a new author for me and I love discovering new authors. So without further ado, I grabbed a cup of tea, grabbed my Kindle and settled down for what I hoped would be a fab read. Well ‘A Taste Of His Own Medicine’ was an interesting and fab read, which I thoroughly enjoyed but more about that in a bit.
It didn’t take me long at all to get into this story. In fact by the time I got to the end of the first few pages, I knew that I was going to be in for a treat with this book. I picked the book up on a dark and miserable day and I became so wrapped up in the story that I forgot all about the weather outside. This was one of those books that stayed on my mind even when I didn’t have hold of it in my hand. If I wasn’t reading the book, I was thinking about the book. If I had to put the book down for any reason then I would immediately look forward to being able to pick the book up again. The pages seemed to turn at a fair old rate as I worked my way through the book. I found the characters to be interesting and I had to find out what happened to them. All too quickly, I reached the end of the story.
‘A Taste Of His Own Medicine’ is well written. The author certainly knows how to grab your attention and draw you into what proves to be a very entertaining read. I loved the way in which the author has combined the drama with the humour. This story hit the ground running and maintained a fairly fast pace throughout. I loved the way in which which the author introduced twists and turns into the story and some of the twists I didn’t see coming. I felt as though I was part of the story myself and this was due in part to Linda’s very vivid and realistic storytelling.
In short, I really enjoyed reading ‘A Taste Of His Own Medicine’ and I would recommend it to other readers. I will certainly be reading more from this author in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.
...more

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Nov 25, 2020 Heidi Lynn’s BookReviews rated it it was amazing

First, I want to thank Linda Fawke and Rachel’s Random Resources for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review.

OH WOW!! Linda Fawke goes where rarely any other author goes on more than one occasion in A Taste of his own Medicine. I was totally and blown away by this book and could not put it down until the end.

Fiona Routlege created such a cute and such an appropriate cover design for Linda’s book. It not only went along with the theme of the title but the book as well.

Linda d ...more

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Nov 28, 2020 Sharon rated it really liked it

Ahhh! College memories. Filled with hope, love, regret, and anger. This is Kate’s unhappy and shocking story of revenge on those who betrayed her, who hurt her, and who left her.

Kate is an analytical, single-minded workaholic who needs excitement and a purpose in life. So when her college friend Becky talks her into attending her thirtieth college reunion, Kate makes plans to get revenge on the people she once trusted and who made her university life a nightmare. Will she feel relieved, or will ...more

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Dec 22, 2020 Jessica Belmont rated it really liked it

Review:
A Taste of His Own Medicine by Linda Fawke is a good read! I really enjoyed the plot. Kate Shaw attends her thirty year reunion, and decides to get revenge! I think the characters were awesome. Each was so unique, it really helped me dive into this story head first.
The twists are great. I did not see the ending coming, and I loved the unexpectedness of it! The pacing was great, and this was an easy read, so I didn’t set it down until I was finished.
Enjoyable! Check it out.
Rating:
4/5☆
*I re ...more

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Mar 21, 2017 Babus Ahmed rated it really liked it

A tantalising thriller about the reunion of a group of pharmacology graduates who meet after thirty years, but Kate, a flying student who was once top of the class has revenge in mind for those who wronged her years ago. However, will revenge go to plan and will the secrets from student day emerge once again?

This book became more gripping as I read and ended on quite a cliff-hanger, what I really wasn't expecting was how dark the characters are and how malevolent parts of this story was to read ...more

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Oct 11, 2020 Karen Andrew rated it liked it

This was dark and funny in parts.
I much preferred the 1970s element of the story as opposed to the present day and loved the diary style writing.
The storyline itself is clever and interesting to read.
⭐⭐⭐

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Feb 24, 2019 Amyy rated it did not like it

Another romance novel, the last chapter was unnecessary and clearly wanting us to buy the second book to find out about Neil and Becky.

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Nov 13, 2020 Tiziana Langone rated it liked it

When a reunion is the perfect opportunity for some payback.

Pharmacist Kate Shaw is not eager to go to the thirty – year reunion of her old university. She hasn’t been in touch with many people, and initially she goes to please her friend Becky. But slowly she realizes that the reunion is the perfect opportunity to get some revenge, especially when she learns that her ex – boyfriend Jonathan is going too.
But the more people she encounters, the longer her list of vengeance becomes. Will Kate get When a reunion is the perfect opportunity for some payback.

Pharmacist Kate Shaw is not eager to go to the thirty – year reunion of her old university. She hasn’t been in touch with many people, and initially she goes to please her friend Becky. But slowly she realizes that the reunion is the perfect opportunity to get some revenge, especially when she learns that her ex – boyfriend Jonathan is going too.
But the more people she encounters, the longer her list of vengeance becomes. Will Kate get her final payback? Or will the tables turn?

Initially I was intrigued by this story. I understood why Kate wasn’t eager to go to the reunion. I wouldn’t like it myself to go to a reunion with people you haven’t been in touch for a long period. And honestly, I couldn’t care less about those people. But that’s just me…

When Kate starts to plot against Jonathan, I was curious to know what went wrong between them. And when the past was revealed, I understood her motives. She has been betrayed in a terrible way, so I was on her side when revenge was being planned. 
When she meets people at the reunion, she plots more revenge. Some of those plans I could agree with, as they did do Kate indeed wrong, but some of them I found far stretched. And some payback was rather innocent, just causing an uneasy feeling with the victims. And they made me even smile when it all came to a perfect execution.  Yet there were a few that in my opinion were over the top. Being a pharmacist means that you have knowledge of medicine, but using that knowledge in your revenge plans seems just mean and evil to me.

I found this indeed a dark story, but also disturbing one. Realizing how people can hold a grudge and how far they would go for just having a sense of things made right again. Thanks to the flashbacks we get to see how people were in their younger years and how much they have changed, or not.
Despite Kate her plotting, in the end, it becomes clear that no matter what you plan, Karma can be a real b*tch and throw you one last curve ball.   ...more

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Claire (c.isfor.claire_reads) rated it liked it
Nov 29, 2020

Apr 07, 2017 Jenny Reeve rated it really liked it

Shelves: finished

Set around a 30 year University reunion.

This book is a good read overall with good plots. Kate Shaw is after revenge whilst she attends a 30-year reunion at her old University. There are a few old ‘Uni pals’ that need to be taught a lesson. The characters are very different from one another, which helps the story to unfold at a good pace. Some authors can drag a story out whilst introducing characters, but Linda does a very good job at keeping the saga steady.

Kate’s best friend Becky unwitting ...more

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Apr 14, 2017 Georgia Rose rated it liked it

I received a copy of A Taste of his own Medicine from the author as part of Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team and in exchange for an honest review.

I chose to read this book because I liked the premise of it. Kate has been invited to a thirty-year reunion of all those with whom she had graduated her pharmacy course. The mere thought of this fills me with horror. I can’t remember names to put with faces and the idea of catching up, reminiscing and the inevitable retelling of stories that would only s ...more

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