So this was not the book I thought I was picking up and I didn't look at the description before I downloaded this audiobook. I thought I was picking up this book. 
 Can you see how I might have screwed this up? If I told you I heard about The Midwife of Venice once 3 years ago would that help explain this screw up. And if I told you all I remembered about it was that there was an illegal aspect to this Midwife would that also explain why I apparently though The Anatomist's Assistant was about an illegal midwife? 
 So after I sorted out my extreme confusion on what book I thought I was reading I was initially excited about the premise of this book, while I don't normally reach for period pieces, I do love a good medical mystery. 
 This however was not that book. The story in this book was a hot mess in so many ways. The mystery aspect was actually pretty good but the relationships were such a mess. We've got some instalove and some really bad love triangles two things I really dislike. Also Lydia, the main lady, while starting the story is just a prop through the whole book for everyone else. It's annoying and was painful to read. This is a series and while I'm slightly curious about where this series goes, the relationships were such a mess in this book I just don't know if I can convince myself to pick up the next book when I have so many other books I'd rather be reading. 
 Has anyone read this series are this series? does it get better? is it worth picking up the other books?