Heartbeat
By
Elizabeth Scott
Published
by Harlequin TEEN, 2014
304
pages (hardcover)
Source:
NetGalley
Life.
Death. And...Love?
Emma
would give anything to talk to her mother one last time. Tell her about her
slipping grades, her anger with her stepfather, and the boy with the bad
reputation who might be the only one Emma can be herself with.
But
Emma can't tell her mother anything. Because her mother is brain-dead and being
kept alive by machines for the baby growing inside her.
Meeting
bad-boy Caleb Harrison wouldn't have interested Old Emma. But New Emma-the one
who exists in a fog of grief, who no longer cares about school, whose only
social outlet is her best friend Olivia-New Emma is startled by the connection
she and Caleb forge. Feeling her own heart beat again wakes Emma from the grief
that has grayed her existence. Is there hope for life after death-and maybe, for
love? (from NetGalley.com)
Maybe it is the fact that I am
pregnant. Maybe it is the fact that I recently attended the wake of a
neighbor/father of a childhood friend who died in a terrible accident at their
home. Maybe it is the fact a few former students have died or been injured
recently. Or maybe it is the fact that Elizabeth Scott is a fabulous author. In
any case, Heartbeat was a gripping
tale that reached into the depths of Emma’s sorrow without making her seem too
whiny or angry.
The one thing in this book that
frustrated me (and frustrates me about a lot
of YA books) was the lack of adult supervision/competent adults. Seriously.
Not all adults (including teachers) are clueless and there are plenty of adults
who would find a way to connect and work with some of these teens that are
having such serious issues and family problems. Arg!
While Caleb and Emma were adorable,
I think Olivia was my favorite character. She was quirky and a ridiculously
loyal and loving BFF. Olivia grounded the book in a way that made it believable
and not all doom-and-gloom.
So, in January, definitely pick this
book up. Really.
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