Tuesday, August 24, 2010

ARC Tour & Review: Change of Heart by Shari Maurer

In a world where the most stressful thing seems to be winning a soccer game or what to wear in the morning, you take some really basic things for granted. 

Like the love of your parents.

Or hanging with your friends.

Or the beating of your heart.

When you’re 16 years old, it never occurs to you that you might die. Emmi Miller’s got a fabulous life. She has tons of friends, does great in school and is an all-star soccer player who played in Europe last summer. It even looks like Sam Hunter, a totally cute baseball player, might be interested in her. And then she gets a virus. No biggy, right? Until the virus goes to her heart and weakens it so much that, without a transplant, Emmi will die.

Will Emmi get a heart in time? Is Sam too good to be true? What about her new friend Abe, who has also had a transplant and guides her through these scary times — is he just being supportive or is there more going on between them? And will Emmi realize it before it’s too late?

Shari Maurer really knows how to draw the most dramatic feelings out of her readers.  I was a mess while reading this book and was just so sad, I left feeling the same way.  The main character Emmi really got to me (so did just about everything else) and I connected with her right away.  I was instantly protective of her and each time she hit another obstacle I felt like it was a personal attack or something.  I was way too invested in this story at times, like I said, this book had me super emotional.

Readers will see Emmi's life turned upside down with her new heart condition and it's a terrible thing to even think about.  She was dealing with so much and I felt like for a lot of it she was on her own.  Maurer gives us a great character addition in Abe and I fell in love.  He was able to understand Emmi when not many others could and he's hard to resist.  Maurer also introduces us to Sam and Becca and honestly I'll let you make your own decisions about them.  Apparently my dance card was all filled up because Emmi and Abe were all I cared about in this one.

Now as much as I enjoyed Maurer's writing, her ending did not sit well with me.  I can understand why she wrote it the way she wrote it, but come on!  I was not happy, but that's the way it goes sometimes I guess.  All in all I am really glad I got the chance to pick this one up and I can't wait to read more of Maurer's work.  I've got my tissues on hand and I'm ready for more.

I gave Change of Heart 3 shamrocks!!!


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