ARC Review: Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

Publisher: Harlequin TEEN
Publication Date: January 28, 2014
Rating: 4 Stars
Source: eARC from Edelweiss

Goodreads / Amazon

Summary

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?

“I see what grief does, how it strips you bare, shows you all the things you don't want to know. That loss doesn't end, that there isn't a moment where you are done, when you can neatly put it away and move on.” 

I didn't even know it was possible: to keep the baby alive when the mother had died.

In HEARTBEAT, we meet Emma, a girl with a stepfather who never asked what she thought and a dead mother being kept alive for his baby Emma wants to hate Dan for ignoring when Emma believed her mother never wanted: another child. Her mother is over 40, so carrying a baby isn't exactly a walk in the park and, in the end, it kills her.

Emma’s falling into a pit of hopelessness and anger until she meets Caleb. Someone who understands. In HEARTBEAT the romance was subtle. It didn't play a major role in the story was it was important nonetheless. The main thing that was focused on was Emma’s despair over her mother and her hate for Dan. The love was secondary and amazing. 

Both Emma and Caleb are shattered by events in their life that ripped them apart; for Caleb it was the death of his younger sister. They’re tortured and beautiful and so very broken. Both of them need and

want the other. I love that their relationship wasn't dramatic and complex- it simply was. Honesty, it was beyond amazing; their love was cotton candy and hugs and talking on rooftops. Their love was literally lifesaving. It was something to be savored. 

I haven’t read this serious of a book in a while and it put it simply, it blew me away. The writing style and flow of words left me in awe. I felt what Emma was feeling and my heart wept for her…so did my eyes a few times. Yes, I cried. 

Emma’s voice in HEARTBEAT was perfect. As a teenager I found her totally relatable and I think I would have reacted very similarly if I were thrown in that situation. 

In the end I was surprised by how much I loved the book and y’all have got to read it. 

Four Stars.

Happy Reading

Jackie