C. C. Hunter’s emotional story about a girl whose new heart may help her to catch a killer, now in trade paperback. A new heart saved her life–but will it help her find out what really happened to its donor? From the New York Times bestselling author of the Shadow Falls series comes C. C. Hunter’s This Heart of Mine a haunting, poignant tale about living and dying, surviving grief, guilt, and … about living and dying, surviving grief, guilt, and heartache, while discovering love and hope in the midst of sadness.
Seventeen-year-old Leah MacKenzie is heartless. An artificial heart in a backpack is keeping her alive. However, this route only offers her a few years. And with her rare blood type, a transplant isn’t likely. Living like you are dying isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. But when a heart becomes available, she’s given a second chance at life. Except Leah discovers who the donor was — a boy from her school — and they’re saying he killed himself. Plagued with dreams since the transplant, she realizes she may hold the clues to what really happened.
Matt refuses to believe his twin killed himself. When Leah seeks him out, he learns they are both having similar dreams and he’s certain it means something. While unraveling the secrets of his brother’s final moments, Leah and Matt find each other, and a love they are terrified to lose. But life and even new hearts don’t come with guarantees. Who knew living, took more courage than dying?
more
Love. Loss. A very beautiful tale of one girl who is trying to move on after a second chance at life. Leah and Matt are both very relatable and loveable characters who are really true to themselves. Leah has a heart disease that leaves her living off of an artificial heart. While living her days away, she knows it is unlikely she will ever have a real heart. Then, that day arrives.
Matt lost his father and now he is faced with the death of his twin brother, who everyone is telling him killed himself. Matt knows that this is not true, but how to prove it? Leah finds out her heart is Matt’s brothers and the two start to share similar dreams that lead them closer to each other and closer to the truth.
I really loved this story. I’ve read C.C. Hunter’s other books and while I loved those too, this book is on a whole new level. The romance between Leah and Matt is sweet and the mystery of Matt’s brother is compelling to keep you reading all night. I highly recommend this book. I think it’s worth every bit of your time.
I voluntarily received and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.
Final Rating: 5 Stars
This Heart of Mine by C.C. Hunter did a number on this heart of mine. What an emotionally driven book full of loss, pain, family turmoil and love.
Leah MacKenzie is a seventeen year old girl whose heart beats from a battery operated backpack. On a waiting list for a donor heart, she knows her chances are slim, as she has a rare blood type. Aware her time is likely limited, she homeschools and dreams up bucket list items that she may or may not accomplish.
When Leah gets the call that a heart is available for her, she is shocked. With little time to think, she is rushed to the hospital and the transplant takes place. Once she is back home, she realizes she may have an idea of who the heart belonged to, and it’s a lot closer to home than she is comfortable with.
A boy from her school died, and they label it suicide, but Leah’s dreams make her think there may be more to his death than people think. She thinks he may be sending her information she may be able to use to prove he didn’t kill himself. Will Leah be able to adjust to life with her new heart, return to school and be able to keep the secret of her heart donor while trying to unravel the truth?
This book had it all. Young adult romance intertwined with mystery, some suspense, high emotions and high school drama. I loved the many speeds of this story and didn’t want it to end. Strangely enough, I thought it was nearing the end, and then it kept going. It delivered so much more than I anticipated and left me super satisfied with the conclusion. I felt like it was tied up perfectly with a pretty bow on top. What a wonderful read!
5 stars for this heartfelt novel by C.C. Hunter.
I love this book. It will play on all your different emotions.
C.C. Hunter’s stand alone book, THIS HEART OF MINE, is about Leah, a normal teenager–except she needs a heart transplant. When she gets it, her life takes an unexpected turn. The identical twin of her donor also started experiencing some of the same things Leah does. Can they find out what happened to her donor? This book kept me up turning the pages.
C.C. Hunter created two opposite of the spectrum main characters in Leah and Matt. While using the cliché antics of shy unbeknownst pretty girl and popular jock a fundamentally sound storyline was born.
It was heart wrenching to watch as it unfolded from Leah’s heart complications to the death of Eric (Matt’s identical twin brother) your heart beings to split into equal parts. The relationship that blooms between the two with the help of the remaining cast was quick to form but slow to get there. It was a lot of back a forth between the pair that, while it made for an interesting read just seem to hold up the remaining of the plot of Eric death. Murder or suicide?
Which frankly could have easily been solved at the halfway point of reading. But even with that slight flaw ( what I think is a flaw in a mystery), I still found myself reading and wanting to see the outcome of Leah and Matt. And I must say a few tears were shed at the end. Not ugly cry tears but the type of tears you could easily pass off as something in your eye type of tears.
The building of the relationship did seem a little over done to me, it seemed to drag out more than necessary, but even with that parts of it felt as though it jump abruptly fast. It almost felt as though something was missing and a whole lot of nothing was added in its place. You do however get the sense of a first love butterflies fluttering around when reading. Because well there are parts that are just adorable.
If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would!
I couldn’t help but cry and sniff my pillows while reading this wonderful emotional book by CC Hunter. The complications of the heart, the search for an organ donor, struggles of a widowed mom, the never-ending hope of scared parents, the depression that threatens one’s hope, a look at the second and third chance at life, the love of a twin and the sheer determination of a brother to prove someone’s death isn’t what everyone else believes.
Leah MacKenzie was heartless, literally. She caught a virus that ruined her heart when she was younger, so she had to get another heart that was latched on to her ribs and stayed on her backpack. For about a year, that’s how she lived, survived. But she never dreamed of the future, much less thought about what would happen to her in the next few months. She knew in herself that she was dying and there was no point of hoping for more. If only there was a heart with a rare blood-type lying somewhere that could replace hers.
One of the famous Kenner twins tutored Leah one day, but she couldn’t really tell if it was Matt or Eric. Before she knew it, she lip-locked with him and found herself waiting for his promised phone call. Which never came. Would she ever find out who she kissed before her heart collapsed?
Matt and Eric Kenner suffered the loss of their father who was killed in service. Their mom became distraught and relied on pills to numb her pain. Eric mostly spent his time with his on-and-off girlfriend with issues, Cassie Chambers, until one day, everyone thought he killed himself. And Matt was stubbornly intent on proving otherwise.
This had been one heck of a roller-coaster ride! I know I’ve been saying that description over and over again in my past reviews, but I can’t think of a much better way to describe this emotionally charged story. The author herself stated that this story was very close to her heart, especially after what she and her husband had gone through, with all the transplants and all.
Leah and Matt were polar opposites. Leah was hopeless and encumbered, while Matt was full of hope and drive and grit. No matter how awkward their initial situation may have been, in the end, it’s their common love for family that helped them crawl out of their miseries. I can’t help but love the other characters as well. Leah’s parents, although supportive, were still full of understandable apprehension towards their daughter’s welfare. Matt’s only living relative, her mom, was admirable for her slow, measured and cautious steps to getting better. Dr. Hughes, bless her, was one iron lady with a heart of gold.
The mystery behind Eric’s death was a little predictable, in my opinion. I had guessed about the main suspect right after I read the name on the book. So it didn’t surprise me when it was revealed in the end. But the drama that Matt and Leah went through this whole ordeal pulled at my heartstrings. This book is so touching and inspiring and teaches us to hope and love and conquer. This book is amazing!
This Heart of Mine is one of those YA books that I believe will resonate with teens and adults alike. This book is filled with angst and emotion as Leah and Matt struggle with not only the normal challenges of being a teenager and going to high school, but with more difficult issues most of us can’t imagine dealing with as adults. What would you do if everyone is telling you your twin committed suicide, even the evidence, but you were determined to prove it was murder? How would you learn to live a life you had already accepted you wouldn’t get the chance to? Leah and Matt not only supported each other during these challenges, but fell in love right in the middle of them.
I could tell C.C. Hunter put her heart and soul into this book because the emotions the characters felt rolled off the pages and had me feeling every ounce of hurt, love, and anger they felt. I could go on and on all day about how much I loved this book, but I think you should just one-click it and share in the amazingness with me!
I voluntarily received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I, the crazy one by the covers, could not resist this cute one and everything got worse after I saw the synopsis, because I read very few books with some protagonist being transplanted and better yet having a mysterious death behind it. Okay ! I had to read this book …
The book tells the story of strength and courage of Leah, a girl who because of a virus needs to use an artificial heart to stay alive and yet not knowing until when. When she gets a chance to get close to her crush Matt, she does not waste time (after all, there is not much, right?) and tries to be a different girl from the quiet and sick Leah.
Matt in counterpart even liking Leah is in a difficult time of his life having lost people he loves, failing to help his mother overcome the losses and still being haunted by his brother’s alleged suicide. When Leah returns to appear in his life with a new heart and willing to help him elucidate Eric’s death, Matt realizes that Leah is much more than a sweet and beautiful girl and that the connection between them is much stronger than they imagined before.
After I got into the rhythm of the plot then I started getting very involved with the characters, their pains and insecurities, it was fascinating to see how a person receiving an organ from another feels. Not only emotionally but physically. The writer was very thorough with everything that happened to Leah and it drew me even more into the book.
I loved much the way how little by little Matt and Leah were indulging in the feelings they were feeling for each other and how during this process they were dealing with the discoveries about the death of Eric. For me it was really surprising how it all happened, the only thing I found very flawed was that the writer gave a great emphasis to this event throughout the book and at the crucial moment of everything, she went over several details and left the explanation undefined and full of gaps returning to emphasize Leah’s crisis about being loved and her sick heart. What was really a shame as I was willing to give 6 stars, but as the book is still going to be released in February and I read in december, there was still time to correct this detail and give a rounder resolution to Eric’s death, explaining from the beginning how everything happened.
Other than that, the ending was beautiful, Matt confirms to be the prince charming that stole my heart throughout the plot and Leah gives us an exciting moment, making me reread the final chapters at least three times .
What I found most interesting was also discovering that the writer usually writes fantasy and this was a book that came from a real experience that she had. So very beautiful her final letter.
4/5 stars
A truly phenomenal novel that makes you stop and think about your own life and the decisions you make each and every day. it makes for a page turner that you can’t put down.
Leah is in high school, and has an artificial heart. She is waiting for a donor, which means “someone must die for her to have a chance at life.”
When Leah is called and told there is a new heart awaiting her, she does not know until a while later whose heart is was. Within a few days she finds out that she has received the heart of another student who died . A person who has a twin brother that Leah is falling in love with.
So much is involved in this book, you will want to keep reading to find out what happened to the donor and who is really involved in the mystery and how can it be solved if the case is closed?
Leah begins to put her life back and in the process discover’s a new and improved Leah who states: “I know not every choice I make is going to pan out. But I won’t know until I try. And not trying isn’t living”.
A beautiful story.
O…M…G… the feels! My heart is literally aching right now, in a good way! This book is full of so much emotion. I found it near impossible to put down once I started, unfortunately life does get in the way, otherwise it probably would have been a one sitting read for me.
It’s hard to imagine yourself in the position of any one in this book, there is so much grief, loss, and fear, but also so much love, acceptance, learning and moving on. And I am impressed with the underlying PSA the author has woven into the tale without being too preachy on the subject.
The love story within the book was so touching and honest and real. I loved getting to see both sides of things with the dual point of view telling. Seeing them slowly falling in love was sweet and reminiscent of that first love feeling I’m sure all of us remember.
POSSIBLE SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE BLURB…
I was already an organ donor and have always felt very passionate about that, but if I weren’t this book would have convinced me. I don’t know what it would be like to know that your loved one had organs going to someone else after they passed away, I don’t even know what it would feel like to be on the receiving end, but it just feels like the right thing to do.
*I voluntarily reviewed an ARC copy of this book that I won via an online contest.*
This book was absolutely amazing. I couldn’t put it down. I was crying and laughing along with the characters. C.C. Hunter has written another fantastic story with her unique charm.
I don’t know why I took so long to write up my full review. Maybe I was emotionally hung over or something, but here it is! So, this book had me in tears several times, but also made my heart melt and filled it with hope. It was riveting, sweet, exciting, and so incredibly touching.
This Heart of Mine was a heartfelt and affecting read that had all the wonderful and aching FEELS I love about contemporary books. Some parts broke my heart into pieces, others made me grip the edge of my seat, and then there were those incredibly endearing and cute moments that made me smile. While there were a few slow moments in the beginning, I was engrossed the entire time and did not want to stop reading. The writing was fantastic, the pacing was great, the characters were realistic and likable, and I loved the message of the story.
The romance was adorable and I thought Leah and Matt were so cute together. Their relationship was well-developed and their chemistry was swoony. I also liked how honest and vulnerable they were around each other. It made their connection that much more interesting and real for me. While it was kind of odd since this was a contemporary, I found the supernatural aspect of the story quite intriguing. The idea that Leah and Matt were sharing similar dreams was fun for me to read. It left me wondering and questioning the unknown and what is or is not possible. I also enjoyed the mystery part of the story and seeing how everything played out even though I kind of had a hunch and eventually figured it out.
I adored the characters a lot and thought they were relatable. Leah was strong, funny, determined and inspiring. She never wanted to be a burden and tried to spare her loved ones from suffering or being in pain. She’s a little stubborn sometimes, but she’s also very protective and considerate. Matt didn’t always make the best decisions, but he had a heart of gold. He’s honest, caring, kind, loyal, and would do anything for his family. Brandy was an awesome best friend – supportive, encouraging, and dependable.
This Heart of Mine by C.C. Hunter is a painfully beautiful story about loss, family, first love, forgiveness, and so much more. It’s compelling, emotionally draining, and absolutely heartwarming. I really enjoyed this story and would definitely recommend it!
I received an electronic advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher, Wednesday Books, via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.