Review: This Heart of Mine by C.C. Hunter

THIS HEART OF MINE

Author: C.C. Hunter

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Genre: YA

Pages: 384

Release date: 27^th February 2018

Goodreads

Synopsis: A new heart saved her life—but will it help her find out what really happened to its donor?

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?

This Heart of Mine is a haunting, poignant tale about living and dying, surviving grief, guilt, and heartache, while discovering love and hope in the midst of sadness.

Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I had just finished the Mortician’s Daughter by C.C. Hunter when I saw This Heart of Mine pop up on Netgalley and despite initially not thinking that I would enjoy it as much as I have her Shadow Falls series and also the new One Foot in the Grave series, I found this heart-warming story truly wonderful.

Our main character is Seventeen-year-old Leah MacKenzie who is being kept alive by an artificial heart after contracting a virus; she is confined to her home until a donor heart is received. Matt is in need of extra credits at school so he agrees to tutor Leah, their connection is instant but she is a little clueless about who he is as he is an identical twin to Eric.

When tragedy strikes, Leah receives the long awaited call to receive a new heart but guilt hits as she knows someone died for her to live and that person is Matt’s brother Eric. Eric was an organ donor so his brave decision provided her with life.

Eric apparently commit suicide, something Matt vehemently denies; after the transplant both he and Leah are again bought together through visions / dreams they both have of what could have possibly happened so begin to investigate Eric’s relationships and the events which led up to his death.

Leah was such a wonderful character, warm, caring and strong but she had a fear of things going wrong and never looked too far into the future; her relationship with her parents is wonderful despite her mother’s overbearing behaviour but you could see the love that they had for each other. Matt was strong and determined; he had lost so much with the recent passing of both his father and his brother so I could never quite grasp his behaviour and whether he was living in the belief that his twin wouldn’t kill himself or if he was suffering from post-traumatic grief; it was hard to tell and I was eager to find out what had happened. All of the characters were written very well, I especially loved Leah’s heart doctor.

I really enjoyed the romance aspect; I did have my doubts initially, wondering if Matt was drawn to Leah because Eric was their connection through the donor heart but they truly complimented each other well; there were a few tough moments; especially for Leah but they both stood by one another; I just wish she could have been more forthcoming about what she had to endure daily.

C.C. Hunter’s writing is gripping and had me hooked right from the start; I can’t fault the characters or the wonderfully heart-warming and also mysterious storyline; I enjoyed it all. If you haven’t picked up a book by this fabulous author, you are truly missing out!

Thank you kindly to St Martin’s Press via Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review This Heart of Mine by C.C. Hunter.

About the author: C.C. Hunter grew up in Alabama, where she caught lightning bugs, ran barefoot, and regularly rescued potential princes, in the form of Alabama bullfrogs, from her brothers. Today, she's still fascinated with lightning bugs, mostly wears shoes, but has turned her focus to rescuing mammals. She now lives in Texas with her four rescued cats, one dog, and a prince of a husband, who for the record, is so not a frog. When she's not writing, she's reading, spending time with her family, or is shooting things-with a camera, not a gun.

C.C. Hunter is a pseudonym. Her real name is Christie Craig and she also writes humorous romantic suspense romance novels for Grand Central. www.christie-craig.com

C.C. would love to hear from you. Because of deadlines, it may take her a day or so to get back with you, but she will reply. cc@cchunterbooks.com