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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A tender novel for teens and adults, March 31, 2010
This review is from: In a Heartbeat (Hardcover)
Olympic-caliber figure skater Eagan mis-times her jump and In a Heartbeat, her life is over. Homebound Amelia draws horses and uses a lift chair to move around her house, and In a Heartbeat, Amelia has a chance at life again. In a fit of rebellion - and In a Heartbeat - sixteen year-old Eagan checked the "organ donor" box on her brand new-license and the lives and hopes of two Midwestern families are changed forever. When fourteen-year-old Amelia starts becoming a snarky sassy teen, with characteristics of her donor's personality, she is driven to discover who her donor was.
This is a tender young adult story of dreams, hope and discovery. It was painful to read the tense relationship between sixteen year-old Eagan and her mother. Eagan's mother push-push-pushes Eagan to skate her best, as if skating's all that matters. Eagan's mother's loneliness and the desperate way she won't let her daughter settle for mediocrity remind me as a parent not to let my dreams for my kids interfere in their dreams. This book made me recognize the value (and blessing) of ordinary.
The book opens after Eagan has died, but not since "The Lovely Bones" has a dead character been such an active vital voice. I think this book should be required reading for all new teen drivers, as well.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A sweet novel with a definite readership, August 29, 2010
This review is from: In a Heartbeat (Hardcover)
A half an inch changed Eagan's life, but a half an inch saved Amelia's.
In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth tells us the interwoven stories of two girls whose lives change in a matter of microseconds. Told through alternating perspectives and time frames, we learn about the horrible heart condition that has impacted Amelia's life forever and about the passion for ice skating that ultimately takes Eagan's life.
Ellsworth's prose is lovely and fluid, and she offers us unique insights into the lives of two very different characters. Eagan's passion for ice skating is well-delivered, as is her rocky relationship with her mother. Postmortem, we see Eagan interact with her present self in the afterlife and her past life on Earth. The dual perspective helps push the plot forward, and I quite enjoyed the person that Eagan runs into while in the afterlife. I don't think it's ever made explicit who Miki is, but as a reader, I picked up on that quickly and found it a nice touch.
As for Amelia, her story is told entirely from the present perspective. I must admit to never feeling much connected to her, as I found she didn't seem to have many interests or passions in the manner that Eagan did. She'd been sick for a long time, but that didn't seem to me enough to make her a fully realized character. Near the end of the story, Amelia chooses to take a trip from Minneapolis to Milwaukee with a guy she met at the hospital, and for me, this entire sequence didn't make sense to who I thought Amelia was. A little further growth in her would have helped me feel more attached to her.
This is a book for fans of medical stories. You know who you are, and you know exactly who you can sell this title to if you're not a fan yourself. The pacing is well-done, though I did find the time shift a bit jarring the first time it happened in Eagan's story, but once that hurdle is jumped, it moves smoothly. This is one you can hand as easily to a 13-year-old as to a 18-year-old, though some older readers might find some of the situations unrealistic. There are few, if any, language or situational concerns.
One comment I need to make: has anyone else noticed a trend in YA lit to tell the end of the story in the first chapter? I can't seem to place titles this second, but it seems to me more and more stories are throwing out the ending from the beginning and then telling the story backwards. It irritates me as a reader, since it never allows me the chance to figure out what's going to happen. I knew from page 2 how this would progress. This stylistic choice feels like I'm being talked down to, like I might not pick up the thrust of the story if it weren't told to me from the beginning.
On the whole, In a Heartbeat is a good book, and it will have appeal. For me, though, I never quite engaged enough nor did I find myself feeling satisfied at the end.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, March 21, 2010
This review is from: In a Heartbeat (Hardcover)
IN A HEARTBEAT by Loretta Ellsworth is an emotional story about organ donation.
Fourteen-year-old Amelia has been battling with having a bad heart for years, until the day she learns that it is her turn for a transplant. And this is due to the fact that sixteen-year-old Eagan has had a tragic accident doing the thing she loves most in life - figure skating competitively.
The story is told in alternating viewpoints. One chapter is told from Amelia's view about what it was like to live with a failing heart and then how she changed after she received the new one, and then from Eagan's side as she looks back at memories from her life.
Growing up, I always loved reading stories by Lurlene McDaniel about teens with terminal illnesses or health problems. They always pulled at my heartstrings and made me cry. So when I read the summary of IN A HEARTBEAT and saw that it was about teens and organ donation, I jumped at the chance to read it.
While I enjoyed the characters, I didn't really connect with them. I feel that Eagan was a better-written character, as we get to know her through flashbacks of her memories. And her story is wrapped up at the end. But I don't feel like we really get to know Amelia except that she was sick and she loved to draw horses. And it feels like her story suddenly stops at the end. The book was relatively short - only 195 pages. I feel that there could have been more from Amelia's point of view to connect with her better.
That being said, the idea for the plot is original (to me at least). I loved the theme of organ donation and that the transplant recipients might have characteristics from the donor's personality after the surgery. It's such an interesting idea and it really makes you think!
Reviewed by: Andrea
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