Customer Reviews

In a Heartbeat

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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

This book was an interesting read for me. It was different than my usual read or just usual genre I should say. It is told from Amelia and Eagan's POV. Thankfully it is set up clearly so that you know when the POV's change.

Amelia is the recipient of a heart transplant. After the surgery she finds that she feels different. It isn't just that she has a new heart but she feels like she can feel who it belonged to. She takes on behavior traits of the person whose heart she now has and decides that she has to see the family of the one that died for her. Amelia didn't necessarily feel like it was something that she had to do for herself but something that she HAD to do for the girl that died.

I felt like I got more of Eagan's journey in a way. She had to deal with the fact that she is dead and there was no way to change that. She had flashbacks to things leading up to her death. She did have a little girl that helped her through her journey that she named Miki. (SPOILER: In one memory Eagan finds a box with pictures of when she was younger and it shows her mother as being pregnant and yet Eagan is an only child, meaning her mother lost the baby. Eagan kept feeling like something was familiar about Miki so I'm wondering if she is the little sister that her mother lost.)

In the end both Eagan and Amelia were able to help Eagan's mother move on. The day of Eagan's death Amelia's mother was trying to tell her that she was pregnant so it was a good thing for them to be able to help her to move on.

Overall I really liked this book. I really liked the ending because it was sweet. In Amelia's first chapter you learn about when she was first put on the donor's list. She talked about how she felt. I like the way that she puts it because it is a good and bad situation. The donor gets a new organ that hopefully won't get rejected but in exchanged someone else has died.

(last 2 paragraphs of ch.2) "I didn't want to live through another person's death. But it was part of the deal. Dr. Michael had said, "People are going to die regardless of whether you live or not. Their gift to you might help ease the pain of the family and friends who are mourning that person's loss."

But the fact remained that someone else had to die for me to live. Someone else had to grieve for me to be happy. And every night at dinner, when my family prayed for a new heart for me, we were praying for that to happen."

It is a powerful story. I tried to put myself in Amelia's shoes and even though she met Amelia's family for Eagan I don't know if I could do that. Then I tried to put myself in Eagan's family's shoes because I am also an organ donor. Would I want to meet the person who has a part of someone that I loved in them? Would it help me move on? Truthfully I don't know.

I became a donor so that I could help a live to keep going but I hadn't thought about it from the donor's perspective like Amelia did. I think that's why I really like the two paragraphs above. So even though this story is different than my usual read I am really glad that I read it.

This book is so good that i myself could not pull myself away. It took mer two hours to read this book because i could not put it down! In a Heartbeat is definatly going to be added to my favorite book list!

l8er,
Vanessa

I have read many good booka and this is o e of my favorites. it is a klittle hard to get nto but it is a rrrrrreeeeeeaaaaaaallllllyyyyyy good book. it made me cry many times but it is worth whatever you pay for it

All Eagan wants to do is skate. Just when she is about to get a big chance to go to nationals, she suddenly attempts a jump but misses. She dies in a heartbeat. Meanwhile Amelia had been put on the heart transplant list. Her heart is causing her all kinds of problems; she can't even walk down the stairs. Her dad had to put in an electric chair. Before Eagan died she chose to be an organ donor, little did she know that her heart would save somebody's life.

After Amelia got her transplant she was feeling much better. All of the sudden Amelia starts having strange thoughts and she had an idea that had never occurred to her. She asked her doctor if it would be ok to start trying sports again, "maybe skating?" Was this Eagan trying to tell her something?

Every other chapter is about Eagan, and her flash backs of life. One of the bigger ones is when she and her grandpa are making a rocking chair for her mom. Eagan and her mom start to disagree and fight about things. Then Eagan gets a boyfriend and he helps her hide the chair from her mom. Then she has a flashback of her skating performance. Her boyfriend wanted to go but couldn't because he had a team thing. She was practicing her jumps and didn't land the first one but landed the second one beautifully. It is her turn she can feel the music in her as she glides across the ice, but as soon as she leaves the ground for her turn she knew something was wrong. She tried to move away from the wall, but there is no way to get around it. She knew something bad was about to happen.

The characters in this story are found in many locations from the hospital to Heaven, each chapter is clearly written so you understand about who you are reading. While they don't know it yet, Amelia and Eagan's lives are about to cross paths. Will meeting Eagan's family give her the answers she is looking for, or will her new heart fail her before she can lead her life? Reading this story will give you a new perspective on the organ donation. It always shows courage, selflessness and faith in your own ability to trust your heart.

Having two narrators describe both sides of being a heart donor gives this book a unique voice I have not seen before. You know the fate of one of the narrators, Eagan, as she is the heart donor. The way she has to go through her own process of accepting what happens seems so real, I felt for her and the sorrow she felt at time. It was just as captivating listening to what Amelia was going through before and after the heart transplant. You can feel for both girls and their families. I liked how each girl's perspective was short enough to know what was going on, but not so long that you forgot that the other was going through.

Make sure to have a box of tissues nearby as you read. I personally enjoyed this book even as it moved me to tears. The voice of each character and their stories that pulled families together will undoubtedly pull at your heartstrings. I recommend anyone looking for a wonderful stand alone pick up this book.

Two girls: Quiet, obedient, loving Amelia has been ill for years with a bad heart. Fast, sassy, Eagan lives to skate but also rebels against her mother's pressure and wants the most out of life. When Eagan dies in a freak skating accident, Amelia gets her heart. Suddenly Amelia takes on some of Eagan's sassy, bold personality and even her interests, like purple lollipops and skating.

I read every Lurlene McDaniel book out there as a teenager. I had a morbid fascination of teenagers struggling with life threatening illnesses. If you like Lurlene McDaniel, you will definitely like this. Actually, Lurlene has a new book out called Heart To Heart, which has almost exactly the same premise as In A Heartbeat. Without hesitation, I would read In A Heartbeat over Heart To Heart (not that the latter is bad...In A Heartbeat is simply better).

The book is told through alternating viewpoints of Amelia and Eagan. Amelia is joyous at receiving a new chance on life, but also mourning the death of her donor and trying to understand her strange new personality quirks. Eagan is in a limbo-like state and needs to come to terms with her life and death. She tells her side of the story through a series of memories of her life, focusing on her tempestuous relationship with her mother, her close relationship with her grandfather, and her new relationship with her fabulous boyfriend Scott. I thought the switch between Eagan's presence and her past was seamless. The author also deftly wove Amelia post-transplant life and Eagan's pre-and-post-death life together. It has a similar feeling to If I Stay by Gayle Forman and even a bit of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. In A Heartbeat is a quick read. As you turn the pages, you will be sobbing tears of both joy and sadness.

I have this intense love of books about people who have died (or are about to die) and are narrating their story through the afterlife (or some sort of limbo). Morbid? Maybe. Fascinating? Abso-friggin-lutely! The ones most well-known are The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, and If I Stay by Gayle Forman (the last two particularly in YA circles). While I think that In a Heartbeat wasn't as amazing as these three reads, it was still pretty damn good.

I found In a Heartbeat to be an eye-opener of sorts. The grief that the families of organ donors suffer is something that's always been in the forefront of my mind when I read articles about this subject or see documentaries on TV. However, I never really thought about the families of those patients who receive the organs. I guess I'd always assumed that they'd just be happy because of what's happened. So, I was kind of shocked when I read that Amelia was feeling guilty about receiving the heart. I guess it hit me hardest with this quote, "But the fact remained that someone else had to die for me to live. Someone else had to grieve for me to be happy. And every night at dinner, when my family prayed for a new heart for me, we were praying for that to happen." I never thought about it that way, so that definitely struck a chord with me.

However, maybe due to it's length, I never really felt like I connected to any of the characters. I felt like maybe Eagan and especially Amelia should've been a bit more fleshed out. We never really got a sense as to who Amelia was and how her life was before the operation. I think this book should've been just a tad bit longer, hence why I took away one star.

Anyway, I thought In a Heartbeat was a great read. It was compelling and emotional read, which had me tear up more than once. I'm definitely looking forward to more from Loretta Ellsworth as it seems like the YA genre has another fantastic author in its midst.