Heartbeat [Hardcover]

Norma Mazer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Years ago, Amos saved Tod from drowning, and the grateful friend promised to repay the debt, somehow, sometime. Now Amos shyly requests a favor; he wants Tod to get to know beautiful Hilary and then smooth the way for an introduction to Amos. Tod manages to meet Hilary, who is an aspiring auto mechanic and, in a short time, falls in love with her. Amos knows nothing of Tod's feelings for Hilary (and her reciprocal feelings for Tod), and when he finally meets her, loves her as he always thought he would. A viral infection weakens Amos's heart and he is hospitalized; Tod and Hilary break up--temporarily--so that Amos's last days can be spent believing Hilary loves him. The somewhat complicated plot twists toward the end do not undermine the sensitive telling of this trio's love for one another. Instead, the last chapters provide a dramatic extreme of the eventual outcome: one of them will be without Hilary, and all three of them will lose something in the conflict. A corny moment mars Amos's final scene when he draws Tod and Hilary's hands together. It's a B-movie cliche, out of place in this otherwise realistic story of love. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (March 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553058088
• ISBN-13: 978-0553058086
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,450,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Promise, April 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Heartbeat (Mass Market Paperback)

A Review by Michelle

Tod Ellerbee, living with no mom and living with his dad has moved at a new house and neighborhood and made a new friend named Amos. He saved his life and Tod told Amos that he would pay him back whenever he needed him. Four years later Amos wants Tod to introduce this girl names Hilary Goodman to him from Tod's school. Now the problem is that will Tod Fall in love with her not accomplishing his promise? Will Hilary fall in love with both Tod and Amos?

Something I likes and didn't like was that the vocabulary was some what a little difficult. I had to look a couple words up on the dictionary like for example Tod had said dismissively Or Tod's mind wasn't very Consummated. I would say this book is about a 10th grade reading level. What I liked this book because it kept you in wondering what would happen and make you continue reading like when Hilary and Tod are going to tell Amos about their feelings. Then it becomes to late and some tragedy happens. Something else that I didn't like was that at the end for like 5 pages it kept talking about Amos dying and its too focused on him and leads to questions like how would it feel and what would happen to him and where He's at right now. It would just get off the point a bit instead of just going on the next scene.

I would recommend this book to a teenage person who is into romance/sad ending stories. I thought this book wasn't my type because it had a negative ending to it and I didn't like that but I liked the starting of it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heartbeat, December 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Heartbeat (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved this book. I laughed yet cried all at the same time. It had romance, frindship, love, and heartache all in one. I think this book had a good description of a teen love and friendship situation. I would definatly recommened this book to other people.

5.0 out of 5 stars Been years, September 1, 2008

By 

Rebecca E. Griffith (juneau, ak) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heartbeat (Mass Market Paperback)

I bought this book when it first came out. I was 12 years old. I LOVED this book. I am now almost 30 and still think about this book. I reread it every few years. It got lost in a move. But Yeah! Now I can replace it!