About the book:
Ailsa Rae is learning how to live.
She’s only a few months past the heart transplant that – just in time – saved her life. Life should be a joyful adventure. But . . .
Her relationship with her mother is at breaking point.
She knows she needs to find her father.
She’s missed so much that her friends have left her behind.
She’s felt so helpless for so long that she’s let polls on her blog make her decisions for her. And now she barely knows where to start on her own.
And then there’s Lennox. Her best friend and one time lover. He was sick too. He didn’t make it. And now she’s supposed to face all of this without him.
But her new heart is a bold heart.
She just needs to learn to listen to it . . .
My review:
This book is incredible.
Ailsa has lived her entire 28 years knowing she would die at any time. When she is matched with a donor heart, she starts learning how to really live. But it’s not as easy as she had expected. She and her mother have to maneuver through a drastically changed relationship. She meets new people, makes new friends, and even dates. She also gets a crash course in maturity and what being an adult actually means.
The characters in this book are all well written. I even felt sympathetic for the ‘villain” in the background of Ailsa’s life. Even if his actions are unforgivable, the author made me empathetic for why he did it. (He’s still 100% wrong though, just saying.)
This book also illustrates the importance of organ donation. I know, it’s impossibly hard to think about when you’re in the middle of a tragic situation, so do it now. Register to be a donor (I have, donating as many organs as possible, in case any of my family reads this) and talk to your family. Talk to your friends. Make your wishes known and find out what theirs are. Give real life people like Ailsa, and the way-too-many people out there on waiting lists a chance at life.
Anyway, back to the book. This was beautiful and touching and heartbreaking and heartwarming and full of hope. And lots and lots of real talk that gives good life lessons to anyone.
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
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About the author:
Stephanie Butland is a writer, who is thriving after breast cancer. (She used to say she was a survivor, but that was a bit lacking in joie de vivre.)
Although she’d never have chosen it, her dance with cancer has changed her life in many positive ways. Now she is happier, healthier, and more careful with her precious life and the precious people and things in it.
Her writing career began with her dance with cancer, and now she is a novelist.
Aside from writing, she works as a speaker and trainer, and she works with charities to help raise awareness and money in the hope that cancer will soon be about as scary as a wart.
#AmReading 