by Tamsyn Murray ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 5, 2017
Despite skipped beats, this satisfies as fablelike, destined romance: the metaphorical stuff of hearts.
One teen gets a heart transplant; another teen loses her brother and doesn’t know who received his organs.
Last summer, 15-year-old Jonny’s heart stopped for three and a half minutes; now he lives in the hospital waiting for a donor heart. Meanwhile, 15-year-old Neve races up hazardous beach rocks against her golden-haired, golden-boy twin, Leo. But Leo falls, and Neve’s world upends. The “catastrophic damage to Leo’s brain stem” functionally means death, so Leo’s family donates his organs. Neve and Jonny alternate first-person narration. Murray offers emotional realism in Neve’s gritty and complicated pain (even after Leo’s death, Neve feels “a poor second-best"); on Jonny’s side, his repeated lies to Neve are emotionally realistic while simultaneously smacking of authorial contrivance to maintain tension. Jonny’s conclusive identification of his donor as Leo using amateur internet research and his smooth sailing post-transplant (he has zero problems until he stops taking his immunosuppressive meds) require readers’ faith. A closing message that life is worthless without risk clashes—almost heartlessly—with the cause of Leo’s death, as risk avoidance isn’t any character’s issue here. Neve lives in north London, Jonny a few train stops away; they’re both white.
Despite skipped beats, this satisfies as fablelike, destined romance: the metaphorical stuff of hearts. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-47178-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Poppy/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
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by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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by Laura Nowlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2013
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
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