by Lurlene McDaniel
Delacourt Press, 2010
214 pages
Elowyn and Kassay have been best friends--nearly sisters--since seventh grade. Kassey practically lives at Elowyn's house--a huge mansion with BOTH parents at home--parents who dote on their only daughter and her best friend. Kassey, on the other hand, comes from a quiet home where her mother works long hours and her father has been an absent parent ever since the divorce. It's no wonder, then, that Kassey is invited to go on every vacation with Elowyn.
The friends are insepearable in high school--a force to be reckoned with on the varsity volleyball team. That is until Elowyn gets a boyfriend. Kassey feels like a fifth wheel but continues to support her friend Elowyn. On her sixteenth birthday Elowyn gets a new car. Everything is great until Elowyn has a fight with her boyfriend and crashes her car.
Elowyn survives the accident but never regains consciousness. Since she filled out the organ donor section on her license, her parents decide to donate her organs in the hopes that someone's life will be made better by Elowyn's death.
Arabeth is sixteen and needs a heart. Born with a diseased heart, she has lived a life of loneliness--having been home schooled and much too sick to attend public school or even play with other kids. Arabeth's life is changed when the phone call comes in that there is a heart available for her. After her transplant, Arabeth doesn't quite feel right. She begins to like things she never has before--lilacs and French countryside decor, for example--the things that her donor--Elowyn--loved. Is there such a thing as "cellular memory?" Can an organ- a heart-carry memories of its donor?
Heart to Heart is a poignant tale of friendship, love, loss, and life regained. Highly recommended for teens.
FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book in a box sent to me by another librarian. She gets many ARCs from publishers. In no way did this influence my review of this novel.
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