Heartbeat

January 27, 2014
Scott (Miracle) returns with the wrenching story of 17-year-old Emma, whose mother, Lisa, had a sudden stroke while pregnant; although Lisa is brain-dead, she is being kept alive by machines to save the baby growing inside her. Emma's stepfather, Dan, made the choice to keep Lisa alive, and Emma hates him for it, also believing that Dan essentially killed her mother by getting her pregnant in the first place. At first, only Emma's best friend Olivia knows her despair, but at the hospital Emma connects with Caleb, who's doing community service after driving his father's Porsche into a lake. Caleb has had his own misfortunes: he feels responsible for his younger sister's death, and his parents also blame him for it. Scott captures the angst and euphoria of first love and the intensity of bonds formed through hardship. At times the story veers toward melodrama, but Emma's emotional conflictâcharacterized by moments of irrationality, rage, and confusionâis honest, and her eventual ability to see that tragedies can be blameless results in a powerful transformation. Ages 14âup. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House.

This first-person examination of a girl mourning her mother's sudden death explores the anger survivors often feel when confronting grief. Seventeen-year old Emma hates her stepfather, Dan, because he's decided to keep her pregnant, brain-dead mother alive on machines until the baby becomes viable. Although she realizes that she's allowing her rage to consume her, she continues to indulge her hatred for her stepfather, whom she formerly loved and whom she knows her mother loved, and she finds herself unable to see the baby as her brother. Emma and Dan visit her mom every day, and there, she meets Caleb, a boy who's been in trouble ever since his little sister died accidentally while under his supervision. Although her fellow high school students view Caleb as a pariah, Emma finds herself drawn to him: In Caleb, she discovers the only person who can understand her. As events progress, however, Emma will have to make her own decision about her mother's plight, and the true reason for her rage, aside from her obvious grief, emerges. Scott wraps the first-person narration in Emma's swirling emotions, but she allows readers to see through that fog to watch the reality of the events. The author does not judge Emma or Dan despite the deliberately skewed viewpoint. An intense examination of a family coping with grief, this absorbing character study easily keeps pages turning. (Fiction. 12 & up) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2014

Gr 8 Up-Seventeen-year-old Emma nearly had it all. Her grades were fantastic. She got along well with her mother, and she loved her stepdad, Dan. She was even excited about her mom's pregnancy. All that changed in the amount of time it took to toast a piece of bread. Now Emma's mom lies in a hospital, brain-dead and being kept physically alive until the baby is able to be born. Dan insists this is what his wife would want, but Emma is sure her mother would never want to be hooked up to machines. Her grades plummet and grief threatens to consume her when she suddenly finds herself drawn to bad boy, Caleb, whose parents still blame him for his little sister's death years before. Scott delivers an intriguing novel with a "straight from the headlines" feel. Unfortunately, a few problems detract from the overall success of the story. Caleb's parents are one-dimensional and seem to exist solely as a backdrop for his bad-boy persona while Emma's change of heart comes so quickly and completely that it lacks emotional punch. Still, the deeper themes explored in this novel offer good fodder for discussion.-Heather Webb, Worthington Libraries, OH

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