“In a Heartbeat” is written by Loretta Ellsworth. This book is about two girls, Eagan and Amelia. They are completely unrelated. Amelia is in need of a heart transplant due to her heart condition. Eagan is a skilled and talented figure skater. Eagan dies in a figure skating competition at the start of a story, missing a triple lutz by half an inch and hitting her head on the edge of a board. Her heart is eventually donated to Amelia, on the day she is declared dead. However, after the heart transplant, Amelia feels different. Amelia begins to like and dislike different things. She talks back to her parents, just like Eagan did. She likes purple, just like Eagan did. She starts to find and interest in sports, particularly skating. As donors and receivers are meant to be anonymous, Amelia doesn’t know who donates the heart to her. By the end of the novel, she eventually finds out and she meets with Eagan’s family.
The story constantly shifts between both girls perspectives. I find this story interesting because it touches on a topic that is unknown to us. Is there life after death? What is it like to be dead, yet part of you is still living in someone else? To write this novel, she has interviewed many people and she has taken into account some real life experiences of other heart transplant patients (for example a woman who started liking beer although she never drank beer before, it was found her donor loved beer).
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