Heart Beat by Elizabeth Scott
Emma was the type of character that confused me to all end. On one hand, I felt sorry for her as she feels that she was short-changed as her mother dies unexpectedly and she has all these emotions she is trying to deal with and in the same breath, I thought she acted like an immature child. She complains and rebels so frequently I felt sorry for her stepfather who had to deal with her on a daily basis. Her stepfather has more sympathy to her than I think I would ever be with the attitude that she gives him, he is like a saint. Daily, the duo makes trips to the hospital to visit her mother/wife and tension is tight. Emma meets Caleb in the waiting room and I really thought she would lay into him since his reputation for being a “bad boy at school” would give her another target. Caleb hears Emma sounding off to her stepfather about the baby her mother is keeping alive while she lays dead on the hospital bed, just ticking off the days on the calendar until the right moment when her mother’s life support can be shut off and his baby can make his way into the world. Something happens between Emma and Caleb that moment, a connection takes place. You can feel it in the writing as the characters shift in their tones, and they release some the tensions that have held their bodies up. As the characters slowly unwind the strings that have tighten their hearts, they uncover things about each other and realize that although on the outside they might be different people, but on the inside they have so many similar qualities. Emma realizes that she cannot reverse the clock and get the moments back that she missed but she is having a hard time moving forward. Her stepfather is so persistent on being a positive influence and great role model throughout this whole process, yet her hatred of him continues. She was so worried about her future that she was not looking at the present moment and taking advantage of the present situation. Something, I think we all are guilty of.
I won a copy of copy of this book from YA Books Central.com.
