Promo Blitz Tour & Review: Heart Beat by Elizabeth Scott

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Heart Beat
By: Elizabeth Scott
Jan. 28, 2014
Harlequin Teen
Host:  Kismet
Source: Publisher

GR's Summary:

Life. Death. And...Love?

Emma would give anything to talk to her mother one last time. Tell her about her slipping grades, her anger with her stepfather, and the boy with the bad reputation who might be the only one Emma can be herself with.

But Emma can't tell her mother anything. Because her mother is brain-dead and being kept alive by machines for the baby growing inside her.

Meeting bad-boy Caleb Harrison wouldn't have interested Old Emma. But New Emma-the one who exists in a fog of grief, who no longer cares about school, whose only social outlet is her best friend Olivia-New Emma is startled by the connection she and Caleb forge.

Feeling her own heart beat again wakes Emma from the grief that has grayed her existence. Is there hope for life after death-and maybe, for love?

Praise for Heartbeat:

“An intense examination of a family coping with grief, this absorbing character study easily keeps pages turning.”

— Kirkus on Heartbeat

My Thoughts:

Heart Beat, by Elizabeth Scott, was a very emotionally taxing story.  I read this story with a heavy heart, tears consistently fell down my face, from the very beginning to end of this realistic portrayal of intense grief and emotional turmoil.

The main character, 17 year old Emma, visits her brain dead mother daily with her stepfather, Dan, in ICU, who is being kept alive long enough for her baby to be strong enough to survive delivery.  Emma is full of rage, and lashes out at her stepfather, because she doesn't agree with his choice to keep her mother alive by the use of machines.  Dan is a wonderful, compassionate, loving, and patient man, who is deeply grieving as well.  He consistently reaches out to Emma, who constantly shuts him out, and says some really hurtful things to him.  However, It was obvious that Emma was grieving, and wasn't able to cope with her mother's death.  She had a lot of guilt, and insecurity that drove her to act the way that she did.  It was difficult to read at times.  

Olivia, Emma's best friend, and next door neighbor was there for Emma.  However, she couldn't relate to what Emma was going through.  Then, Emma gets to know Caleb, who is rumored to be a loner, loser, and troublemaker at school.  Yet, the more that Emma gets to know Caleb, the more that she feels like he is the only one that truly understands her, and he does.  He has faced tragedy and has been trying to cope with his own painful loss.  These two become a beacon of light, and hope for one another, in a very dark, lonely, and painful time in their lives.

Anyone who has dealt with the traumatic loss of a loved one will be able to relate to this story.  It is heartbreaking, traumatic, and realistic.  It made me contemplate living in the present, and letting those you love know how much you care, because we don't know when our heart will stop beating, or when we will lose someone we love.  It's so important to spend quality time with those you love, and treasure those precious and fleeting moments.  

My Rating:

I give Heart Beat by Elizabeth Scott 4 Heartbreaking, Bittersweet, Healing Love, and New Beginning Stars!  Read this story if your in the mood for an emotionally charged tear jerker!  Be ready to hold your loved ones close after you finish this story!  

My Favorite Quotes:

"I see what grief does, how it strips you bare, shows you all the things you don't want to know.  That loss doesn't end, that there isn't a moment where you are done, when you can neatly put it away and move on.  It never leaves you."  (eARC, Loc. 975)

~Emma


"He looks at me, right at me, in that way he has, like he sees all the way inside me and what he sees is beautiful, and I close my eyes because I don't want this moment to end.  I like being happy.  It's nice, and I don't think I ever enjoyed it like I should have."  (eARC, Loc. 1807)

~Emma


"One heartbeat, two heartbeats, three heartbeats, more, and you never know when you have used yours up.  That's the thing.  You don't know.  How long will your heart beat for?  How many heartbeats do you have?  (eARC, Loc. 1872)

~Emma

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About Elizabeth Scott:

ELIZABETH SCOTT grew up in a town so small it didn’t even have a post office, though it did boast an impressive cattle population. She’s sold hardware and panty hose and had a memorable three-day stint in the dot-com industry, where she learned that she really didn’t want a career burning CDs. She lives just outside Washington, D.C., with her husband, and firmly believes you can never own too many books.

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