Change of Heart

Gr 9 Up—This unimaginative debut novel about a teen heart-transplant patient leaves much to be desired. There is entirely too much telling and not enough showing. Emmi, the somewhat unlikable protagonist, is a star soccer player who develops viral myocarditis and has only months to live. At the same time, she becomes involved in her first romance with classmate Sam. The denouement occurs after a hospital visit when Sam and Becca, Emmi's best friend, begin to act strangely. Come to find out, they slept together in a drunken moment of concern for Emmi. (Really?) In the meantime, Emmi has been falling for a fellow transplant patient, and she suddenly realizes that it is Abe whom she loves, not Sam. There is no development of her feelings aside from friendship; she just has a "moment" of realization. Unfortunately, Abe takes a turn for the worse and dies. The exposition of the facts about heart transplants is a little clumsy, and not that much is explained other than that there is a lot of waiting and medication, and that the steroids make one's face swell. Altogether uninspired, this book is unlikely to draw in even hard-core "dying girl romance" fans.—Robin Henry, Wakeland High School, Frisco, TX