This Heart of Mine

Gr 10 Up—What if you were living for years knowing that you were not going to reach adulthood, but then, suddenly, you were given a chance at a long life? For Leah MacKenzie, this is her reality. Three years ago her heart died from a virus. Living with an artificial heart, she is now given a second chance with a heart transplant from a former classmate, Eric, who killed himself. After the surgery, Leah begins having the most vivid dreams that cannot just be a side-effect of the medicine she takes to prevent her body rejecting Eric's heart. Is Eric trying to tell her something about the night of his death? This becomes the mystery that Leah is determined to solve with the help of Eric's twin, Matt, who is convinced that his brother would never commit suicide. Throughout this quest to find the truth, the protagonist must accept her new lease on life and let go of the guilt that her survival meant the death of a friend. Teens will love the emotional twists and turns. The existential subject of life and death and the idea of organ transplantation will be appealing, but more than that, the mystery of the dead communicating with the living through dreams and memories will grip readers and leave them guessing until the very end.