Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott- Review

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? (goodreads.com)

I got this book from Netgalley and I've never read a story with a plot line like this. Emma's mother died while pregnant with her half brother. Emma's step-father Dan decided to keeps Emma's mom's body breathing while his son grew to term. Emma is furious, she's convinced that not only didn't her mom want the baby in the first place (she did it for Dan), but she was terrified of being pregnant, she was terrified of what the baby was doing to her body. Emma does everything possible to make Dan's life miserable. Where once there was a great relationship between step-father and step-daughter, there was nothing left but contempt. Emma has begun to fail her classes, and although she has managed to keep a relationship with her best friend, Emma knows that she will never been as she was before. There is so much emotion in this book it's almost too much to handle. My heart goes out to Emma, she has to go to a hospital and talk to her mother who she knows will be allowed to die after giving birth to her brother, I can't imagine how much harder it's going to be when she has to bury her mother. I also understand Dan's need to save his son. Luckily Emma connects with the resident bad boy Caleb who isn't as bad and heartless as we originally believe.

I couldn't ask for a better story, and I couldn't ask for a better ending, although I wished for nothing more than for Emma and Dan to repair their relationship and live happily ever after with the new baby, I knew it couldn't be that easy. Both Emma and Dan had a lot of demons to battle. I love the ending, it was sad and beautiful at the same time.

I give this story two thumbs up!!