bookreviewer – Page 75 – Sincerely Karen Jo

Instructions for a Secondhand Heart

Tamsyn Murray

4.5 ★ – PAINFULLY REAL, INCREDIBLY AFFECTING AND HEART ACHINGLY BEAUTIFUL

PUBLISHED BY POPPY December 5, 2017

GENRE(S): YOUNG ADULT, CONTEMPORARY, ROMANCE

HARDCOVER 320 PAGES

PURCHASE LINKS: AMAZON – BARNES AND NOBLE – KOBO – INDIEBOUND

SYNOPSIS

Jonny knows better than anyone that life is full of cruel ironies. He’s spent every day in a hospital hooked up to machines to keep his heart ticking. Then when a donor match is found for Jonny’s heart, that turns out to be the cruellest irony of all. Because for Jonny’s life to finally start, someone else’s had to end.

That someone turns out to be Neve’s twin brother, Leo. When Leo was alive, all Neve wanted was for him (and all his glorious, overshadowing perfection) to leave. Now that Leo’s actually gone forever, Neve has no idea how to move forward. Then Jonny walks into her life looking for answers, her brother’s heart beating in his chest, and everything starts to change.

Together, Neve and Jonny will have to face the future, no matter how frightening it is, while also learning to heal their hearts, no matter how much it hurts.

REVIEW

Instructions for a Secondhand Heart absolutely broke my heart and then wonderfully pieced it back together. It’s painfully real, incredibly affecting, and just so beautifully written that I still can’t stop thinking about it.

Tamsyn Murray created such a lovely story about loss, self-discovery, second chances, and love. The storyline, while full of heart shattering situations, was riveting, sweet and at times even funny. The writing was undeniably moving, laced with beauty and sincerity, and just so utterly gorgeous that deeply affected me from beginning to end. The emotions I felt while reading this book made my heart hurt, but also filled it with so much hope and joy. I smiled, laughed, cried, loved, cried even more, and then smiled again. This was such a torturous, but positively emotional read that will stay with me for a very long time.

The characters in this book were so well-written and developed. Complex, flawed, and a little broken, but so real that you can’t help but just feel for them and cheer them on.

Jonny may have spent most of his life in the hospital and can be morbid at times, but he’s also genuine, charming, funny and really sweet. I completely adored him and rooted for him the entire time. Through the ups and downs, the happy and the very sad, I truly enjoyed following Jonny on his journey. He definitely stumbled and made plenty of mistakes, but along the way, Jonny also found something really amazing.

Neve’s stubborn, cold, and quite cynical that I had a difficult time liking her. I also didn’t enjoy her POV for most of the story – she was just so angry and negative. But Jonny’s friendship made her thaw little by little. With Jonny, Neve became someone different, a better version of herself – a girl who takes chances, trusts, smiles, laughs, and even falls in love. She was the hardest character to like, but by the end, I loved Neve as much as I did Jonny.

Speaking of friendships, the one between Jonny and Emily was so sweet and heartwarming. I loved their scenes together and wish there were more of them. Their inside jokes, their bantering, and the adorable way they cared about each other made my heart melt.

Instructions for a Secondhand Heart is an achingly delightful story about love, trust, friendship and forgiveness. Through Jonny and Neve’s journey, the author gracefully shows that even a terrible and painful situation can ultimate lead to something really beautiful. This book made me FEEL SO MUCH – it’s raw, emotional, sad, but uplifting in every way. If you’re looking for a story that will inspire, move, and teach you something about life, then I highly recommend this book.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from @TheNOVL in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

About the Author

Tamsyn Murray was born in Cornwall in the Chinese Year of the Rat. This makes her charming, creative and curious (on a good day) but also selfish, restless and impatient (v. v. bad day).

After moving around a lot when she was growing up, she now lives in Hertfordshire with her husband, daughter and son. At least her body does. Her mind tends to prefer imaginary places and wanders off whenever it can but that’s not necessarily a bad thing in a writer.

Tamsyn writes everything from picture books to YA. She teaches City University’s Writing for Children course in London. She loves hearing funny stories but advises people to be very careful what they say to her, especially if she has a pen in her hand.

Follow and Connect with Tamsyn Murray

Website – Goodreads – Twitter

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Thank you for reading my review and I hope you add this heartwarming book to your TBR.

Don’t forget to leave your comments down below. I’d love to hear what you think.

Sincerely Karen Jo

No Plain Rebel

(No Ordinary Star #2)

M.C. Frank

30970438

5 ★ – INCREDIBLY FASCINATING AND BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN

PUBLISHED BY CREATESPACE INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING PLATFORM DECEMBER 2, 2015

GENRE(S): YOUNG ADULT, SCI-FI, FANTASY, DYSTOPIA, ROMANCE

PAGES: PAPERBACK 212

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Synopsis

A soldier is summoned to the North Pole, days before the year changes, told to fix a the great Clock for a celebration. He has no idea what to do.

A girl, hunted for the crime of being born, almost dies out on the ice. She is rescued by the last polar bear left alive.

A library waits for them both, a library built over a span of a hundred years, forgotten in the basement of an ice shack.

The world hasn’t known hunger or sickness in hundreds of years. It has also forgotten love and beauty.
The year is 2525.

Inspired by the short stories of Ray Bradbury, this futuristic novel is set in a world where Christmas -among other things- is obsolete and a Clock is what keeps the fragile balance of peace.

Written in three installments, this is the breathtaking and sensual story of how two unlikely people change the world, and each other, one book at a time.

Immerse yourself into the icy cold world of this scorching hot new novel.

In No Plain Rebel, Felix finds out the truth. Or so he thinks. He’s trying to come to terms with that, as well as with the fact that the Clockmaster’s shack has been discovered by his fellow-soldiers, but he can’t exactly concentrate.

The match girl’s fiery curls appear before his eyes every ten seconds, distracting him, and then he starts talking to her in his head.

Because she’s no longer there.

The Stadium is looming in the distance.

It’s ten heartbeats to midnight.

Review

No Plain Rebel is just as gorgeous and enthralling as No Ordinary Star (Review). M.C. Frank has created such a unique, thrilling, and heart achingly memorable story about loss, forgiveness and hope. I’m positively in love with this breathtaking series and honestly can’t recommend it enough.

I loved being back with Felix and Astra as they continued to uncover more truths about themselves and the world that had forgotten kindness, faith and love. Some were quite pleasant, others were just sad, while many were absolutely atrocious. Through it all, the plot was fast-paced, insanely intriguing, and amazingly suspenseful. There were plenty of nail-biting twist and turns, fun surprises, and tender moments that kept the story moving. I felt so many emotions with this book that I thought my heart would burst into a million pieces. When Frank writes… she writes with so much passion and purpose. Every single page had meaning, beauty, and most of all – a tremendous heart! Trust me, you will be obsessed with this series so much that you won’t want it to end.

My admiration for Felix and Astra has no bounds. They’re strong, complex, beautifully flawed, and lovable in every way. They both have been through so much pain and loss that it was so wonderful to see them become the amazing heroes you’ll root for all the way to the end. Together, Felix and Astra rebelled against everything they knew and worked together to change the world. Along the way, they also found friendship and love in each other. A love so real and sweet and just beautiful. Tin Soldier and Match Girl have a piece of my heart now and forevermore.

With a powerfully evocative writing style, fascinating storyline, gorgeous world building, and great character development, No Plain Rebel is 200 pages of pure beauty. It’s wonderfully poignant, incredibly engrossing, and so utterly sincere.

It’s ten heartbeats to midnight. Ten heartbeats to the unknown future of humanity and I cannot wait to see what happens next.

As a member of the NOS Street Team, I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest and fair review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Other Books in the Series

ADD NO ORDINARY STAR ON GOODREADS

27419429

ADD NO VAIN LOSS ON GOODREADS

(Releasing December 5, 2017)

novainloss

About the Author

(Taken from M.C. Frank’s Website)

mcfrank I am M.C. Frank: writer, reader, designer, editor, physicist and teacher. (To mention a few.)

I have been living in a world of stories ever since I can remember (that’s before I knew how to write). I started writing them down when I could no longer stand the characters in my head screaming at me to give them life and while those first scribblings weren’t exactly good (nor were they books, although I insisted on calling them that), they were enough for me to discover my passion in life.

I started writing seriously a few years back, pursuing my dream of a writing career. I started small, in a magazine, but ever since I’ve been dreaming of doing what I absolutely love for a living, and finally I am getting there! I feel so blessed and happy.

I got my university degree in physics a few years ago. People look at me weirdly when I tell them I’m a physicist, so I say, I know what you’re thinking, and yes, I’m like Sheldon, only a bit crazier! I am now free to pursue my love of reading and writing, as well as my free-lance job of editor-in-chief. I live with my husband in a home filled with candles, laptops and notebooks, where I rearranges my overflowing bookshelves every time I feel stressed.

Which is often, since (as you might have noticed) I don’t pick the easiest subjects for my novels. I put my characters in icy-cold dystopian worlds where kissing is forbidden (among other things), or place them in green forests ruled by evil Sheriffs. If they’re in Jane Austen’s London, they have to be running away from a traumatic childhood, or if they are in our current, contemporary world, they’re scared they’ll die before they have finished high school. That sort of thing.

Don’t worry, though, I know we all are in need of a little hope and joy in our lives, so there’s a good dose of those as well in everything I write.

Follow and Connect with M.C. Frank

Website/ Instagram / Twitter / Facebook

Thanks for reading my review. I hope you get a chance to meet Felix and Astra and discover the beauty in this breathtaking series. I promise you will fall absolutely in love.

Don’t forget to leave your comments down below. I’d love to hear what you think.

Sincerely Karen Jo