In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth

(From Goodreads)

When a small mistake costs sixteen-year-old Eagan her life during a figure-skating competition, she leaves many things unreconciled, including her troubled relationship with her mother. From her vantage point in the afterlife, Eagan reflects back on her memories, and what she could have done differently, through her still-beating heart.

When fourteen-year-old Amelia learns she will be getting a heart transplant, her fear and guilt battle with her joy at this new chance at life. And afterwards when she starts to feel different—dreaming about figure skating, craving grape candy—her need to learn about her donor leads her to discover and explore Eagan’s life, meeting her grieving loved ones and trying to bring the closure they all need to move on.


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There's just something I like in a book about death and cancer and medical issues. Maybe it's that they make me ponder how I would react in a similar situation. Would I be the kind of person that becomes depressed from my ailment, or someone that decides to push past it and make something of her life while she still can? I guess I won't know unless it actually happens.

I can't imagine having a heart transplant. Through someone's death would come my life...

Amelia goes through these emotional struggles as she copes with the knowledge of a stranger's heart taking the place of her own. She begins acting...different. Not like her normal, sweet self. She's snappish and suddenly likes the color purple.

Just like Eagan.

Who, in the mean time, is experiencing a sort of afterlife...or mid-life...because she's kinda stuck in between life and death. You get to read what Eagan's life is like as it flashes before her eyes. Her mother is pretty pushy and strict about the way Eagan spends her time, wanting to make sure she becomes the best skater she can be. Eagan then dies when she messes up her triple lutz and cracks her head on the side board.


The ending was just right, if not a little weird, but I won't say anymore (just in case). :)



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4 Stars

Ages 14+
(brief sexual references)

I'm Sixteen...Now Where's My Adventure?

I have finally reached the coveted age of wonder and excitement.

Being sixteen is your ticket to saving the world or traveling to magical realms...right?

Thankfully, as a reader and a writer I can do just that ;)

Anywho!

No, not a quest to the lonely mountains, sadly.

Today, I ask you to join me on an adventure of many books and the scribbling of pens. I only have another 364 days of being sixteen and I want to make them count. I want to look back a year from now and see ridiculous selfies with friends and glitter still lingering on my clothes from parties. I want to have a blog that's grown, hundreds of stories saved in my laptop, and have baked tons of new desserts that I've never tried. 

So now, I inquire you to join me on my adventure, my quest, my mission, and...my life. (whichever you prefer)

And here's to many more years of blogging adventures!

Plus, Happy Sweet Sixteen to Me! ;D

An Amazingly/Weird Dream

Be prepared for a blurb fit for tumblr...

Someone in my family apparently worked on the set for Sherlock and KNEW Benedict. Then, for some reason, Sherlock was shooting in the US so I got to go on set and meet him! Then, THEN, he was invited to dinner with us. It got better. There wasn't room for me in our car (we had distant relatives over or something) so he said I could ride with him in his car! Then someone said we needed hot dog buns so he offered to get some. We stopped at this weird gas station-like place that had an abnormally large selection of hot dog buns. He grabbed these weird whole wheat roll things with tons of sesame seeds on top and I just laughed and he snickered and we bought some normal buns.

 

That's where the semi-normalness ended...it just got weirder and weirder from there... This old lady tried stealing his car as we were coming out and since I was closest I jumped on it to try and stop her. The car somehow became a motor cycle and the old lady hopped off so I went swirving into a curb and got flung out into the middle of the street. He ran over and picked me up and called a rental car place, but somehow we ended up in this weird, multi-leveled, primary colored building. Suddenly, there was this monster thing that was after Benedict and we got to run all over the place, you know, Sherlock and John style.

 I guess somewhere in there we started falling for each other (I mean, obviously I was already head over heals for him, but it wasn't until the hot dog buns incident that he began to like me more). So we ran and ran...and ran...until we came to this lake/swimming pool thing. We were trapped and the monster grabbed me and pulled me into the water and turned me into a small fish. Then the monster disappeared (to who-knows-where) and Benedict was on his knees, dark curly head in hands, crying because I was a fish...

And then I woke up.

When You've Never Been Kissed

They say 'write what you know'...and there is truth in that. However, as writers it is our place to write what we don't know. I'm sure not many fantasy writers have ever experience the sight of a head being sliced off or a king falling from his horse. We create scenes in our heads that we've never seen in reality.

Scenes, though, are different from emotions.

For someone like me who's never been in a relationship with a guy, it can be difficult to write romance. 

How can a girl who's never been kissed, never held hands with a guy, never thought of one in 'that way', write about love and romance? 

I say:

Love is love, no matter the intentions behind it.

I see love in the way my parents share a kiss after praying over our dinner. I see love when my little sister plays sweetly with her brother. I see love in the church, in the fellowship we have there.

Not only do I see love, but I know it.

I know it when I have long, emotional conversations with my mom that last late into the night. I know it when my brother desires snuggle-time. I know it when my sister gives me goodnight kisses and hugs.

Most of all, I know love because of my relationship with Christ. His love for me is forever and always, and no one will ever love me as much as he did when he took the wrath of God that I deserved upon his shoulders. No one, not ever. 

I do know love, thought not in the lustful way of the world. I know love in its purest form; in the love of my Saviour. 

As writers we have the right to write. Now, how to write well? - that is the question. If you're facing difficulty in writing emotions, my best advice is to dive deep into your own. Remember your envy, anger, shyness, love. Experience it, express it.

Write it.

*all photos used were found on Pinterest

A Year-Round Short Story Challenge

52 stories in 52 weeks! I've been wanting a challenge, right? Well, here is one that I'm committing to, and I hope some of you will join the numerous amount of writers participating! I've also decided to try and post one short story a month, so that will be new for me :)

 Let's do this!