What a strange, but lovely debut novel. Emily Habeck's prose is stunning and thoughtful. I found myself stopping multiple times to savor her words, to linger on ideas. The stories played out in Shark Heart are unique and touching. They explore familiar topics such as love, loss, parent/child relationships, and loneliness, within the context of a bizarre medical phenomenon that exists where humans mutate into animals over a period of time. Habeck's characters, when faced with their human mortality, are cerebral in their attempts to understand themselves and the people they love.

I would have enjoyed reading more post mutation character development, and could've probably read an entire book on the process alone, as it was a fascinating concept to me.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster, Net Galley, and Emily Habeck for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It’s hard to know what to expect of a story that revolves around newlyweds who face being separated when a strange medical condition will transform the husband’s human body into that of a great white shark. Emily Habek’s Shark Heart is a love story unlike any I’ve read before.

The first 50% of the book bounces between the couple’s present dealing with the Lewis’s diagnosis and transition into a shark and flashbacks to his courtship and engagement to Wren. I loved these two opposites attract characters (Wren is a reserved, no-nonsense fund manager and Lewis is a failed actor, gregarious dreamer and involved high school drama teacher). I really felt for them as they dealt with this tragedy that upended their lives, yet didn’t change their love for one another.

What lost me was a significant portion of the second half of the book was told from the point of view of Wren’s mother as a pregnant teen with uninvolved parents and an abusive boyfriend. I wanted to get back to the original plot. Overall though, the book is beautifully written, the author plays around with interesting formats like screenplays, free verse, and extremely short chapters, and the love between Lewis and Wren is both touching and heartbreaking.

Lewis and Wren are newlyweds when Lewis gets devastating news. He has a rare medical mutation condition where he will become a great white shark. As they deal with his transition, we also look back at Wren’s childhood and life.

This is such an amazingly imaginative plot. Don’t let its oddness turn you off. It is done in a way that makes it seem entirely normal and if this world. It is our world.. with just an odd rare medical condition where humans will mutate into animals. It was so interesting reading about and watching the transition. I want more of the mutation stories! I loved how the two different generations tied together and I loved how the theme of love was woven into every part of thehttps://www.netgalley.com/member/book/281316/review# story.

“He was an aimless kite in search of a string to guide him to the world, but instead he’d found Wren, a great, strong wind who supported his exploration of the sky.”

Shark Heart comes out 8/8.

Creative and captivating story! Just reading a short blurb about the book you may wonder how you could fall into the story, but it’s very well written and I was sad when it was finished. It’s a love story but more a story about endurance and strength and making the most of each day we are given. A fresh and new author!

Emily Habeck's debut novel easily earned 5+ stars from me. This is truly one of my favorite books of 2023, and I absolutely cannot wait to read everything she will write following this masterpiece.

The abstract of the book did not initially draw me in; happy newlyweds have their futures shattered when the husband receives the diagnosis that he is mutating into... a great white shark. But yet, this book had me invested in every character from the first short chapter.

While the romance undertones are evident from seeing "A Love Story" in the title, this is in fact multiple love stories interlaced. It is a story of a great big love cut too short, a first love that was extinguished by fear, the evolution of love into abuse, a mother's love that was complicated but pure.

It is expertly constructed, with repeating concepts represented from multiple angles and storylines. For example, I loved how the difference between being lonely and being alone was portrayed across multiple perspectives. Further, the writing is captivating and unique, with certain sections written like a screenplay, tying in one of the main character’s dreams of the stage.

This is a work of art, lyrical, soulful, heartbreaking, comical. I am not the same after reading it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Simon Element, and S&S/Marysue Rucci Books for the opportunity to read an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

I picked up this book because of its gorgeous cover--the plot sounded like it could be gimmicky, but I took a chance. I'm so glad I did. This is a beautiful book about, above all, love. I'm sure those who have cared for an ailing spouse or relative will see themselves in Wren's story.

Habeck chose to not go into detail about how these mutations started developing or the science behind it, and I think that was a wise choice. It's not needed; that's not what the story's about. It's about how these people choose to live their final days together, how they adapt to the changes they can't control, and how their love persists despite it all. After part one concluded and the timeline shifted to Wren's mother Angela, I wondered about that decision--I was so invested in Wren and Lewis's love story, and I deflated a bit when we left their world. I stayed the course, and the reason behind Habeck's narrative decision revealed itself.

I won't spoil it here, but if you find yourself with similar misgivings, I urge you to keep reading.

This is such an odd book that I had no idea what I was getting into! It's the story of Wren and husband, Lewis whose lives are anything but ordinary! When Lewis is diagnosed with a disease that will literally turn him into a shark eventually, they must of course change their lifestyle to accommodate this as he begins to crave raw fish and meat. Alternating in time between past and present, the novel shows us Wren's background (which is every bit as odd) interspersed with the present as they navigate the weird chemical transformations in his body and mind. I enjoyed it even as I cringed sometimes thinking of how this would play out in real life! So maybe don't read this at the beach...but enjoy its quirkiness!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

This book is actually fairly heavy. It is also unlike anything I’ve ever read before. There are themes of change, loss, and magical realism (mixed in with medicine and biology!)

I really enjoy animals so I was curious about this book. It was off to a great start and I definitely recommend for the literary quality. However about 78% in something happened that really should not have shocked me, but I was triggered. The situation was just too close to home in description.

I recommend this book still because it is worth checking out but I do recommend looking at triggers prior. It was a solid 4 star read up until that triggering point for me.

Wow, what a book. Super quirky and different but I read it in basically one sitting…. A super emotional read but this was an unforgettable story.

I had to sit there for quite some time after reading this book to really gather my thoughts. I think there was such an impressive amount of imagery and just sheer originality that my mind is still blown. The book starts out with a couple in love and within the first year of marriage there is immense change and they must separate. The animal mutations in this book would almost seem plausible the way that the author writes it yet so much fantasy at the same time. This book follows this couple and then delves back into the past generations of the wife and about the way these mutations have taken so much from her and her mother even with the best of intentions. The last part of the book reads like a redemption for the wife in this book. I felt that this book was spectacular and really delivered something so different from anything I have ever read before, I will definitely be recommending this book to others. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

This debut is weird and wild and I utterly adored it. From a preposterous premise, Habeck wrests a wholly unique and utterly absorbing story of marriage, motherhood, art, and unfulfilled dreams, and grapples with the question of how we create meaning in spite of and out of great tragedy. I can’t stop talking about this book. Thankfully, I don’t want to.

I'm not sure how to start with this one. Shark Heart is like nothing I've ever read. It's not fantasy, but it's also not contemporary fiction. It's a story about a man that morphs into an animal. When I saw the title I didn't realize it would be a literal "Shark Heart". The concept was okay, but I struggled to connect with it. There were a lot of side character stories that were just thrown in and never circled back. Like, Rachel, but I guess that's true to life. People come into our life, fade away and are only slightly thought of. Maybe I just didn't like too much true to life in a magical book. Again, I can't put my finger on what I didn't like... I did like that I couldn't put it down. I had to know what was going to happen. It was like a car crash you can't just not look. I'll definitely be thinking about this one for a long time. I've even already had a dream about it.

What a beautiful piece of writing this book is. Tender without verging on cheese, artistic without being pretentious. Part of the reason it took me a couple of weeks to finish was that I wanted to savor this, to draw it out longer and relish the words, the style, the story. This is the kind of book that, rather than being a life-changing masterpiece, is instead a quieter, softly glowing gem. The world has space for both kinds of books, and sometimes I appreciate this kind even more.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read the pre-published galley. This is a book I will buy in hardcover; this belongs on my shelf.

Thank you to NetGalley and Marysue Rucci Books for the early reader of this book.

This was a weird book- and so it seems that I really like weird books. With the most bizarre “what if”…. Instead of being diagnosed with cancer, what if you were diagnosed with a condition that transforms you into a great white shark? This book is really about marriage, family, grief, the lack of control we have in our lives…I get what she was doing and what she was saying, but at times it felt a little overwritten with its combination theater scripts/poetry and the constant jumping of time within the generations of the family. It also almost felt like two separate books- about halfway, I really was wondering “what else could happen? It’s gotta be over by now”- it felt like the story was resolving. Even though I was annoyed going into the second half after feeling such resolution, it did connect really nicely (too nicely?) in the end.

I would classify this book as weird-ass magical realism, and it’s most definitely a pretty impressive debut book and a good one for a book club to discuss!

This imaginative novel succeeds first in making what sounds impossible, plausible—a world in which some humans carry mutations that eventually cause them to transform into other animals, such as a great white shark. Habeck succeeds at bringing this gradual transition, and the entire novel, to the reader in very accessible prose that in its seeming simplicity touches on fundamental life experiences—loss, grief, fear, love, hope, dreams—and does so with humor. An authentic voice, a deeply imagined plot, and well-developed characters make this a page-turning read.

First off, that cover is so stunning, couple that with the premise, and you got the reason I picked this book up. Emotional, intriguing, and thought provoking are words I would use to describe this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance reader copy of Shark Heart in exchange for a fair review. This review will appear immediately on Goodreads.
This was a page turning, stay up late, read in one or two shark bites kind of book. Lewis and Wren are newlyweds when they receive a devastating diagnosis - Lewis will slowly change into a Great White Shark. Suspend your belief for a moment or two - this book in written so naturally that its easy to do. Anyone who has had a loved one go through a devastating and grave disease will understand the metamorphosis into something nearly unrecognizable as that person's loved one. How many of us have had a parent with Alzheimer's where the changes can one day be so subtle but then the next dealing with rage and confusion as the disease progresses? This is how I approached the fantasy aspect of this book.
Lewis is an actor and high school director and much of the book is written as a play - which I really liked, although it might not be for all.
In the end, this book is about relationships, love, loss, and coping. The cover is gorgeous and the premise sucks you in immediately. I yearned for a little more between Lewis and Wren past mid point. I felt strongly about a resolution at the end (avoiding spoilers) that I felt should have happened but didnt. Despite the little bit of letdown, I think this would make and excellent book discussion. I would recommend it to patrons looking to step outside their normal reads. A well done debut! I give it 4+ stars so I will mark it as a 5* to round up and encourage others to read.

I was feeling down last week, and figured it would be a lark to read the book about a man who turns into a shark. Reader, I was wrong. Emily Habeck’s debut novel, Shark Heart, is the most emotionally devastating book I’ve read in a long time. A real “stay up past your bedtime” book.

Newly married Lewis and Wren receive some earth-shattering news; over the coming months, Lewis will literally turn into a great white shark. Lewis, a drama teacher and failed Broadway actor, reflects on his legacy, as Wren prepares herself for her lonely fate. This is the central story, but we also learn of Wren’s upbringing, as well as the traumatic youth of Wren’s mother, Angela.

I was initially drawn to Shark Heart because I enjoy stories of magical realism. But this slipped into the background, and I absolutely fell in love with Wren and Angela. Yes, they inhabit a fictional world where humans turning into animals is a possibility, but the incredibly real issues of life, death, rebirth, and love echo through these pages. Those who have lost loved ones to degenerative diseases will find something familiar, and hopefully comforting, in these pages.

Shark Heart was an incredibly welcome surprise. Habeck’s writing is gorgeous and hypnotic, and her beautiful characters are strikingly vivid. Highly recommended.

Where to begin! I think what I enjoyed most about Shark Heart was how original the storyline was. Set in a near dystopian future, people can mutate into animals at random, or even get pregnant with them! This concept was completely foreign to me but also rather intriguing. A young couple, Lewis and Wren, have to cope with the uncertainty or change and the future when Lewis is diagnosed with a Great White Shark mutation shortly after their marriage. Eventually Wren has to decide whether to let the sea take Lewis or to find a way to join him there as he transforms. This story tests the bonds of love and “til death do us part”. It was a great read and overall I loved it. I would have just liked some more backstory on why these mutations started occurring in the human population in general.

This novel was consistently charming. The novel arose from a great and daring inspiration, one of the best ‘what if’s’ I’ve come across, but as I read I couldn’t help but feel the story itself stayed in a safe and predictable zone of happenings, rather than taking full advantage of the setup.