What an absolutely amazing, beautiful, emotional book. The characters really shine in this story. Izzy is a character you really feel for. She was three-dimensional and realistic. It was a nice change having her be the more confident one and her love interest be a little shyer! And Mami is such an amazing character. Made me get emotional in some places.

I would've liked to hear a little more about Aubrey's depression, and how mental health doesn't discriminate between classes. Aubrey is definitely better off than Izzy in terms of wealth, but Izzy doesn't have depression, and I just think that would've been worthwhile to explore.

Roz is such a valuable side character. Her whole plot is so sad but hopeful at the same time. Ugh, the scene near the end hurt to read. This book tackles so many big topics but does it in a sensitive and sincere way, nothing is just for shock value.

Honestly, this is a book I think everybody should read because it gives a lot of insight into Izzy's life. I learned a lot about Habitat for Humanity and how important it is for so many families. And honestly, I want Izzy as a friend because she's such a kind person. The characters in this book really make it what it is!

Trigger warnings abound: <spoiler> domestic abuse, including one wound that's really nasty; racism; loss of a parent; depression/mental illness </spoiler>

*I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This YA novel is well written and will appeal to young teens and older "teens at heart" who worry about fitting in, falling in love and finding (and keeping) a stable home. In this story, Izzy Campbell's life is one huge tragic upheaval, constantly on the move from one place to the other after her father is killed.in Iraq. Her family finally gets to settle down in one place, thanks to Habitat for Humanity, and Izzy's hopes of establishing a life with friends and growing roots now has a chance. But she soon faces difficult choices involving the in crowd at school and how she wants to be perceived by her peers.
Izzy's friend, Roz, another troubled teen, really likes Sam, the hot rich boy in town. But Izzy and Sam can't seem to help the growing attraction between them: oh oh, the dreaded teenage triangle! You will find many of the usual YA tropes here, and there could have been more dialogue and character building, but this still made for an entertaining read. I rate it a 3.5 out of 5.

Actually loved this book!
Even more than I expected.

It is well-built, very heart-felt and has some great moments in it!
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a review!

Great coming of age story!! Although I did not feel very attached to any of the characters in this book, it was still a good read for teens.

I enjoyed this book about a girl going to an affluent school while hiding the fact that she lives in a trailer and is hoping for a house from Habitat for Humanity. The story was very topical but I felt it was a little heavy handed. I might have enjoyed this more if I was very young.

I loved this book! Izzy is that girl that everyone wants as a friend. She is kind, funny, generous and smart. She is also beautiful but she doesn't think so. Roz her BFF is funny, outgoing, and doesn't care about the rules. They both go to different schools. Roz to the local public high school and Izzy to the local private all girl's school. Izzy and her mom and brother live in the trailer park across from Roz. Izzy's mom does not like her hanging out with Roz- for many reasons. For example Roz takes Izzy on an adventure to stalk the guy from school Roz is "in love " with currently. Soon Izzy finds herself lying to Roz, kind of sort of dating Sam (Roz's major crush), and being friends with Sam's younger sister. It only takes a few weeks for everything to roll out of control and Izzy to escape to a Crawford Family Reunion where she hasn't been for 6 years...since daddy died in Iraq. Will she find her Demon Spawn- cousin, Mark to help her find her way back home and settle all the drama in here life? Or will he create some drama of his own? Happy reading!

How To Build A Heart is a beautiful contemporary on finding oneself and fitting in. Okay.. maybe it’s not about fitting in but more like being unashamed of who you are and your background.

There was so much to learn from this story and if I were to list it down, it would be almost all the moral lessons that exists in our society. There was something to learn from every chapter.

I had a good time reading this and it was an easy read. I guess all the drama made it pretty exciting. The writing style was light and the plot a gradual slope to the climax.

Definitely recommend this read to contemporary lovers. This has all the family, friendship, life, love feels that will keep you engrossed.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Algonquin Young Readers through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Izzy was such a great character, and even though Roz wasn’t the best at times, I enjoyed that friendship. They had some great banter. I thought it was great that Izzy would get a “win” with a new house. Her relationship with Sam was a bit like what some readers may call “insta-love” (I think) but I enjoyed it. Mark and Betts were awesome additional characters who I contributed to this book being such a great one. The only things I didn’t enjoy were that at times, Spanish was used without an English translation, and it felt like there was a bit of a jump in the timeline between the end of a chapter and the start of a new chapter, without things ending off or being explained properly. Otherwise, this was a lovely book that I would definitely recommend.

How to build a heart is one of the best feel good books I’ve read in a while. I’m telling you, this is the book we’ve been waiting for.
It’s kind of stereotypical; poor girl, rich boy and lots of prejudice, but it feels so good. It’s comfortable and sometimes that’s exactly what you need.
The characters are built up nicely, you know just enough about them and they seem very realistic. The scenes are good, the story is tied together very well and I’ve enjoyed every second of this book

I liked how this book treated diverse characters and was instrumental in portraying the stark experiences of persons of color. This was a truly incredible story that changes the way I see the world. Especially through the character's many experiences.

***Thank you to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of HOW TO BUILD A HEART by Maria Padian in exchange for my honest review.***

Izzy Crawford feels like an outsider. As a scholarship student at a private school her friends don’t know she lives in a trailer park or that her family is building a Habitat for Humanity house, a place to finally call home. Izzy likes the same boy her as neighbor friend Roz and she doesn’t want Sam to know her family circumstances.

The teen years would be so much easier if kids realized that *everyone* feels different and out of place. Whether for income, religious, family issues, race, sexual orientation, imposter syndrome, worries about being seen as *less than* is a virtually universal experience. Izzy worries about socioeconomic class, Perfect Sam thinks if he was a better brother, his sister wouldn’t have become depressed, like many teens, they see false flaws in themselves. Maria Padian subtly illustrates this as an opportunity for Izzy’s growth.

Izzy and Roz’s friendship, which opened the story, was the weakest and least believable part of HOW TO BUILD A HEART, in fact, I wondered if the book was for me due to my strong dislike for Roz. I couldn’t see why Izzy saw her friend’s stalking behavior as badass. The sympathetic issues in Roz’s life felt like added drama for the sake of throwing another issue into the mix and redeem her character.

HOW TO BUILD A HEART is a feel good, yet predictable story without tension. I never worried Izzy’s story wouldn’t have a happy ending and sometimes that’s just what I need in a book.

Sweet, more or less wholesome, and dialogue that actually made me smile more than once (in addition to making the characters likeable).

Sometimes a well-written, beautifully thematic YA novel is what you want to read, and How to Build A Heart is just that.

The story centres around Izzy Crawford, a 16-year-old whose life has been irrevocably touched by the loss of her Marine father. Through a series of YA-specific elements including a first crush, relationship, friendships, teenage embarrassment and familial relations, the author has created a novel completely worth immersing yourself in.

I absolutely loved the Latina roots that were woven perfectly and intuitively throughout the story. So often inflections of background are awkwardly rammed into novels, but Padian breathed Latina values and language so effortlessly into this book that it left me desperate to read more in the sub-genre. Whilst predictable at parts, Padian also weaved little breadcrumbs and surprises throughout to heart-breaking effect. She wonderfully touches on the emotional turmoil of being bullied, losing a best friend, being at wrath with yourself; it so expertly encapsulated what it means to be a teenager that I wouldn’t hesitate to read this again.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC.

How to Build a Heart follows Izzy Crawford, the daughter of a deceased US Marine and her strict Puerto-Rican mother. Struggles for money following her father's death have meant that her family (composed of Izzy, Mami and her little brother Jack) move from place to place in search of work, and at the time of the novel reside in a mobile home park.

Throughout the novel Izzy tries to balance the juxtapositions in her life: her friendships with rich high schoolers versus her family's own struggle for money, and the Puerto-Rican heritage from her Mother's side versus the white extended family on her Father's side. I loved the insight in this book into Habitat for Humanity, a concept I knew existed but had never read about in depth. I also loved the way her grief for her Father was portrayed throughout the novel; my heart ached for the loss her family had endured, and the exclusion that they felt at the hands of their own extended family.

One aspect of the book that I struggled with was that at times, there was just too much going on. Izzy's best friend Roz was confusing to me, her actions often malicious beyond what the storyline facilitated. Aubrey on the other hand, Izzy's new friend in the novel with her own struggles, felt very real to me. Izzy was an extremely well thought out character, trying to discover her identity in a world that seemed to allow her anything but that. There were a lot of characters to keep track of in the book with their own subplots, that it was hard to keep up, but Aubrey, Izzy, and her Mami stood out to me as the stars of the novel.

This book is important to read to educate yourself on the disparities of wealth that can exist without you ever realising it, and that you should never assume things about your classmates, and what goes on when class ends and students go home.

Thanks to Algonquin Young Readers and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a YA book that made me feel the way “How To Build a Heart” did. From the characters to the plot and the storytelling, it was something of a ride. An emotional one too.

What I loved about the book:
The characters. Izzy is such a complex and interesting character. She’s been through so much and she’s constantly trying to shake off what her life has been defining her as. And, she’s relatable in the sense that her struggle with trying to come to terms with the fact that she has to eventually tell people she’s ‘poor’ is something that we all understand. Roz, Sam and Aubrey are great supporting characters and they all provide something to counter what Izzy is dealing with and while it can sometimes wear you out, what they offer her and that friendship is something truly magical. We all know a Roz and an Aubrey and Sam is the quintessentially handsome boy that we all think is unattainable till he suddenly is! Her mother, brother and all the people they meet through Habitat for Humanity are such great additions to a story that is already so full of heart.
The plot. Yes, there’s a lot happening and compartmentalising all of it can sometimes get a little difficult, but it works. From dealing with Roz and her crush on Sam; the a capella group that Izzy is part of; the story about her parents and the biracial life she leads; the Habitat for Humanity storyline; everything about Sam and his life; the Crawford family and what they bring to the table. It’s all interwoven and every character connects to the other in some way or the other. It’s so nicely done that you don’t feel like you’re drowning, even though sometimes you have to pause and backpedal to make sure you haven’t missed anything.

Did I not like anything in the book? Absolutely not. A part of me wishes it was longer, that we could get more insight into the Crawford family and Izzy’s relationship with Sam and her friendship with Roz. It would be great to see Jack in the new home and the new life and really just get a chance to explore more of that as much as possible. But what we got, that made me the kind of happy that I haven’t felt in a long time while reading a YA book.

One young womans journey to fiind her place in the world as the carefully seperated strands of her life.. Family, money, school, and love start to tangle together...
I loved that everyone was so different, there was a wide variety of characters.. I absolutely loved this book, it was so heartwarming, Maria Padian is a excellent writer, I can't wait to read more from her.
Everyone in this book was so different, they all had their own unique wasy and habits. This was a mixed cultured girl trying to find her way in life, and settling in the place that she belongs.
It was told in a way to open your eyes to see how teenage mixed cultured teens struggle with the everyday life.
Izzy won me over she was so unique, and loveable. I think that many should sit back and read this book. It is a real eye opener for a reader..

How to Build a Heart is an enjoyable and relaxing read. This story tells us the struggles of a girl who has parents with a different culture. I like the story, and I had fun reading her journey of finding where she belongs and how the people around her cares for who she is and not for what she has. Even though we don't have the same experiences in life, I was still able to connect with her. I also like her friendship with Roz. It was superb, and I want that kind of friendship.

I really enjoyed this! I will definitely be recommending this to be regular patrons at books a million!!!!

There are so many things about this book that I love. It is a very thoughtfully written book and it feels very authentic. I have very little in common with the main character, but I could totally relate to her. There was a lot about her that reminded me of myself at her age.

I recently reviewed another book that had very similar themes to this one; a biracial girl navigating grief and struggling to define herself. I personally felt that this book did a much better job of tackling these topics and I was honestly disappointed when it ended. This is not to say I wasn’t happy with the ending, I just wanted to follow her life longer! I look forward to reading more books by this author.