How to Build a Heart was a surprise favorite for me. This is my first time reading Maria Padian, so I came into this book not really knowing what to expect. Well, I have to say that Padian came out swinging for the fences and knocked this one out of the park.

How to Build a Heart introduces us to Izzy who, at first glance, seems like your everyday, well-adjusted teenager, but as you read, you begin to peel back layer after layer of complexity. Izzy struggles with her heritage. Like many teenagers, Izzy is a bit ashamed of her family and where she comes from. Even though her single-mother works hard to provide for Izzy and her little brother, nobody at Izzy's fancy private school knows her situation or knows that she is at that school on scholarship. Her best friend makes outrageous choices, but her tumultuous home life justifies her otherwise erratic behavior.

Izzy's mother is an incredible character. She is strong and puts up with a lot. At first, she seems overbearing, but as the story moves forward, her choices don't seem so outlandish. The more you get to know about her, the more you want to throw a parade in her honor.

How to Build a Heart is the story of how Izzy comes to terms with her family's financial situation, her heritage and the gorgeous boy from the rich family. It's the story of friendship, first love, and finding your place in the world. This story snuck in and touched my heart. It's perfect for YA lovers.

4 1/2 stars

Starting this book off, my expectations immediately lowered because I found the friendship between our MC Izzy and her best friend Roz to be a little over the top. Once I found my way into more of the story though, I absolutely loved the family dynamics as well as the romance and the new friendship we find between Izzy and another character.

This book wasn't perfect. There's a lot of lying in this book and I think there's also a little bit too much forgiveness towards one character. I understood all of the reasoning and meaning behind the idea that this person is dragging you down and I don't feel like we got a true resolution from that.

With that said, this book pulled at my heart strings in so many ways and I felt like for the most part, all of these characters felt extremely real. I loved the scenes towards the end with lots of extra characters.

Trigger Warnings for this book:
-abuse
-gun violence
-parent death (off page)
-drug/alcohol abuse

This may not be a complete list, but these are what stood out to me. I say definitely give this a chance. It wasn't perfect, but it was extremely good!

When I read the synopsis for this book I found myself really excited to read it. However, after attempting this book on three different occasions I just cannot get into it and struggled with the writing style.

I'm not sure if it's just that I'm no longer enjoying YA contemporaries but I just felt so disconnected from the story and the characters.

I really enjoyed this book. Getting inside Izzy Crawford's 16 year old brain was frustrating, but rewarding. This story is one of growth, and it is done very well. It's about a teenage girl overcoming her own mind and beliefs about herself. It was a cute read. The characters were interesting, and were relevant. Real issues were touched on, that were personal to the main character, and it was awesome to see how she faced those issues and overcame them. Overall, this was a great read, that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I downloaded this book because the synopsis had me hooked. Unfortunately, I didn't connect with the story, the characters, or the writing style. The flow of the story felt disjointed. And the whole thing felt so unmemorable. I kind of finished the last page and then struggled to remember what I had just read.

I hardly ever click with YA anymore but I thoroughly enjoyed How to Build a Heart. I thought Padian wrote a lovely, wholehearted book about teens struggling with meaningful issues.

Izzy was a delightful protagonist - per YA norms, we do have to watch her make some painstakingly horrible decisions and suffer the consequences, but she was always empathetic and I found her spirit and love for her family to be incredibly admirable. The Habitat for Humanity storyline was really interesting, and certainly unique to this book.

Really, this story is a teen romance, but it's about poverty, living as a person of mixed race, feeling caught between two worlds, family, friendship, and much more. It actually reminded me of a less intense The Hate U Give - there were similar themes and the heroines were both strong-willed teenagers who felt caught between two worlds and struggled to find their own identity.

One of the things that I really loved about this book were the central themes: family, friendship, history, and love. These are just the ones that stood out to me the most and I loved how Padian intertwined them altogether in Izzy and her life.

Even though I’ve never been even close to a similar situation as Izzy’s in the book, I still found her and this story relatable. She’s a strong and smart young woman who is proud of her family; and protective. However, she’s not proud of where her and her family are at in the beginning of the book; in a trailer park with no internet, dangerous neighbors, and little extra money (there’s also no books).

As the story moves forward though, we learn that Izzy’s mother has taken steps to move them into a better home; a Habitat for Humanity home. On top of this, Izzy meets the boy next door through a new student at her school, who happens to be her best friend’s crush. As you can imagine, Izzy’s different strands of life start to get closer together and eventually tangle all while she’s trying to keep them separated. It causes strife with almost everyone in her life.

I really liked Izzy as a character, but this made her very frustrating to read. Again, I can’t imagine what it’s like being in her situation, but she should have known that if she told her friends and boyfriend what was going on, if they accept it, then worth having in her life. If they judge her for it, they weren’t really worth it. On the other hand, her decisions made her feel like a realistic teenager.

The story itself was simple and sometimes predictable, but it sucked me in quickly and didn’t let go until the end. I loved seeing everyone’s development from start to finish. It’s a happy yet realistic ending. Padian’s writing was great and did an amazing job bringing life to each character and situation. I especially love how she brought Izzy’s mother’s Puerto Rican heritage and culture into the story too.

Overall, a great young adult story about how your life is made up your choices, your family and friends, and your history. It’s also about how important trust and love is in your life too.

How to Build a Heart

I’m still kind of torn about my rating for this. There are so many elements that I really loved (themes like real vs found family, race, poverty, friendship and many more, the side characters and the writing style) but I disliked so much about the actual plot that it - unfortunately - did not become a new favorite.
This book had the potential to be a YA contemporary that could impact many people but instead it had - like so many other YA contemporaries - a main character that would’ve had pretty much no conflict with anyone at all if she just hadn’t lied. All. The. Time.
Can we just please finally get a different problem in a teenager’s life than other people finding out that they had been lied to and being mad at that teenager?
I thought How to Build a Heart really didn’t need a cliché “plot twist” like that and could’ve easily worked with other problems the main character was facing to create a worthy climax.
I see a lot of potential in the author’s writing but was disappointed in this one.

3.25/5🌟

I requested this book due to the synopsis and the book is beyond my expectation!

The saying don't judge a book by its cover applies wonderfully to this book. It's a great coming-of-age story and touches so many different aspects of one's life. I don't know how to talk about the book without spoiling anything so all I'm gonna say is please read the book! You won't be disappointed.

How to Build a Heart is a beautiful coming of an age contemporary about finding and accepting who you are.

The story follows Izzy, a high-school girl that goes through the devastating loss of her Marine Father. Izzy is also from ‘’the wrong part of town’’, shes goes to a Catholic School where everyone seems to have everything and she is trying to come to terms with that. She doesn't want to be ashamed of her roots, but she also hides parts of herself.

Izzy’s mom is from Puerto Rico and it’s very interesting to explore this relationship in the book, as well as Izzy coming to terms with her Latino roots. The book also goes deep into understanding friendship, toxic relationships, and all the teenage angst that comes with crushes and trusting people. Ultimately, it's all part of the journey of growing into the person you will become.

How to build a heart comes out on January 28, 2020. Thank Algonquin Young Readers and Netgalley for approving me for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

How to Build a Heart by Maria Padian is a heartwarming coming of age story that touches on many of the struggles facing young women growing up today. Our protagonist is sixteen year old Izzy Crawford , who lives with her mother and younger brother in a cramped trailer in a Virginia trailer park. Her father was a marine and was killed in the line of duty six years ago, before her brother was even born. Times are tough and the family is just about managing to keep things together when a golden opportunity falls in their way - they may be eligible for one of the new Habitat for Humanity houses being built in the area. The downside? Izzy will be leaving her best friend Roz behind, and runs the risk of her fellow students at the local Catholic School finding out the truth about her home life and circumstances, something she has managed to hide successfully since moving to the school. As if that is not complicated enough, it seems like the boy Roz has a crush on, only has eyes for Izzy, and when she befriends his younger sister, their paths just keep on crossing with the inevitable result. When it all gets too much for Izzy she decides to contact her dad's side of the family, people she has not seen or heard from in years, but before long she realises that running away from her problems will not solve them, and her actions may just have opened some old wounds for her mother.
This is such a beautiful, well told story, and in a saturated YA genre, it really stood out for me, The book is beautifully balanced, and handles several difficult issues around insecurity, self - esteem, bullying and mental health, as well as touching on issues like race and social class. The characters are easy to relate to, particularly Izzy and her mother, and the relationship between them was completely believable, I also appreciated the effort the author went to , to make Sam, the love interest, a fully rounded character, not without flaws and insecurities of his own. The dynamics between all the characters worked, and it is clear that even the more minor characters were carefully crafted with love and attention.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

"HOW TO BUILD A HEART" By Maria Padian

I enjoyed this coming of age YA novel about Izzy Crawford and the hardship she is faced with the loss of her father who was on a mission in Iraq. Padian writes a character that you will come to love and understand. The book was well written and found that Padian's voice come through with Izzy as you root for this character and all her hardship as she goes through loss, grief, financial hardships, bullying and relationships with family. I found that this was a read that touched me emotionally as a reader. Padian is a new author to me and I will definitely be watching out for her future books.

Ever read a book that makes you happy you read it? This is me with How to Build a Heart.

It was such a perfectly balanced story that tackled a lot of different issues - everything from big ones like staying in a toxic house and relationship just because other options seems worse, to smaller ones with being embarrassed for speaking your voice and showing who you truly are.
A thing that worked in the books was the pacing and Izzy as the main character. Even though wasn't really a "bad" character so is it Izzy that makes the story what it is. Not because she's the main character but the way she's written made me genuinely care about her and her journey in finding herself and happiness. I couldn't stop reading as I needed to know what would happen next.

I really enjoyed the book and will read it again.

[thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review this early!]

trigger warnings: abuse, graphic description of an injury (toward the very end), racism, cyberbullying, alcoholism, drug use - will update if i remember any more

honestly requested this solely because of the cover and the title at first, but its so much more than a pretty cover. this story touches on a lot of different topics including family, friendships, relationships, and so much more. it really touched my heart and i just absolutely loved it.

please go read this book when it comes out!!

How to Build a Heart is a coming-of-age novel that tackles so many great topics in one read. Family, friendship, poverty, grief, and how hard life can be without concrete anchors.

What I loved about this novel is that even though the storyline presented a lot of interesting takes on different aspects of life, the entirety did not look crowded because everything went with the flow. Isabella 'Izzy' Crawford's life was never easy since his father died in a mission in the Middle East and her independent mother continued eking out a living for the four of them (including Paco.) And being poor came with a lot of self-inflicted (subconsciously) insecurity that is drawn from what others may say and think of them when they found out that they are living in a trailer park or she's only schooling in St. V because of her scholarship.

But things happen for a reason and everything will fit in its perfect angle when the time is right. Though Izzy is not a firm believer of luck, fortune seem to favored them in this book as they met people who helped them in life.

I'm glad that Habitat for Humanity exist in real life and that there are still people out there doing what is right and unhesitant in extending a hand for those who are in need.

Though romance was considered as a sub-plot in this book, I liked that the Sam, Izzy's main interest, is developed unlike the typical teen king. How Sam embraced Izzy's imperfections and promised that he himself is also the same is just so pure.

But one thing that I think was not really essential is the stalking portion in the book because I can't see any logical point in Roz and Izzy doing that without having the closure at the end. Anyways, this book is still a good read for me.

RATING: 3.5stars

I have a very much love-hate relationship with YA contemporary novels, but How to Build a Heart is one of those books that gives me hope for the genre. It's a story full of heart and free of any and all annoying YA tropes. The narration is very stream of consciousness and becomes a bit meandering at times, but Izzy is such a raw, real character that you can't help but root for her. Overall, How to Build a Heart is a triumph for YA contemporaries.

4.5 stars..

I really enjoyed reading this book! I felt connected to Izzy and seeing all the little Spanish words and her relationship with her mother brought back a lot of my childhood memories. I really liked all the characters and found the plot to be interesting. I really liked that it didn’t revolve too much on the romance and more on Izzy finding herself and accepting herself and her connections to all the people around her.

**Disclaimer: I received a free advanced readers copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this opportunity.
How To Build a Heart is a YA contemporary novel about a girl named Izzy. She is struggling to walk the fine line between her Catholic private school and her home life where she lives in a mobile home with her single mother and little brother. It comes out on January 28th, 2020. I gave it 4.5 stars on Goodreads.

Here is the summary from NetGalley:
One young woman’s journey to find her place in the world as the carefully separated strands of her life — family, money, school, and love — begin to overlap and tangle.  
All sixteen-year-old Izzy Crawford wants is to feel like she really belongs somewhere. Her father, a marine, died in Iraq six years ago, and Izzy’s moved to a new town nearly every year since, far from the help of her extended family in North Carolina and Puerto Rico. When Izzy’s hardworking mom moves their small family to Virginia, all her dreams start clicking into place. She likes her new school—even if Izzy is careful to keep her scholarship-student status hidden from her well-to-do classmates and her new athletic and popular boyfriend. And best of all: Izzy’s family has been selected by Habitat for Humanity to build and move into a brand-new house. Izzy is this close to the community and permanence she’s been searching for, until all the secret pieces of her life begin to collide.
How to Build a Heart is the story of Izzy’s journey to find her place in the world and her discovery that the choices we make and the people we love ultimately define us and bring us home.
How to Build a Heart is a very genuine feeling read. Izzy's voice in the story is strong and her motivations feel very realistic. I liked the way how she navigated through the world because it felt very realistic to how teenagers actually behave and how important image can be to them. The way she learned about the boy she ended up with and the misadventures that happened along the way felt like they might actually happen. I know contemporary books are supposed to feel realistic but so often they have plots that seem highly unlikely to happen in real life even if they are fun to read.
A lot of the conflict from this book comes from Izzy's unwillingness to let people in and her struggles to accept the realities of her life. The unwillingness to communicate with the people who care about her is frustrating to read about, but it was so realistic because of how her image was so important to her. She didn't want anyone to know about her family's struggles. It came across as genuine and that's what kept me going through the frustration of just wanting her to freaking be honest about what was going on with her.
I really enjoyed how she got in touch with her father's side of the family and came to understand why they weren't close. I liked watching her navigate her relationship with her mother and the ups and downs they went through. Izzy's growth over the course of the book was the star of the novel and I loved watching her learn.
Ultimately, I really, really enjoyed this book, but it just wasn't quite a five star read for me. I do still recommend it and I especially think that teenagers would really enjoy this book. It's sweet and wholesome and totally worth it.
Thanks again to NetGalley and the publishers for granting me early access.

I really wanted to love this book. The cover is amazing! I found the writing to hard to get into. The characters had potential. I found it really hard to relate to them.

The book started off where it felt like I jumped into the story already. I couldn’t get past that or in the flow of the story.