What begins as an online correspondence with the husband of a heart transplant donor turn in to a twist and turn ride which the author brings us on and does it so well. You’ll be thinking about this book long after reading it
Thank you netgalley

I have been in a real reading slump lately and haven’t found a ton of time to read, this one took me such a long time to finish. That said, while the first half felt slow, the second half flew. The midpoint twist definitely caught me off guard, which helped get me interested again. While I think it was a good read, I hate that it put a spotlight on all these women being crazy and bent out of shape for dudes. Booooo!

Double agendas and hidden identities can be found in this new thriller! I enjoyed it enough, but I just finished two other books where the main character becomes obsessed with someone so that could be why I didn’t rate it higher, I am kind of over that theme. I loved the twist, although I suspected it earlier on. The author has our heads spinning wondering what exactly is happening.

A heart transplant patient begins communicating with the donor’s loved one through donor connect. She puts two and two together and figures out the donor was the wife of a famous local author. She died tragically. As she communicates with the widow, she begins to obsess and see them together romantically. When she is scouring his Insta page, she spies a comment saying that HE murdered his wife. She goes down a rabbit hole and finds herself in a dangerous situation.

Cross My Heart by Megan Collins

As I try to beat the January blues, I was looking for a fast-paced thriller, and after hearing all the buzz around the one, I picked it up. We start with a unique setup — Rosie, a recent recipient of a heart transplant, reaches out to the husband of her donor and quickly becomes completely infatuated with him and decides she wants his heart (figuratively) too. That’s really all the setup you need, as I think it’s best to go into this one a little blind.

Though I was intrigued from the start, especially enjoying the back-and-forth email format, I’ll admit that by about halfway through, I was starting to lose interest just a bit. But right when I was starting to get a little bored, we hit a major twist and the story changed completely.

The second half of the book was such a fun and wild ride that kept me on the edge of my seat, eager to know what would happen next. By the time I finished, I could totally see why people are raving about this book! If you are looking for a fun, fast-paced thriller, I would definitely recommend Cross My Heart.

Transplants are SO wild to me. It is literally insane that you can take an organ from one person and make it work in another... ESPECIALLY a heart. Does it have memories, love, passion left in it to share? Can a transplant recipient fall in love with the donors husband...

I LOVED the premise of this book. I actually am shocked this hasn't been done before. I really enjoyed the emails that were included in the book to truly see what was transpiring between the two love interests. I don't always love an unreliable narrator but this was done in a reverse way which was so cool and unique. The ending was a little far fetched for me but I did really enjoy it!

Oh boy! This one really popped off.
I didn’t expect it to get so twisty since it started off pretty emotionally charged. What a ride! Thanks for the ARC , as always!

Rosie is a romantic who gets easily attached and can take things too far. A recipient of a recent heart transplant, she decides to reach out to the contact, eventually gleaning enough details to realize the donor's spouse is well known author Morgan Thorne.

They each have their own quirks, and the flawed characters kept me wondering what was going to happen next - and how it was going to end.

Partially hopeful, definitely creepy - and at times you want to scream at the characters to do something different!

Another great ready from Megan Collins! Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for an ARC.

Thank you to Atria Books for the #gifted finished copy and to Simon Audio for the ALC to review.

This was a wild ride, full of twists that I did not guess. It started out as an emotional story and I wasn’t sure there would be a ‘thriller’ part, but shortly after we ventured into thriller territory and off we went from there. I was captivated from the start, guessed wrong a few times on who was behind it all, and was ultimately surprised by who it actually was. This was very well done, I loved the emotional portion as it added a component not typical of this genre, and loved that it was still a page turner that like I said kept me guessing. I should also note here that the audio was wonderful, this was a mixed media format and I always think audio is the way to go when this format is used.

**4.5-stars**

Holy Hades, Cross My Heart was an absolutely insane, jaw-dropping, eyebrow-lifting, wilddddddd ride!!! This was wickedly-entertaining. I couldn't put it down. IMO, this is a true Psychological Thriller. My head was spinning so fast, I'm surprised I didn't lift off.

In this story we meet Rosie Lachlan, who received a heart transplant from a donor who had unexpectedly passed away after a tragic accident. Through an online platform that anonymously connects donor's families with recipients, Rosie virtually-befriends her donor's widower, Morgan. Morgan Thorne happens to be a well-known local author, who Rosie quickly becomes smitten with.

A string of heartbreaks, of the romantic variety, haven't soured Rosie on the idea of finding The One. It would be ironic if her actual broken heart led her to true love, but that's definitely what she starts imagining as correspondence with Morgan heats up. As Rosie digs further into Morgan's life, and learns more about his wife, there are rumors and accusations she can't ignore. Perhaps he isn't her innocent dream guy after all.

Admittedly, I wasn't crazy about The Family Plot by this author, and was hesitant to try anything else from her. After seeing this one everywhere however, I had to check it out for myself, and man-oh-man, am I glad I did!

Even though the MC, Rosie, drove me so batty that I wanted to shake her, I can't help but doff my cap to Collins, because damn, was she well-written. Honestly, reading this feels like having the rug ripped out from under you. I did think it was dragging a bit at the end, but that final scene put the sinister grin on my face I always love to have at the conclusion of this type of story.

I had so, so, so many guesses, so many theories over the course of this book. It was completely intriguing. It felt very cat-and-mouse, but it was unclear who was the cat and who was the mouse. I loved that.

You do get Morgan's perspective, in addition to Rosie's, and they both felt equally unsettling. There were many times that I was uncomfortable by what was happening, but I couldn't look away. Flies on the wall were cringing. These two are OTT in the most unhinged ways and I was eating it up. My popcorn was popped and my ass was in the seat for the duration.

I absolutely recommend this one to people who enjoy dark, twisty Thrillers. If you like reading books where you suspect everyone, including yourself, you def need to pick this up. Thank you so very much to the publisher, Atria Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I'll 100% be picking up more from Megan Collins!

Thank you Netgalley, Atria Books and the author Megan Collins.
Falling in love with a person you think is the right man, which turns out to be the wrong one.
Some people crave to be in Love no matter what!
This is the story of a young woman who works in her parent’s bride store.
How she falls in love, obsessing over the man.
Crazy things happen in this story.

Such a unique premise and soooo twisty. Collins’ writing is so palatable and flows like I’m talking with a close friend. I enjoyed this start to finish!

Really good book, did not end up going where I thought it was and I was SHOCKED!!
Easy read and keeps you on your toes the whole time

This was an easy read and one I had high hopes for. I really enjoyed "The Winter Sister" by this author, unfortunately, this one just did not hit the same.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, but once part two started, I lost interest and things that started happening seemed too complicated and convenient. There are also 5 woman characters and aside from the main character, I really had a difficult time remembering who each character was. The supporting woman characters all read very similar to me.

The main character was also very annoying. She had so many inner monologues about guys and dating and really read very self-pitying. She was also a stalker who watched someone in their house and kept a detailed list of things she learned about them. There was almost no character growth. At the end, the main character talked as though she had learned valuable lessons throughout her ordeal, but ended up going back to her stalkerish ways with a new man.

I was interested to see how it ended and didn't want to dnf so I am giving it two stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc.

Fascinating look at the literal ties that bind us, this slightly Jane Eyre-esque tale was fast-paced and fun!

I have so many thoughts and feelings about this book. The ending left me feeling uneasy and I like I need to discuss and break down everything I just read. This book would make an incredible book club book. There were so many times I felt bad for Rosie and then in the blink of an eye I would be like “girl you are crazy what the heck are you doing?”. The author did such a great job confusing the reader on how they should feel about the characters and if they should even trust what was being told to them. I will be thinking about this book for quite awhile.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, I don't think they'll be a big fan of my review. I'm genuinely shocked that this book has such a high rating here because, besides a few exceptions, I did not enjoy this book at all.

The premise caught my attention, and it starts as an easy read where it looks like you'll fall in love with the characters in no time. Wrong. All of the main female characters in this book are desperate to find love, willing to do anything to keep a relationship - even when it's toxic, can rationalize any red flags into something magical, etc. It was so unappealing to keep reading about desperate women. Look, I get it, plenty of people are looking to find love. But multiple characters who go to unrealistic lengths to try to find it, keep it, stop it from ending...come on. The writing style is easy to read, so I will give the author credit for that. I just found myself reading page after page, thinking, "this woman is insane." I kept thinking this would turn into a twist and things would return to a world where everyone isn't insane, but sadly, it did not.

There is one major twist in the middle that I definitely didn't see coming. I was so excited, thinking, here we go, now is where things will really start to get interesting. And they did, a little, because the story's focus shifts. But the ending felt unrealistic, too much of a reach and suspension of reality that it just didn't make sense and was overcomplicated.

Overall, the book had a lot of potential, but there was too much going on, to the point where the story was no longer believable. I am a thriller lover, and some parts of the book surprised me and kept me engaged, wanting to learn what happens next. But as far as being a good thriller, it misses the mark. Too much time is spent on the main character's own delusions (past and present), and sometimes hating the characters can be a fun book to read, but that's not the case here, at least not for me.

2.5/5

3 ⭐️ - Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books, and Megan Collin’s for the ARC of Cross My Heart! I went into this book with super high expectations, and I wasn’t disappointed! Megan Collins takes you on a roller coaster through her writing and observations. So many twists and turns that I did not expect (loved all the Taylor references) and was definitely a page turner!

Rosie Lachlan, after a heart transplant, begins an online anonymous correspondence with the husband of her donor, Morgan Thorne. Although he doesn't know who she is, she knows who he is in real life. Rosie also happens to be desperate for love and a lasting relationship and fantasizes about the connection that they make online. Her history of being overzealous in past relationships has gotten her labeled "crazy" and you'll be wondering what crazy thing she'll do next. Be prepared because the twists will keep coming.

✨ARC Review✨

“She has his dead wife’s heart; the one she wants is his”. Rosie, a heart transplant patient, becomes Romantically obsessed with her donor’s husband. She suspects she has the heart of a local celebrity author, Morgan, and starts to message him via an anonymous system for donors/recipients. Rosie digs into Morgan’s past and realizes he might be responsible for his wife’s death.

“He said he’s drawn to people who’ve lived through darkness and survived it.”

There are some thriller books that leave you with your jaw on the floor, they flowed beautifully, and just have a WOW factor. Sometimes they even feel like an episode of Snapped or Dateline…believable. Unfortunately, I thought this might be one of those thrillers, but atlas I don’t feel it is, let me tell you why…

“I worry that everything beautiful, even love, eventually ends in bloodshed.”

Part One and Part Two of this book feel like totally different books. I ended part one feeling hooked, and ended part two honestly somewhat bored. I think what didn’t work for me overall is the ending with all of its twists to get there, seems far too incredulous. You have to really set aside all sense of reality to think that could even possibly happen. I ultimately felt underwhelmed at the end.

“For some of us, bad love feels safer than no love at all.”

What’s On The Pages:
-heart transplant patient
-twisty thriller
-obsession
-email communications
-who/what do you believe?

⚠️CW/TW: death of a spouse

✨Rating✨
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

A special thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this eARC! Cross My Heart is out now!

This one did not reach me the way it did others. The main character was so obviously unreliable to the point of being a cliche. She was unlikable. The story didn't have any suspense or real mystery. The Who in Who-Dun-It was pretty obvious. It was just turning pages and waiting for the rest of the characters to catch up.