📚Newly Published review📚

Cross My Heart by @megancollinswriter
@atriabooks

Thanks to @atriabooks @megancollinswriter @netgalley for the digital arc!

Rosie works for her parent’s bridal shop while living in an apartment above their home too. Rosie had a heart transplant recently and would love to thank the family to her donor.

She begins to correspond through the donor’s website with the husband of her donor. Soon, she begins to fall for the man she hasn’t even met yet.

Rumors surface that his wife didn’t just have a terrible accident…. The husband must have murdered her 😱.

Poor poor ol’ Rosie. Her character is clearly delusional and terribly needy. She longs just to be loved. This woman just can’t see what’s right in front of her eyes. I remember being young and naive…. and I sure don’t miss those days at all 🤣🤣🤣

Murder and suspense… what’s not to love?
3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a wild ride! I could not put this book down, and I had no idea what direction things were going in. Sometimes, I thought I had things figured out, only to second guess myself and then realize I wasn't even close! I really liked Rosie, even though she was kind of a hot mess at times! This was such a twisty thriller! I don't want to say much else because it's best to go in blind on this one!

Alexa, play "Look What You Made Me Do" by Taylor Swift.

I don't read thrillers too often, but when I do, it's psychological thrillers like these. The Taylor Swift themed dedication and the Author's Note indicating no animals would be harmed in the book were reason enough for me to read this one! "Unhinged" is a term used many times over in this book and it is the perfect description for this crazy story. It has all the Reputation Era vibes and I loved it! Just the escape I needed.

"Some days, love makes you look in the mirror and admire your own reflection; others, it makes you a monster in the glass."

Cross My Heart is such a fun and creepy read. Do you ever feel like you've found your soulmate, but you haven't actually met in real life? Rosie Lachlan is suffering from a heart break, after being dumped while wearing her wedding dress. She undergoes lifesaving surgery when a heart transplant is available to her, and she then begins messaging the donor's family through an anonymous service, called DonorConnect. Rosie discovers the identity heart's former owner; she falls down a rabbit hole where she is falling in love with the widowed husband. As she delves into the couple's past, she discovers some troubling rumors - could he have killed his wife?

I have been dying to get my hands on this book, and it DID NOT disappoint. It was fast-paced, and I enjoyed how the emails and text messages read in the book. It was a fun and thrilling read and I was shocked by the ending.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this ARC!

When Rosie gets a heart transplant, she becomes obsessed with her donors husband. She works at her parents bridal salon and is anxious for her own happy ending after a tumultuous break up that’s left her sad and confused.

This book is definitely a twisty thriller. So many times you think you know what’s going on only to be brought in a different direction! It will definitely leave you guessing right up until the very end.

This is a gripping and twisty thriller that will captivate readers who devour stories about complex female protagonists, dark secrets, and the blurred lines between love, obsession, and deception.

Read if you like:
🙄 Unreliable Narrator
♥️ Love Obsessed Characters
💔 Broken Hearts
🔎 Who Dun it?!
🔀 Twists & Turns
🪩 & You Are a Swiftie

Truly, I loved every second of this book and being a Swiftie made it so much more fun! If you love the vibes of Blank Space. Bad Blood, Wildest Dreams, I Look in People’s Windows, and How Did It End? then this book is for you!!!

I want to gush and say all the things, but truly go in blind! That is the best way to experience the twists and turns and ups and downs of this one in my opinion!

Thank you so so so much to Atria for my gifted copy in exchange for my swiftie thoughts!

Thank you Atria for my copy. A Taylor Swift inspired thriller? Say less. I practically inhaled this book! The writing, unique plot and complicated characters drew me in. I had conflicting feelings about the main character and the writing style kept me so intrigued guessing what was actually happening. I did not see a lot of the twists coming and thoroughly enjoyed my reading experience.

3.5 stars. I was a little let down by this after seeing other reviews. I still thought it was good. The plot was solid and everything wrapped up well in the end but I SWEAR Blair’s relationship with Morgan was revealed earlier in the book….? So that wasn’t really a huge surprise twist to me.

I really liked the backbone of this book. A heart transplant recipient connects anonymously online with her donor's husband, only she has pretty much guessed who her donor was based on local events and gossip. Did he kill his wife, or was it truly a tragic accident? As a pharmacist, I thought the author did a decent job of portraying post-transplant life... the emotions that come from knowing that you are alive because someone else died, the rigors of staying adherent to medication therapy and the downs of the side effects, and the hopes and fears of the future. There were a few inaccuracies (sushi would be a no-no), but these were not important to the storyline.

I found the stalker like behavior the main character and many of her female friends and acquaintances undertook to be disturbing, and for this reason, I didn't find any of the characters likeable. I usually don't have any problems following shifting points of view or timelines, but somehow whenever the perspective switched, I completely missed it. Maybe it will be more obvious in the final published copy, but I found myself not trusting what I thought I read and scratching my head since it felt like it came out of nowhere. I won't say what the switch was to avoid a spoiler though!

3.5 stars rounded up because the story felt fresh and unique.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Rosie is the recipient of a heart transplant and finds herself connecting with her donor’s husband through a Donor Connect platform. She realizes that the man she is speaking with is a famous local author and quickly becomes obsessive about their conversations and getting to know him.

This book had a good mix of suspense and intrigue and did a good job of keeping you guessing. This is a book club pick for me this month and I look forward to our group discussion about this one.

Thrillers are my jam but I do my research before picking up just any book from the genre. Cross My Heart was getting positive buzz so I figured it was a safe choice. Very happy to report back it was a page turner read.

Rose received a life saving heart transplant and has corresponded with the donor’s husband via an anonymous messaging service called DonorConnect. Piecing together things, Rose deduces the man is a famous local author named Morgan Thorne. And now Rose is developing romantic feelings for him. Alright that’s it, that’s all you need to know regarding the premise. Enjoy a wild and crazy ride!

I love being caught off guard when reading a thriller because it doesn’t happen with every book. This story had a fantastic jaw dropping moment. The ending itself is kinda messy but I just rolled with it. A fun reading experience even though it wasn’t perfect.

Recommend if you are a fan of the thriller genre.

Rosie Lachlan is an obsessive unhinged woman. She recently received a heart transplant and through a website “DonorConnect”, she is able to connect with the donor’s husband. He ends up being a very well-known writer. Rosie envisions herself falling in love with this writer.

Rosie has had her share of poor relationships. She has been dumped by many boyfriends, who Rosie believed love her. She was supposedly stood up at her own wedding. While the men she was in relationships were all not deserving of Rosie, she is also very quirky.
Her best friend Nina tries to convince her that DonorConnect is not a dating app. She can’t possibly believe that something will come of their written correspondence. Nina is constantly reminding her to take off her “Rosie colored glasses” and see people for who they really are and not what Rosie wants them to be.
Without giving too much away, this book will take you on roller coaster ride, complete with whiplash when events occur. At times, I had difficulty following the trail, sometimes not knowing who the narrator was. For me, it was a bit confusing with characters portraying other characters and not knowing who to believe. The ending left me surprised. If you like thrillers with a great deal of suspense, this might be the book for you.
Many thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Published on January 14,2025.

Rosie can't help but be a hopeless romantic. She wants to be in love more than anything. It now just so happens that her current crush, was the husband of the woman who had to die in order for Rosie to live. A year and a half prior to our story, Rosie was dying of a heart complication, and Morgan's wife, Daphne, died and was a donor match for Rosie, saving her life. Now that she is had discoverd who's heart keeps her alive, she can't take her attention away from Morgan. But what she discovers is that love isn't always so beautiful, sometimes it can be tortured.

This book was so much more than what I expected. I was not able to predict all the plot twists that Collins' have in store for us. I could not put this novel down. The mixed media format was captivating and made it feel like I was reading someone's private discussions without them knowing.

You will love this book if you like unreliable narrators and morally gray characters. I still can't decide if I like any of the characters in this book and I finished this several days ago. I believe this story will be one that lives rent free in my head and one I will eagerly recommend other pick up.

Thank you to Net Galley and Atria Books for an advanced readers copy.

When I read that this was Taylor Swift inspired I said say less. This was my first Collins book and I definitely will be reading more from her. It’s definitely had me intrigued right away and had me turning the pages needing to know more. I do have to say part one was kind of one note to me and it didn’t really pick up until part two, in which I didn’t want to put it down. There was a handful of twists throughout and I definitely didn’t see some of them coming. Being a big Taylor Swift fan, I did love the node to her but it did feel a little too much at times.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this book and can’t wait to read more from Collins. If you’re a fan of twists, psychological thrillers, and Taylor Swift, then this will be the perfect thriller for you.

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!