It's been a while since I enjoyed a thriller and boy this was quite a ride! I devoured this in one day. Every time I thought I had it figured out, a new twist would emerge and keep me on my toes.

We follow our main character Rosie who starts to fall for her heart donors husband. Rosie thinks she is living her dream rom com fantasy only to discover things are not what they seem. Rosie has to take off her rose colored lense and try to distinguish what is fact or fiction. Will she figure it out in time or will her dream romance end like a horror novel?

Highly recommend and if you're a Swiftie, there's some fun references for you too.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of this book.

This was a fun, twisty read. The concept is engaging: a recipient of a heart transplant starts a relationship with the husband of the woman's whose heart she has received.

The novel often reminds you that you're reading a fictional novel rather than permitting you full escapism into a believeable world. Part of that is due to the nature of the plot and its sometimes epistolary delivery--which is creative and inventive. However, that also stopped me from a fully immersive reading experience with this one.

Final thoughts: This would be a great beach read; it will keep you turning the pages!

What challenges might arise when a heart transplant recipient becomes infatuated with the husband of her donor? The narrative unfolds with numerous twists and unsettling events. Rosie is determined to discover her one true love. However, as she conceals certain secrets from Morgan, the object of her fixation, he harbors his own unsettling surprises from the past that could pose a threat. This is a story you won't want to miss!

Cross My Heart from Megan Collins is Return to Me, a movie with Minnie Driver, but ....dark.

Convinced she has the heart of Morgan's wife, Daphne, Rosie sets out to connect with him on DonorsConnect. After a few email exchanges with Morgan, Rosie is in love. That's all she wants, to be loved. It's her favorite thing.

BUT, Rosie is out of her mind. She will do anything to get with Morgan. Liking the same hobbies he does. Liking the same movies. Etc Etc. Girlfriend is doing way, way too much.

As expected, things spiral in a dark way. But....who is at fault here? Is Morgan the dream man that Rosie thinks? Is Rosie off her rocker?

Megan Collins has written an excellent take on organ donation and the after effects. People may have good intentions or .... people might be just....good-hearted goofy women who think too much of love.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

What a ride! This book was nothing like I expected, in the very best way. During the first half of the story I thought the plot was going one way, when suddenly part two hits and we’re completely reversing course. I love when a suspense novel is able to “fool” me.

Rosie is such a multi-layered MC. She’s empathetic even while you’re screaming at her actions. I really enjoyed her POV - I felt like the author did a great job putting us in her head to see how she handled her heart transplant, family dynamics and friendships, her work, and that elusive thing called love. The mystery element was an added bonus, and this story kept me hooked from start to finish.

I think we’re all a little bit Rosie - a little bit naive, a little bit crazy (unhinged), worried about being alone, worried about not meeting everyone else’s expectations, just wanting to be loved. You just can’t help rooting for her!

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I love stalker-y vibes in a thriller, and this book delivered!

Rosie had a heart transplant a year ago, and she’s convinced she knows whose heart she received. She becomes fixated on connecting with the donors husband, who is a well known mystery writer.

This book will keep you on your toes! I loved the way it was told, the chapters were perfectly paced and kept me intrigued. I definitely recommend the read!

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ARC

I enjoyed it! The first half had me on edge, and the plot twists were well done. The ending felt a little predictable, and I would have loved to see more dual POV, but overall, it was interesting.

Rosie connects with the husband of her heart transplant donor, and the bond they begin to form over email is undeniable. Rosie, a sucker for love (she works in a bridal shop for goodness sake) and recently broken up with her fiance, finds herself dreaming about meeting him in real life. It doesn't hurt to discover he's the famous author who lives nearby. This thriller examines the fine line between being crazy and being in love. It has the reader feeling gaslighted and unsure who to believe. But the ending gets a bit too far-fetched for my tastes. With a few tweaks, this would have been a brilliant thriller, but it lacked that shimmer. Apparently there are plenty of Taylor Swift references, so if you're a Swiftie, maybe this will be your thing!

Oh. My. God. RIP to all the responsibilities I had this week because they were all abandoned for this book. Cross My Heart is one of the best thrillers I’ve read in a while!! At about 50% there was a massive twist that I never expected, which is a testament to how good the writing is. I was so sure I knew what was going to happen but I was so so wrong

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
4/5 stars

From start to finish, Cross My Heart, is a wild ride that kept me on the edge of my seat. At no point could I predict where exactly this book was going to take me, leaving me engaged up till from the very end. While the ultimate twist is a little on the nose, it doesn’t undermine the rest of the plot hooks. Truly a story of encouraging both women’s rights and wrongs. A super enjoyable read for fans of the thriller genre and lovers of Taylor Swift.

Collin’s is a master at the thriller genre. This book was a wild ride from start to finish. It keeps you engaged till the end with plenty of twists and turns .
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

Cross My Heart is my first novel by Megan Collins and I’m happy to say it was a hit! A psychological thriller that I did not want to put down. The twists and turns the book took had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I honestly thought that I had it figured out. Was so proud of myself…boy was I wrong! I did not see that ending coming. Such a great book, I definitely recommend it.
Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books and Megan Collins for this advanced copy

Meet my new favorite Megan Collins book! Cross My Heart is an addictive psychological thriller that's so unique. I was completely entranced by this multilayered suspenseful tale of obsession. The theme song is "Don't Blame Me" by Taylor Swift. 😉 There could be a whole Taylor playlist put to this book but that's the main one I'd choose.

The main character Rosie loves Taylor and so does Megan Collins hence the song mention. (Don't worry, you don't have to be a Swiftie to enjoy this book. You also shouldn't avoid it if you don't like Taylor. She's only mentioned a few times. Don't let hate make you miss out on a good thing!)

Rosie Lachlan is unlucky in love. With every relationship that doesn't work out she becomes increasingly desperate to find The One. It doesn't help that she works in her parent's bridal shop and has to be confronted with everything she can't have every day. Her latest breakup takes a toll on her and leads to a heart condition she always had being discovered.

She luckily gets a transplant in time and the heart belonged to the wife of a famous local author. Rosie is still living on borrowed time and the desperation to not live whatever time she has left alone gets stronger. So she uses something called DonorConnect that lets her chat anonymously with the husband Morgan.

They have an instant connection. Their relationship plays out through their chats but also through emails Morgan sends to his best friend. It all seems like the start of a perfect albeit unorthodox relationship. But Rosie learns more about how Morgan's wife died and how he's suspected of killing her. She can't help but learn more about her and their marriage.

I don't want to spoil anything so that's all I'll say. Megan Collins is so good at creating slow burning suspense with a character driven plot and beautiful writing. Cross My Heart is no exception. There's a shocking moment that takes you into part two that leads to a huge WTF?! twist and you will not be able to stop reading!

In case you couldn't tell, I really loved this book, haha. I highly recommend everyone reads Cross My Heart.

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

I love Megan Collins. Her books always scratch that dark thriller itch I crave. I don’t think the twist is super shocking, I think any casual thriller reader can see it coming but it’s still a very entertaining book.

When heart transplant recipient Rosie begins corresponding with her donor's widower, famous author Morgan Thorne, Rosie begins to wonder if Morgan may have had something to do with her donor's death.

This is the first book in quite some time that had me floored at an unexpected twist halfway through the book. The first half of the book was really fast-paced and entertaining and I liked the multiple perspectives of it. While I admit after the twist, the second half was a little less exciting, but I was super intrigued to keep writing and find out what was going on. I had no idea what to expect and did not figure out the ending whatsoever. There were so many different possibilities and red herrings which I absolutely loved. Rosie was such a wild card and while she wasn't terribly likeable, I was still rooting for her. Overall I would definitely recommend this one.

Wow, this was a fun, unique read. It got to be a bit over the top at the end, and some of the twists I found hard to swallow, but I really enjoyed reading this novel.

CROSS MY HEART
Megan Collins

I was staying in Morro Bay when I read this book, in the midst of summer, in the middle of a heat wave. I received three books in the span of ten seconds. All from Atria with the subject line “ Your weekend is booked.”

This was the one I was the most excited about, the one I couldn’t wait to read. I picked it up and finished it that afternoon. I loved it and I think you will too. It comes out in the middle of January, and you should add it to your Goodreads WANT TO READ shelf, because you don’t want to be late on this one. Someone will assuredly spoil it for you.

Her parents have been married for a lifetime. Love and fidelity are all she knows. She spends her days selling wedding gowns and half-baked dreams to young soon-to-be brides. And spends her nights pondering her future.

She was engaged at one point. In a life that feels like it was lived by someone else. He left her at the altar and literally broke her heart. Days after the break-up she would find her heart did not work the same way, the way it should. To heal she would need a new heart. She would need someone to die.

The man she messages at night is a writer. His emails are golden. With her new heart, she falls in love. What she doesn’t know is what parts of her have fallen, and what he doesn’t know is her little secret, for now.

This was good. This was really good. The concept is a winner and brought to fruition successfully. The twists had me at every turn. I enjoyed Collin’s prior thriller, THE FAMILY PLOT, but I liked this one more.

Desperation was a running theme that propelled every character and informed their choices. It was palpable and you could feel it in every move they made. Each character introduced was more desperate than the last. And you really couldn’t tell how far they would go to get what they wanted. And I had no clue how it would end until the last final pages.

So good, so fun. One of best coming next year and there are a lot of contenders.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy and for booking my weekend!

CROSS MY HEART...⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cross my Heart is another amazing thriller by Megan Collins! Thank you NetGalley for another amazing read, I can’t wait to read more novels by Megan Collin’s!

This book was sooooo fun!!!! I love a twisty thriller!

Rosie, receives the heart of the wife of a famous author in her town, and begins corresponding with him via a website called "DonorConnect." Rosie begins fixating on him and thinks they'd be perfect together. Rosie has typically been unlucky in love, and often fixates on men. What could go wrong?

I loved this book! Rosie, as an unreliable narrator (yet in my opinion, likable even though you wanted to shake her sometimes!), the emails and donor connect messages to keep the story moving, the unexpected twists -- I had a great time reading this.

I thought I had it figured out a few times and totally did not. I will definitely explore more of Megan Collins' books now!

Thanks so much to Netgalley for the ARC - all opinions are my own.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for this arc. I received this book in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts are entirely my own.

In this book we meet Rosie who had a heart transplant and decides to contact the husband of her donor who happens to be a thriller writer from her hometown. Rosie works at her parents wedding dress store. Rosie starts to fantasize about the husband named Morgan whose wife Daphne died after hitting her head. Morgan blames himself for her death. Rosie starts to wonder if he did it and befriends people that either knew him or his wife. Morgan begins to write a thriller about a woman who had a heart transplant and when Rosie goes to his house to talk to him she finds him with a knife in him. Rosie is instantly a suspect after they find pink hair on the body. The hair comes back as not Rosie’s and she finds out that a women with a similar experience with an ex was pretending to be her. Rosie finds out that Morgan’s best friend who was also an ex killed both Morgan and Daphne. At the end of the book Rosie starts to obsess with the detective that was on Morgan’s case. This book was very interesting and I did not guess the bad guy properly. This book is a must read for 2025.