Women who are slightly unhinged, make the best thriller characters.

Rosie is a recent transplant recipient who decides to contact the donor's husband via an anonymous website called Donor Connect. Once the two start messaging, Rosie gets a little too attached a little too quickly. When it comes to love, Rosie is known for being obsessive and ignoring red flags, so when she finds some suspicious information, of course she runs full steam ahead. Enjoyed all the twists and was thoroughly confused on who to trust!

Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books, and the author for giving me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Cross My Heart is about a love-sick heart transplant patient who seemingly falls in love with the surviving husband of her heart donor. She connects with him online and they share anonymous messages until their stories tangle together in a way they can no longer stay separated.

While the writing style is rich and beautifully crafted, the story, for me, fell flat. As a thriller, the audience should pick up breadcrumbs that lead to a thrilling and unexpected ending that makes sense when that final reveal ties together all those breadcrumbs we’ve been picking up along the way.

However, what we get here is a significant effort to lead the audience to other characters as suspects when it doesn’t make sense because there’s no real motivation behind it. It feels like fluff and distracts from the meat of the story.

The story relies heavily on fluff, in fact. The author spends most of the time ruminating on past thoughts, relationships, and experiences. So much time is spent in the past that when we get back to the present, the intensity of the current action is diminished and we lose an opportunity to build suspense.

Because of this tendency to ruminate, when we do get action, it feels like it comes out of nowhere and is too sudden without having tension and suspense behind it. We're missing that drive to keep turning the page

What I did love about this novel was the author's use and command of language. Descriptive phrases like “someone’s gaze leaches onto me. I feel the bite of it.” Or “I manage a nod. Swallow saliva that’s turned acidic.” These phrases are visual and visceral. They provoke a feeling deeper than “someone’s watching me” or “I gulp down my throat.” This is mastery and the main reason I kept reading.

I received an ARC of this title for review before publication. The comments I've made above may or may not be relevant at the time of publication. Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to review this title.

*infatuation
*obsession
*murder

Pulled me right in from the first chapter and kept my attention throughout.

Very kind and giving, as well as being recipient of a donor hear (Rosie also needs a new spine when it comes to men), Rosie manages her family’s bridal boutique and is single. She begins messaging the widower of her heart donor and figures out he’s a local famous author due to his responses. As they continue messaging, Rosie becomes a little obsessed, taking notes about him on her phone. And now I’m not sharing anything more except for Rosie,sweetie, please get some therapy because, yes, this book made me hate these characters while keeping me turning the pages.

I didn’t see where this was going until fairly into the book. That was nice.



Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the DRC

I gave this book 3 stars. It did not feel like a page turner to me and was a little confusing with the 2 Rosie’s.

Unreliable narrators. Twists and turns. Couldn’t put it down. Kept me guessing until the end. Fun read!

Thank you Megan Collins and #netgalley for the ARC.

•My face after finishing this one —😳🤯🫢🫨😧!!!
Megan Collins latest is a spectacular and mind boggling must read.

•Rosie was the recipient of a heart transplant. Months after receiving her new heart, she begins communicating with her donor’s husband. She falls fast and hard for him. Things start taking a darker turn as she learns more and more about him and his deceased wife.

•Cross My Heart will be available on January 14, 2025. Thank you to NetGalley, Megan Collins, and Atria books for this ARC.

This was a really creative premise - I'm always so excited to read a plot that I don't feel like I've read before. While there were a few areas in the middle that felt a little muddled to me (especially when getting to Part 2, I wondered what on earth was going on) I overall enjoyed the story and had a hard time putting it down between reading sessions

Such a heartfelt crazy wild ride of a read. This book has everything, and I definitely enjoyed resding it. A slew of characters that are easy to keep track of and kind of relate to parts of their stories.
Glad I was given a change to review this book. Throughly enjoyed reading it.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an early release of this book.

I sped through this book in less than a day — ask my annoyed children who wanted me to be reading to them instead lol. This has such an interesting premise, and there are so many red herrings and twists and turns! A truly addictive thriller.

I wavered back and forth with this title and decided to land it right in the middle, so to speak. On one hand, the author does an excellent job of making this book about young women and their obsession and hunger for love, an obsession to not be able to put down:) The mystery and confusion swirled throughout and kept you guessing. On the other hand, I do feel this book is definitely better suited to the younger female demographic. It's very modern in the way of cultural/societal views on relationships (which is easy to see creates the inner conflict of these characters) and the issue that girls do not understand what love really is, and cannot recognize mentally unhealthy traits because they see it in every one of their peers. However, that also is what makes the story unhinged and like a car crash you can't stop watching. Overall, not too bad! #crossmyheart #megancollins #netgalley #goodreads

This one really caught my attention and I read this one in under a day! I thought I had everything figured out until about midway through where there was an incredible twist. Will read others by Megan Collins.

Wow this book ! If you love absolutely unhinged reads this is definitely for you!!

The plot follows Rosie, a recent heart transplant recipient who is anonymously talking with her donors husband via a medical app.

Rosie is definitely a questionable character, but one you can’t help but love!! She has a bit of a wild dating history and trouble with being in touch with reality at times. But she is also a hopeless romantic, a supportive friend and just an all round delightful human who loves quickly and deeply, it’s not her fault men think she’s “too much” .. right?

I LOVED the format of this book. It is split between Rosie’s present day POV, email exchanges between her and the donors husband, excerpts from a thriller authors book, excerpts of poetry and a journal style emails sent from the author to his friend. The different formats flow so well together weaving an overall picture of the story as it plays out in real time.

There are some big twists which come as a SHOCK but there’s nothing that excites me more than a complete 180 in a book plot where I’m left racing to figure out just exactly what is happening before the author reveals it to you.

Overall I LOVED this book, it’s the kind of book you fight between savouring and taking your time with or racing through all the pages because you’re desperate to see how it ends.

This book takes you on a wild ride and I loved every second!! I love Rosie’s character because she makes you feel like it’s okay to be a little crazy sometimes!

Thank you to Megan Collin’s and Atria books for the EARC!

Publish date - January 14th 2025

4 stars

My first Megan Collins novel ,but certainly not my last. This was such a fun twisty thriller!!!


Thank you NetGalley and Atria books for the arc in exchange for a honest review!!

This was a good, suspenseful read. Cross My Heart is a fast-paced thriller about Rosie, a heart transplant recipient, who becomes infatuated with her donor's husband. But, as she gets to know him she realizes things might not be a perfect as they seem.
Lots of twists and I didn’t figure any of them out!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.

Rosie, a pink haired heart transplant recipient, seeks out her donor’s widower…

Overall, I think this was a fast read with a lot of twists. The one thing that made me knock some stars off was the immaturity of the protagonist. While I understand that it may have played a part in her character, the constant Taylor Swift references were a bit cringey at times. My favorite part of this book was the heart transplant storyline, which I wish was more explored and focused on instead of the secondary characters. In sum, this was a fun and thrilling read, though a bit predictable. 3 stars.

4.5⭐️
when rosie receives a heart transplant, she learns her donors husband is a famous author. when connecting to him through the donor portal she develops an obsession with him. when learning the circumstances of his wife's death is suspicious- nothing is as it seems. this book kept me on the edge of my seat and i didn't know what was going to come next. i thoroughly enjoyed this book.

4.5 rounded up!

Rosie, the MC, is completely unhinged. A stage ten clinger - but is she evil? Or just desperate to be loved? That's the question I continuously asked myself throughout a majority of this book. I love an unreliable narrator, and Rosie was one of the best. I didn't trust her or her inner circle - which led to me inhaling this entire book because I needed a conclusion STAT.

The end of Part 1 had my jaw on the floor. I did NOT think this book was going in that direction, but I'm so glad it did. I couldn't put this down until I finished it. ADD THIS TO YOUR TBR. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Are you in the mood for a thriller? Then pick up Cross Mh Heart. It was a good time! I loved it! Pick this one up!

I'm so glad I gave this a shot! The plot description given is only a starting point and I spent the last half of the book with no idea what would happen. There are multiple excellent twists and suspects galore. I couldn't put it down.

Cross My Heart is a fast-paced thriller about Rosie, a heart transplant recipient, who becomes infatuated with her donor's husband. But, as she gets to know him she realizes things might not be a perfect as they seem.
I was hooked from the very beginning and when I wasn't reading I was thinking about it! I thought I had it all figured out, but @megancollinswriter tricked me again with her twists!
Cross My Heart comes out in January, 2025! Make sure you get your hands on a copy when it's released!