4.5 stars for Parker and Melody!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½

This book was so heart-wrenchingly beautiful. I teared up so many times while reading it. Parker and Melody are two beautiful characters. I loved their stories and seeing them come together.  Jennifer Hartmann has done an amazing job crafting such an original and realistic story. I will say she really put a reader through it though 😂. I experienced way too many emotions but I loved it. All in all I would 100% recommend this book!

Thank you to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books | Bloom Books for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of The Wrong Heart.

I got this ARC and IMMEDIATELY read it in less than 24 hours. Jennifer Hartmann knows how to rip your heart out mash it up and try to put it back together in the most beautiful way possible.

This is a story about loss and healing and finding love even in your darkest points in life. I got to the epilogue and was like "Oh I made it and didn't cry... WRONG". I spoke too soon. This was the most beautiful love story. I dont even know how to express how I feel after reading this book.

Melody has lost her husband in a tragic accident and is learning how to live without him. Parker has had a rough up bringing and seems to really not care how his life turns out. He is negative, rude and does not really care what other people think about him. He keeps to himself and tries to live life invisible. Melody is as described in the book sunshine she smiles even when she is struggling. She makes connections with Parker and Amelia at a group meeting and you can see her grow and impact their lives with her personality.

This book deals with some heavy topics like death, suicide, bullying, mental health, child harm. Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for this wonderful opportunity.

I first read The Wrong Heart in 2021 as an indie published book. Below is my review that I had posted. The Wrong Heart has stood the test of time. It is just as emotional and touching as it was the first time I read it. I am so thrilled that it will be traditionally published so that more readers will be able to experience the beautifully written story of Parker and Melody. Happy reading!

“All broken things can be fixed. The hard part is deciding that they’re worth fixing.”

Wow! Just wow! A complicated, beautiful love story. Jennifer Hartmann is a new-to-me author, and I am so glad I took a chance on her! Chapter one starts out emotional, intense and raw. I was consumed! The story flows and flows. There are several twists that had my jaw dropping.

“You don’t look like you belong here.” “I don’t?” “No. You remind me of sunshine… it’s too cold for you here.”

I wish I had the words to adequately describe my love for The Wrong Heart. Melody is a force to be reckoned with! Her heart is pure and beautiful. Her smile is everything. Her perception and patience is never-ending. And Parker, my sweet Parker! A bully. So raw. So dark. Their journey will have you turning the pages faster to see where it will end!

“People smile too much. I never understood it. Smiles should be saved for things that bring us real joy, and we give them away so easily, so carelessly. To strangers on the street—to people we don’t even like.”

I can't wait to more from Jennifer Hartmann!

#AuthorJenniferHartmann #TheWrongHeart #MelodyAndParker #romance #love #contemporaryromance

When Melody's husband dies, she knows she can still have a part of him in her life by keeping in touch with the man who received his heart. Melody then meets Parker at a suicide preventation group meeting and the two strike up a friendship.

It was so easy to feel Melody's conflict on whether to honor her husband and stay loyal or to give in to her feelings for Parker. The push and pull was genuine with both characters well written with their own flaws. Jennifer Hartmann's books always give me all the feels and this one was no different.

I love every book by Jennifer but this one is everything. The way Jennifer writes is unmatched. Her characters have so much depth and I feel every single emotion.

As someone who has lost their significant other, the grief in this book is so well written and realistic. I was crying along with Melody. I was in absolute despair with her. Don't get me started on the perfection that is a Jennifer Hartmann slow burn. Melody and Parker are everything.

I cannot wait to have this version on my bookshelf. Thank you!

The Wrong Heart hooked me from the first word. I wanted to do nothing but read this. It is so good. So healing. I love the dedication and appreciate it.
This is the story of Melody and Parker. Both have lived through horrible trauma. Their ways of handling that trauma are very different. They find their way to each other and grow.
I don't want to give anything away, but this is so well done. There were surprises that I didn't see coming. There is a part that felt left out, but I think it was intentional and serves its own purpose. This story is so well thought out and executed.
I can't recommend this enough. Get it now.

The Wrong Heart is an emotional journey that takes you through love, loss , grief , the depths of despair and hope. It’s angsty and raw and touches on many subjects that can be difficult to think about. Melody and Parker fight for themselves , each other , and ultimately a love and life so beautiful it makes it worth the pain they endured to get there. Jennifer Hartmann has a gift for making her readers feel every emotion and heartbreak and every smile and victory her characters experience. I loved this book. I’m certain that it will remain on the top of my list for a long long time.

Thank you to Jennifer Hartmann , Bloom Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this beautiful story!

This book was such an emotional read!!! I needed this. It was like an emotional cleanse for me.

Melody is dealing with loss and grief so deep and consuming it threatens to take her life. When she meets Parker at a suicide prevention group she is immediately drawn to him but his caustic personality ensures no one gets too close to him. What ensues is two broken people drawn together in a passionate exchange of truths and vulnerabilities in an effort to heal each other.

"So believe me when I say you're more than just an itch. You're a fucking revolution."

There are many poignant and emotional moments. I cried multiple times, but like I said, it was cleansing, a good cry. Really enjoyed it. I have been looking for something powerful with a gut punch and this fit the bill! Highly recommend!!

"Nobody's heart is wrong. We're given the heart that is meant for us, and if someone else doesn't see the beauty in it, it's not meant for them."

Jennifer Hartmann has a way of gripping your heart from the first page and keeping it until the end of the book. I enjoyed her 2020 novel Still Beating (psst there’s a nod to it in here) and I was excited to read another one of her books. I was lucky to get picked as an ARC Reader for Bloom Books on Netgalley.

re-release edition coming December 2024!

Immediately I was drawn to the characters. Each one a tragic figure who I wanted to find happiness. As they emailed back and forth I found myself smiling. I didn’t want to put the book down and I dreaded going to sleep or work because I just wanted to finish the book. LOL Melody is bright and sunshine with a past that hits you hard. So many times I wanted to hug her. I loved dark, brooding, emotionally detached Parker. His backstory will break your heart as well. The supporting characters were phenomenal too! These characters man! It’s so romantic and powerful!
I love the visual language in this book. Jennifer has a way with words. Almost poetic at times.

The spice was hot but grab your tissues!

You will like this one if you love the tropes
💜Love and loss
💜Hidden secrets
💜Unlikely friendship
💜Unexpected twist

💜💜💜💜💜💜

My Review
First of all thank you @netgalley for this book! Omg this book was amazing! It hooked me from the very beginning and didn’t let go. The twists were not expected at all. I loved Parker. Even though he was kinda a d*ck I loved him! I can fix him ya know? Lol this is a slow burn so if that’s not your thing then this won’t be the book for you. There’s a lot of loss and heartache. So far Jennifer has not disappointed me when it comes to her books. I have read Still Beating , Lotus , and the stars are on our side and loved every one of them.

✨ARC Book Review✨
Title: The Wrong Heart
Author: Jennifer Hartmann
Publication Date: Dec 31, 2024
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Two broken souls.
One used to be a ray of sunshine.
The other doesn't believe that life is worth living for.

Painfully Beautiful. The book captivated me from page one and had me ugly crying. Melody and Parker’s story is incredibly compelling, with these two flawed individuals who navigate life following trauma. Melody, a widow reaching out to the recipient of her late husband's heart in a last-ditch effort for connection. Parker, a tortured soul with a tragic past. His character is so complex, yet you can't help rooting for his redemption.

This story had everything. The lowest of the lows—the loss, the grief, the tragedy. The deception, the suffering, the rebuilding, the acceptance, the forgiveness, and lastly, the dancing. I was left speechless by the unexpected twists and turns.

Hartmann writes with such exquisite beauty that each moment feels intensely intimate. If you're looking for a heartwarming and heart wrenching story, this book is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books | Bloom Books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Such an emotional and captivating story with these two imperfect people moving through the motions of life after trauma and for Melody, more specifically tragedy. The writing is brilliant and had me in a chokehold. The characters will live in my head as they were so completely developed. I loved the role they had on each other's healing and the flow of their growth throughout the story. There were also friends and family that all took a significant role in the pages and I feel like I was right there with them, rooting for the two main characters' happiness even with a lot of tragedy within their lives as well.

Recommend to anyone looking for an emotional read with a lot of moments to pull on your heart strings.

It was an emotional roller coaster, a beautifully written story about love, hope, and happiness,I love the connection between Parker and Melody, I love how Parker grows and how he changes, how he finds meaning in his life. I love how Melody finds the strength to keep fighting and find her happiness. It is a great book, I am satisfied and it has all the best recommendations from me.

I will admit that I had my doubts about this book for the first 25%. From there, the story really picked up.

I’m this novel we follow Melody who loses her husband in a tragic incident. Not able to live with herself without him, she tries to kill herself. However, she survives and starts attending a suicide prevention support group. There she meets Parker. Parker is a huge negative Nancy and wants to stay away from Melody but she has other plans to break down his walls. In the meantime, Melody discovers the recipient of her husband’s heart and has been writing to him. Will Melody find the strength to keep moving and live for herself?

I really enjoyed this novel. It wasn’t rushed but it wasn’t slow either. The plot was engaging and kept me wanting to read more.

The characters were great. I really enjoyed the siblings and how they all were so dynamic and unique. I especially loved Amelia. She was such a pure, innocent character. I wanted to reach through the book and hug her and Nutmeg.

I am happy justice was served in the end. I wonder though if Parker and Melody put the clues together.

I loved everything but I wish the author had left out the Epilogue. It made me really sad when I felt like the characters had already been through so much. I wanted to live in the HEA a little bit longer.

*An ARC was received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley & Bloom books for the arc in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published 31 December 2024

When Melody’s husband dies, her world falls apart, she needs to hold onto him with every chance she can get. So she emails the recipient of her husband’s donated heart. What can go wrong with one email?
Insert Parker, an emotionally unavailable, trauma filled woman hater who was abused as a child.
When Parker and Melody meet at Lifelines, the suicide prevention centre, something draws them together like a magnet..
I knew once reading the sypnosis of this book it was going to be emotional. I read this one in 3 days, very hard to put down!
It’s about two people who are tremendously damaged, Melody has lost love and Parker has never felt love. It’s a beautiful, raw story of the two finding each other.
This book will have you ugly crying, laughing and giggling, gasping at the plot twists and will brake your heart and put it back together. It’s a whole 360 of emotions in one book. Definitely recommend reading if you’re after an impactful read.

This book was a fantastic quick book that will have you in tears by the end. I loved the two main characters and the story they each had and by the end they come together and overcome so much in such a short amount of time.

The abrupt knife to the chest this book gives you. 💔 I read it when it was indie published and read it again, now as an arc for its traditional release.
Jennifer knows how to twist your heart with these complex ethical issues that give true pause.

You really hurt for Melody …. “But I suppose grief doesn’t take age into consideration—it just takes what it wants when it wants it. Grief is the most selfish thing in this world.”

I went through all the emotions with Parker. Kind of hated him. Loved him. Felt so bad for him…. Hated him again. 😂

Jennifer, you are an artist!

First and foremost, my thanks to NetGalley and Bloom Books (Source Books) for this ARC ebook before the rerelease.

Jennifer Hartmann! You really like to put your readers through the wringer, don’t you? Cause my god, I was feeling all the feels reading this book!

Chapter 1 already had me ugly crying. Chapter 1 people.. chapter 1 and I was hooked. I was quite literally, sobbing at one point, laughing out loud at others, to feeling poignant and worried, to angry and appalled back to laughing out loud. It was such a rollercoaster!

Melody & Parker’s complexity and emotional heart wrenching stories, really pulls you in and making you engulfed in all their angst, all of their pain these two have gone through individually and together. But they were what each of other needed in their lives.

Parker’s inner monologue was definitely the highlight for me and made him an instant favorite among fictional men I adore.

Melody’s strength and ability to keep trying to shine, especially in the service of others while being overcast by the dark winter night of her own lost was really inspiring and just made you root for her to find herself again.

This book was so beautifully written and represented awareness of attempting and wanting to self harm. This story shows how everyone can have a darkness within them and can be broken but it doesn’t mean you are beyond repair. I feel like it just means more light can shine through the cracks of your broken pieces. With time and some help you can find a starting point.

If you’re not new to this author then you’ll know your heart is going to break, heal and break all over again. Another must read from her and a true masterpiece

Jennifer Hartmann's The Wrong Heart is an emotional rollercoaster that shattered me and lovingly pieced me back together. This deeply moving story explores the rawness of loss, the complexity of healing, and the unexpected ways love finds us even in the darkest places.

The premise is both haunting and beautiful—a widow reaching out to the recipient of her late husband's heart. What begins as a desperate act of connection blossoms into an unforgettable journey of grief, forgiveness, and second chances. The twists and turns were as unexpected as they were poignant, leaving me breathless and teary-eyed, yet always clinging to hope.

Hartmann’s prose is achingly beautiful, making every moment feel deeply personal. The characters are flawed, real, and utterly unforgettable, each carrying scars that resonate deeply. Despite the heavy themes, the story shines with moments of tenderness, reminding us of the resilience of the human heart.

This book isn't just a story; it's an experience—one that left me emotionally spent but deeply satisfied. If you're ready for a read that will break you and then rebuild you, The Wrong Heart is a journey you’ll never forget.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for the opportunity to receive the ARC.