When I say I loved this book, I truly mean it. At first I wasn’t sure what to expect but it just kept getting better with every chapter. It was emotional, raw, and heartbreakingly real with a touch of the extraordinary that felt completely grounded. The story was beautifully written and the concept was unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It had me hooked from start to finish.
Maggie’s journey felt so honest and vulnerable. After a life changing heart transplant, she tries to play it safe until one morning she wakes up in someone else’s life with someone else’s face. What follows is a magical and moving exploration of identity, healing, and love. Imagine following your heart, when your heart isn’t yours.
Coral Sinclair’s narration was absolutely stunning and added even more depth to an already powerful story. I’m honestly so sad it’s over. I wish I could experience it all again for the first time. Huge thanks to the amazing Emma Steele and NetGalley for the chance to read this early. I feel incredibly lucky. Five stars all the way.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. It was quite gripping and I listened at every opportunity.
I thought the narrator did a good job, particularly with all of the different accents.
It made me cry in several places, it definitely hit my emotions, and also made me reflect.
I was sad for Emily, but happy that Maggie was given a chance to actually live!
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fascinating story of one woman, living two very different lives. Her new heart wants her to see how much life there is to be lived…for her!

I listened to the audiobook which was very well narrated by Coral Sinclair. There were a lot of different accents, and she did a great job with them.

This is a very emotional story, with many twists. At the end of the book I felt like I had watched a very powerful film (please do make this book into a film). A fiction book has never moved me so much. Tears in my eyes.

The later part is very suspenseful as you do not know how things will turn out for the main characters. There’s a wonderful ending. Highly recommend.

I received an advance copy via NetGalley and this is my honest, voluntary review.

This was such a unique book! Maggie is a heart transplant recipient who has a health scare & wakes up one morning to find herself in her donor’s body, before her death. Maggie tries to piece together what happened in Emily’s life that brought about her death. This was a very emotional book, but it felt so cavalier with respect to Emily’s loved ones. It wasn’t just the Maggie show so I couldn’t settle in knowing that everything was based on secrets and lies. That said, if you’re looking for a “what if” emotional tale, this will fit the bill!

As an organ donor I thought this story was an interesting one.
Told from the pov of Maggie who has a life threatening heart condition and has lived her life cautiously and quietly as her health has slowly deteriorated. She eventually gets a heart transplant but can’t bring herself to start to live a bigger life with her new heart. On the first anniversary of receiving the heart she collapses and when she awakes she finds herself living two years in the past in the body of Emily, Maggie’s donor. This story encourages readers to live everyday to its fullest. It also focuses on the guilt organ recipients can feel after receiving donated organs and the burden they feel they are to their families and friends.
The narrator did a great job in alternating between Scottish, English and Canadian accents and bringing the emotions to the words.
Thank you to Netgalley and Bolinda Audio for the arc audiobook for review.

The Love of Our Lives is the story of Maggie, a young woman who has been living a very limited life due to having had a heart transplant. Her family had already suffered loss and it seemed to me that she felt she had to live cautiously so as not to cause any more hurt. She felt a lot of guilt and grief as a result of this loss and didn’t want to do anything to risk her new heart.

Except that this isn’t really Maggie’s story. One day she awakens in someone else’s flat, living their life but with her own memories. Okay so this is impossible but don’t worry, you will absolutely believe that Maggie is living Emily’s life! There are stories of transplant patients claiming to have memories of their donor’s lives so strange things do happen. For a year, Maggie gets to live in Emily’s healthy body and enjoy all the things she has been unable to do in her own life. I really can’t say much more about the plot as I don’t want to give anything away!

The narrator Coral Sinclair was a pleasure to listen to with her gentle voice bringing the cast of characters to life. She had a lot of different accents to contend with and did so admirably.

Oh my poor heart! This is a wonderful story about second chances and living life to the full. Maggie has quite a dilemma to contend with and the author gives her readers quite the dilemma too. Decisions have to be made and what is the right one? Rather like Maggie, I wasn’t sure how this impossible decision could be made.

The Love of Our Lives is a wonderful story full of love and life with such wonderful characters who you will take to your hearts. Special mention here for Emily’s neighbours William and Adam and her friends Charlie and Sven. This is a very emotional read and although I couldn’t decide how I wanted it to end as I was listening, I have to say that I think Emma Steele concluded her story in a most satisfying and uplifting way. I loved it!

Maggie has a heart transplant and is too scared to push herself and lives quite a sheltered life. A year later, Maggie wakes up in a body that isn’t hers. Will it help her live life to the fullest?

Oh my goodness Emma has done it again!! I loved this book so much 🥹.

I don’t want to give too much away since it’s still a few months until publication but I loved this from start to finish!

I just love the way that Emma writes! I love the fact that I could just keep reading and reading without stopping. Not sure what she puts into her writing but it’s definitely addictive! I also feel like each of the characters was so well done that I could totally understand each of them.

A beautifully written and thought-provoking book centring around Maggie, the recipient of a donor heart. Maggie feels she has to live life conservatively in order to honour the gift she has been given and protect her new heart. However, when she suddenly wakes up in a different body, the one of Emily, who was her heart donor, she is given time and experiences to reflect on many deep and meaningful issues which challenge this perspective.
Whilst the book is obviously a fantasy, the way in which it is written truly makes you believe that Maggie really is living as Emily for the year prior to her death.
The audiobook was beautifully narrated and added to the enjoyment of this highly recommended and unique book.
I am grateful to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced listener copy of this book.

When you've spent your whole life being careful, protecting yourself, always assessing the risk, what happens when you have the chance to actually live?

This is Maggie's story, but it's actually Emily's, don't worry, it'll all make sense. I really enjoyed the premise of the story & the way it unravelled. I'm not sure I was fully on board with some of the decisions made along the way, but it made for an entertaining story. There were some great side characters as well, which I always love, William was a favourite. The narration was great on this one, the characters were all distinctive & it was a really easy listen.

This is a story of love, family, grief & what it means to finally live.

Firstly thank you to NetGalley and Bolinda Audio for an audio arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book is so heartwarming and thought-provoking—it really makes you stop and think about life and how we’re living it. Some parts might not be totally realistic, but honestly, it feels real because it’s written so beautifully. The characters are lovely and really easy to connect with, and the narrator did such a great job bringing all the emotions to life. A gorgeous, feel-good read.

Thank you to Mountain Leopard Press and NetGalley for the prepublication copy of this book in return for an honest review. I honestly loved it!
I find that audio books rely heavily on their narrator to be successful, and Coral Sinclair is excellent. She has a lovely book to work with, the storyline is very different, it’s told with beautifully emotional depictions of the main characters and descriptions of their life experiences. Although there is a fanciful, unreal element to the tale, it becomes almost believable in its telling. Maggie learns from these experiences that she needs to live her life in a very different way than she has been, and I’m sure that will resonate with a lot of readers. It’s a very warming, inspiring, uplifting message with a love story or two woven in. I highly recommend this book and hope there will be more from Emma Steele.

A brilliant book that gave me "Sliding Doors" vibes, and that's always a good thing!

Maggie has a heart condition and when she is given the life-changing offer of a transplant, she is, of course, delighted, but is also conscious that in order for her to live a full life, another family has suffered a loss. And so Maggie is very careful, determined to take good care of the heart she has been given, the life she almost didn't have, but that's not the way to go; life is for living! One day, Maggie wakes up to find she is now Emily, the original owner of her heart, and she has gone back in time by one year. Maggie realises that she now has an opportunity, knowing that Emily will die in 12 months time, to live life to the fullest and make the most of every moment before it's too late.

I absolutely adored this! Navigating Emily's final year of life through, and alongside, Maggie, I came to adore both women. There were some clever links between their lives and some really life affirming moments. I was wondering throughout whether Maggie would have the chance to choose whether to save Emily, or to return to her own life and if so, which option would she choose? Which life is more important? More meaningful?

So well written and gorgeous characters I now feel so attached to. Utterly wonderful and Coral Sinclair's narration brought them all to life so much more.

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Emma Steele and the publisher for an ARC of this book.