Things We Know By Heart | Jessi Kirby | Book Review

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

In this unforgettable teen romance that fans of Sarah Dessen and Susane Colasanti will devour, Quinn Sullivan falls for the recipient of her boyfriend's donated heart, forming an unexpected connection that will leave readers utterly breathless.
After Quinn's boyfriend, Trent, dies in an accident their junior year, she reaches out to the recipients of his donated organs in hopes of picking up the fragments of her now-unrecognizable life. But whoever received Trent's heart has mysteriously remained silent. The essence of a person, Quinn has always believed, is in the heart. If she finds Trent's, then in a way she still has a piece of him.
Risking everything to find peace once and for all, Quinn goes outside the system to track down nineteen-year-old Colton Thomas—a guy whose life has been forever changed by this priceless gift. But what starts as an accidental run-in quickly develops into more, sparking an undeniable attraction. She doesn't want to give in to it—especially since he has no idea how they're connected—but their time together has made Quinn feel alive again. No matter how hard she's falling for Colton, each beat of his heart reminds her of all she's lost . . . and all that remains at stake.

Things We Know By Heart by Jessi Kirby is a book that I have been looking forward to reading for awhile, and just recently I had a bit of time and was able to add it to my reading rotation. Perhaps my expectations were a bit high or I was under stress or something. Unfortunately, Kirby’s latest book failed to impress me on the same level as Golden. I did enjoy Things We Know By Heart, but I did not love it. It just never really fully captivated me, I guess.

Jessi Kirby’s Things We Know By Heart is about this girl named Quinn. Quinn has experienced a terrible tragedy – her boyfriend Trent was killed when he was struck by a vehicle. Trent’s death, however, seemed to have a purpose as he was an organ donor and those organs mean life for so many other people. And so, the book begins with Quinn meeting the recipients of Trent’s organs, after she has written to them as a way of closure. Quinn has met all of them except for one, the person who has received Trent’s heart. That person, she somehow finds with some Google magic. And so, Quinn sets out to his beach town which is like half an hour away. There, she stops for coffee and just so happens to meet Colton by accident. Turns out, there is some sort of undeniable attraction there. Yet, Quinn cannot decipher if it is because of Colton himself or because he has Trent’s heart. Also, PS, Colton has no idea about the Quinn-Trent-heart connection, so of course things are about to get a bit interesting in Things We Know By Heart.

I am still a bit unsure of how I feel about Quinn. For me, she was sort of hard to connect with in the beginning. I mean, I think that what I liked was all the people in connection with her — her parents, her sister, and her grandmother. She is grieving as the book starts and very depressed. She has given up doing things that she loves – namely running. I liked that this book was kind of her way of coming back to herself- meaning, moving forward, finding closure and getting healthy again – mentally. I did think that it was not exactly a great thing of Quinn to just violate someone’s privacy for the sake of her closure and also, not telling Colton about the connection they share. I mean, it’s just a terrible thing to do. Granted, there would be no book if she just was honest and used communication in the first place. Still, I was just not as big a fan of her character as I was with Parker from Golden.

Colton, the romantic lead in Things We Know By Heart by Jessi Kirby kind of gets the shaft a little bit. I mean, he falls for this girl who is essentially lying to him the whole time by omission. I get that her deceit is for a kind of good reason – but still. It comes off as a little creepy. Anyways, so Colton as a character is pretty great. I mean, he’s realistic in that he receives this heart and wants to live life to the fullest. He hates that he has to take anti-rejection medication and just wants to be out on the ocean kayaking again. He maybe does not make the best decisions, but hey, he gets a second chance at life and is a teenager, so I suppose that is to be expected. I thought that he actually did pair well with Quinn, too.

So, perhaps my non-enthusiasm with Things We Know By Heart is that it took me much longer than expected to read. I’ve read two of Kirby’s books in a day. So, I was expecting the same with this one. It actually took me around a week or so to plug away in until I finished. I never felt grabbed or compelled to read this book. I am not sure if it was personal circumstance or that I just never truly gelled with this book. Either way, I consider my experience to be a one off experience and I fully plan on reading more Kirby books in the future. I also think that you should give this book a chance as well — my experience with it is likely due to personal extenuating circumstances – being busy and just in need of perhaps a different kind of book. It’s likely that you will enjoy Things We Know By Heart much more than I did.

Other Reviews Of Things We Know By Heart by Jessi Kirby:

The Perpetual Page Turner - “Beautiful prose in this one as I’ve come to expect!”

Effortlessly Reading - “didn’t make me feel anything but boredom”

YA Love Blog - “made my heart swell”

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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