Review: Heartbeat – Elizabeth Scott

Posted January 23, 2014 by Andi in Books, Review / 0 Comments

Review: Heartbeat – Elizabeth ScottHeartbeat by Elizabeth Scott
Published by Harlequin
Published: January 28th 2014
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Life. Death. And...Love?

Emma would give anything to talk to her mother one last time. Tell her about her slipping grades, her anger with her stepfather, and the boy with the bad reputation who might be the only one Emma can be herself with.

But Emma can't tell her mother anything. Because her mother is brain-dead and being kept alive by machines for the baby growing inside her.

Meeting bad-boy Caleb Harrison wouldn't have interested Old Emma. But New Emma-the one who exists in a fog of grief, who no longer cares about school, whose only social outlet is her best friend Olivia-New Emma is startled by the connection she and Caleb forge.

Feeling her own heart beat again wakes Emma from the grief that has grayed her existence. Is there hope for life after death-and maybe, for love?

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



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I have gone back and forth on some Elizabeth Scott books in the past. The first two I read I really loved and the last one was just okay. It had been a while since I read a book by Scott and when I was trying to pick what to read over Thanksgiving a friend said you can’t go wrong with a Scott book. So I swallowed down how I felt about the last book I read by her and started Heartbeat. Actually, started and finished and cried my eyes out in a day would be more accurate. It was pretty fantastic.

Heartbeat is the story of Emma, a high school student that once had it all. She had the grades, she had the best friend, she had the great family. But now Emma’s grades are slipping, she is fighting with her stepfather, pushing her best friend away, and hanging out with the rich guy with the bad reputation. Emma wishes she could talk to her mom about all of this but the problem is that her mom is the cause if everything that is happening because her mother is dead. She is being kept alive by machines to keep the baby inside her healthy. Emma is so angry at the situation she has just fallen apart and doesn’t know what to do. And when bad boy Caleb enters the scene and there is connection between them Emma may just be in for more than she bargained for in the term of love.

I seriously wanted to just hug Emma from the beginning to the end of this book. My heart broke for this poor kid having to go through what she was going through while being filled with so much anger and sadness. She felt betrayed by her mother for leaving her Dan for making this life altering decision and by herself for having these feelings she was having. She legit broke my heart and as much as I loved her having her bestie Olivia by her side, I was thrilled when Caleb came into the picture. Unlike Olivia, who was supportive, Caleb was able to understand better. He was able to know more about what Emma was going through since he had been through a tragedy himself that led him down a path of destruction to himself and his reputation. To me their romance was perfectly timed and really well done and fit in well with the story. Caleb became her crutch but also just what Emma needed

The part of the book that got me the most was the premise. It actually got me thinking as I read and had me putting myself in both Emma’s shoes and those of her stepfather, Dan. It made me wonder what is the right thing to do in a horrendous situation like this one. What’s fair and what is selfish? Who is the right party and who is the wronged one? It’s both moral and ethical and a position no one ever wants to be in. I understood both sides which to me made the book all the more compelling and cry worthy. It told a story that was filled with emotion and feelings that felt real.

So yes, Heartbeat was a crazy tearjerker but a tearjerker that was worth the heartbreak in the end.

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