Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

This is one of the first books I've read where I've felt sympathy for both the parent and the child. Most of the time, I'm sympathetic either to the parent (who has to deal with a child acting out) or the child (if the parent is the cause of the problem).

Heartbeat follows Emma as she has to deal with the fact that her mom is pregnant - while brain dead. She believes that her step-father is preserving her mom's body only so he can get the child he always wanted. Emma cannot stand to see her mom dead-but-alive, especially when there's no hope for her. And while she's acting out (by not studying), she meets 'bad boy' Caleb - who (of course), turns out just to be misunderstood.

Personally, I wasn't interested in the love story. The whole emotionally-hurting-girl-meets-misunderstood-bad-boy is a fairly common plot. What I was interested in was the debate over whether you should keep a woman alive just for her to give birth to her child. If she wanted this child, of course they should do whatever is necessary, but what if, like Emma, you think that your mom only wanted the child because she loved her husband? I can see why Emma reacts the way she does.

And yet, her stepdad still loves her. From the start, I thought that he was doing her best to keep her life as normal as possible and giving her space. He's also a really nice person, since Emma's rude to him most of the time. That was why I could sympathise with both of them - Emma's reasons for acting out was understandable, and the way her stepdad handled the situation was admirable too. I just wish that her relationship with her stepdad was the main focus of the book (rather than the romance). It would be interesting to see how this blended family will live, especially after the birth of her little brother.

If you're looking for a romance book that's a little different from the rest, you should give this a read.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.