Things We Know by Heart

Author: Jessi Kirby

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary.

Publisher: HarperTeen

Year: 2015

Ranking: 3,5/ 5

 Synopsis

When Quinn Sullivan meets, the recipient of her boyfriend has donated heart, the two form an unexpected connection.

After Quinn loses her boyfriend, Trent, in an accident their junior year, she reaches out to the recipients of his donated organs in hopes of picking up the pieces of her now-unrecognizable life. She hears back from some of them, but the person who received Trent’s heart has remained silent. The essence of a person, she has always believed, is in the heart. If she finds Trent’s, then maybe she can have peace once and for all. 

Risking everything in order to finally lay her memories to rest, 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. However, what starts as an accidental run-in quickly develops into more, sparking an undeniable attraction. She does not want to give in to it—especially since he has no idea how they are connected—but their time together has made Quinn feel alive again. No matter how hard she is falling for Colton, each beat of his heart reminds her of all she is lost…and all that remains at stake.

The Author

Jessi Kirby was born and raised in Mammoth Lakes, CA. She earned her BA in English Literature from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and went on to become a middle and high school English teacher. In addition to writing, Jessi works full time as a middle school librarian in Orange County, CA, where she lives with her husband and two children. 

Personal Experience with This Book

I do not remember exactly what was the reason why I added this book to my TBR, it is just that it had been there a long time and I felt it was time to read it. It was a short book and contemporary so I tend to read them quickly and I thought it would help me get me out of my reading slump in which I have found in the past two months.

What caught my attention was definitely its central theme: organ transplants. It is a topic that I have not read that much about, and I liked how the author manages to present it in a way, not only realistic but also adding a touch of surrealism that I personally liked. Within the story, we learn how Trent’s heart, Quinn's boyfriend ends up in the body of Colton and how this event makes the two of them connect in some way. But we see what happens to Colton’s life after his transplant and how the life of a recipient of an organ is not always the fairy tale story that one might think. I liked it because I learned something I did not know and it is always good to learn new things.

As for the characters, in general I must say that I felt all, except Colton, too flat. It is very strange because you see Quinn from a first person perspective, she is the one who tells you her story, and yet I failed to connect with her or her family. Her situation seems sad but it was also a little bit obsessive; the way she counts the days since Trent died, the way she leaves school or try to contact Colton is something that scared me at some point. Colton captive me at some point. This person feels he has the desire to live and at the same time, he is not happy at all. Although we were only looking at him from the perspective of Quinn, I felt like the issue of the transplant did not make him happy. That captive me a lot about him because he left as a mystery, something you want to discover along with Quinn.

The romance of thtwo of them I give it a 3 ... I found it cute but not like "WOW CUTE", I am not sure if I am explaining myself well. It is as if something was missing. I do not know if it was because I failed to connect with Quinn but the romance never satisfied me.

The families did not take a starring role in this. I mean, where are the parents of Colton? I just saw his sister. And Quinn’s family, who was present more,  felt like you knew them but not as much as to be able to understand them.

Neither we knew much about Trent. The whole story revolves around his death and that his heart was donated and Colton ended with his heart but we do not know much about Trent. You have one single extract of his past and some mentions that let you see he was a great guy. But, we not even know how it was that he died. Trent is basically a ghost. Although I'm not sure if the author wanted to accomplish that with his absence. If that was it I think her objective was achieved 100% with me at least.

It is a book that was a 3.5 / 5 for me because, I liked it but it leaves you with a bad taste as because you kind of expected and wanted more of this story. I think she should add more depth to her characters.

"Here I am telling a writer how to write characters. I am sorry"

Anyway, I recommend it if you want something quick to read and a story that feels and can be entertaining for a day you do not have much more to do. Have you read it? What did you think? Or if you have not read, would you like to read it sometime?