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My Heartbeat Audiobook
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(3.01) - 1,294 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Ellen loves Link and James. Her older brother and his best friend are the only company she ever wants. She knows they fight, but she makes it a policy never to take sides. She loves her brother, the math genius and track star. She is totally, madly in love with James, his face full of long eyelashes and hidden smiles. “When you grow out of it,” James teases her, “you will break my heart.” Ellen knows she’ll never outgrow it. She’ll always love James just the way she’ll always love Link. Then someone at school asks if Link and James might be in love with each other. A simple question. Link refuses to discuss it. James refuses to stay friends with a boy so full of secrets. Ellen’s parents want Link to keep his secrets to himself, but Ellen wants to know who her brother really is. When is curiosity a betrayal? And if James says he loves her, isn’t that just another way of saying he still loves Link? My Heartbeat is a fast, furious story in which a quirky triangle learns to change its shape and Ellen, at least, learns the limits of what you can ever know about whom you love.
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"An utterly beguiling story on the questions of love: how do parents love their children? How do friends and siblings love each other? Are love and sex separate? Ellen, her brother Link, and his best friend James wrestle with the deepest and most complicated of emotions in this passionately realized novel. There are no villains and no unmixed emotions in this book. The writing is vivid, tender, limpidly clear."
— GraceAnne (5 out of 5 stars)
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“The fast, clipped dialog will sweep teens into the story, as will Ellen’s immediate first-person, present-tense narrative, ‘curious, careful, kind, and intense.’ The family dynamics are just as compelling as the love and friendship drama, especially Ellen’s bewilderment about the unwritten laws that can make people strangers even within the family they love.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“[A] sophisticated but gentle novel.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“A tightly constructed novel about love, family, and the ambiguities of sexual identity.”
— School Library Journal (starred review) -
“Freyman-Weyr writes an astonishing combination of delicacy and clarity of the genuine complexity of family (and all) relationships.”
— Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review) -
“Freymann-Weyr sets up a riveting love triangle. As in the author’s first novel, When I Was Older, one of the standout qualities is the protagonist’s fresh, vital tone.”
— Horn Book (starred review) -
“Beyond its discussion of sexuality, this novel explores issues of self-discovery and intimacy in a sensitive manner. Free of cliché and any hidden agenda.”
— VOYA
Awards
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A 2003 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book
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Winner of Printz Honors, 2006
My Heartbeat Listener Reviews
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" this book left me completely baffled. i feel like parts of this book should have been explained more, for me at least. i wanted to know what would happen to link and james and as much as i loved ellen i really didn't appreciate how she played her part in this book. i know she couldn't and wouldn't interfere with link's personal life but she should have at least backed off of james. "
— Belkis, 2/16/2014 -
" A very real and touching read, I thought the narrator's voice was spot on and I was absorbed from the first page. For a slim book, it packs a lot in. It was "very YA" (in a good way). "
— Li, 2/8/2014 -
" God, I love this book. I read it back when I didn't really understand why some people had such problems with and difficulties accepting homosexuality, and this story helped me a lot. Even now, i read it and am struck anew by the subtle emotions. "
— Claire, 2/3/2014 -
" This was a quick read.I liked that the book was told through the sister and how she saw realtionships with her family. I had to keep remembering like with all YA books that the main charecters are teens and are still finding their way in life. They are still trying to figure things out and like all of us will grow up still not knowing as much as we think. "
— Raven, 1/23/2014 -
" My husband and I both liked this book. It's about relationships between 3 NYC teens--a girl and her brother, and their male friend. "
— elissa, 1/21/2014 -
" This book is about love conflict of a girl between two boys. "
— Calvin, 1/18/2014 -
" its alright. it discusses things that are generally not talked about in depth which made me both sortof uncomfortable and interested. i dont really know if i liked it or not... but its very addicting... "
— Court:), 11/24/2013 -
" This book way amazing! I absolutely loved it! I wish there was more to it! "
— Lea, 10/25/2013 -
" Sweet, deep without being heavy, raises questions but never preachy. Warm and comforting. This book is like music to me. "
— Beth, 10/15/2013 -
" I fell in immediate love with this book. And with Freymann-Weyr. "
— Meaghan, 7/5/2013 -
" this is a very confusing book... "
— Laura, 6/2/2013 -
" Good for its genre (LGBT teen lit), but definitely doesn't transcend that. Still, it feels much realer than other efforts in the genre. "
— Joseph, 3/18/2013 -
" Excellent book for explaining gender fluidity. Female narrator. Note that it is YA-- adult characters are not well developed. "
— MARY, 12/18/2012 -
" I had higher expectations, I guess. It felt too short, like only the beginning of an idea. It was cute and well-written but I was waiting for a more intriguing plot to come out of it, and the plot never emerged for me. Okay, but not great in my opinion. "
— Brigid, 10/7/2012 -
" Lovely coming of age story with a twist. Fourteen-year-old Ellen loves her brother Link and his best friend James. Link and James are very close and have a complex relationship that may or may not be true love. The working out of all this is very interesting and well-told. "
— melody, 9/18/2012 -
" This is one of the books that would tell you to not judge a book by its cover. When a friend of mine lent it to me a few years ago, I thought that it was a children's book but then I went ahead and started reading it. I was hooked. It is beautifully written. Very powerful. Real. "
— Maryanne, 7/8/2012
About Garret Freymann-Weyr
Garret Freymann-Weyr grew up in New York City and now lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland,with her husband. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novels for young adult When I Was Older and My Heartbeat.
About Christy Carlson Romano
Christy Carlson Romano is the voice of Kim on Kim Possible, and starred as Belle in Broadway’s Beauty and the Beast. Romano has starred in two Emmy-nominated television series. She has studied ballet at the School of American Ballet and is a graduate of The Professional Children’s School, both in New York City. Christy Carlson Romano is from Milford, Connecticut. She currently resides in California.