Such a sad, but cute story! Definitely reminded me a lot of the Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks, but in a YA version!

This book was a pleasant surprise. I loved that it was set in England, but I also loved that there were things that are the same no matter where the teen protagonists live. And the idea at the bottom of this plot was just really interesting. Believable weirdness between 2 otherwise uninvolved teens, too. I dug it!

Though it had some of the usual misunderstandings and communication plot lines, this book has great writing and creation of believable and real feeling characters. Can’t wait to discuss this book with my teen book group soon!

What is our obsession with heart transplants and doomed love? I was not on board with this book at all. A) IT was insanely obvious. A girl falls for the boy who received her twin's heart. A boy who is friends with a dying girl (who of course has a crush on him). An obsession with finding your donor. B) THe characters don't have much depth and the parents are barely present..

Jonny has been hooked up to machines most of his life to keep his heart beating. Neve has lived in her twin brother Leo's shadow all her life. One day both Jonny and Neve's lives take a drastic turn and neither will ever be the same again. This book is definitely a tear jerker and I thought it was an interesting concept. Occasionally I felt like I wanted more from the story but overall I enjoyed it.. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars.

Jonny needs a new heart. He’s been sick his whole life and time is running out. And then a boy roughly his age dies and is a perfect match. His life is great, except he can’t stop thinking about the donor. After a little detective work, he thinks he’s figured out who it is. Jonny wants to learn more about Leo (donor) but there’s a new hitch: he’s fallen for Neve, Leo’s sister. His twin sister.

This is easy to dismiss as a slightly altered YA version of Return to Me, but there’s a lot going on here. This story has a lot of heart (forgive the phrase) and is just a delight. But also, since there are sick kids, a tear-inducing monster. (A little of both.)

Instructions for a Secondhand Heart is a love story with a tear jerking twist: Jonny has lived for months in the hospital hooked up to machines that keep his heart beating -- or, as he wryly puts it, he's a robot with a mechanical heart. In a nearby town, twins Neve and Leo race up a dangerous boulder ostensibly to win bragging rights, but for Neve, it's a rare opportunity to beat her seemingly perfect twin. When a tragic accident occurs, Jonny finally gets his wish to leave the hospital and return to school, and Neve has to live forever with the guilt over her role in the accident.

The story takes off when Jonny decides to learn more about the boy whose heart has given him a chance at a healthy life. He reaches out to Neve with a cover story, hiding the truth about his link to her family. Neve in turn is tired of being defined in opposition to her twin, and welcomes the chance to be with a guy who she believes knows nothing of her twin and therefore whose relationship with her is completely separate from the rest of her reality.

Instructions for a Secondhand Heart is a pretty good YA contemporary romance that may appeal to fans of The Fault in Our Stars. My main reservation with this book is that I never really felt the chemistry and attraction between Jonny and Neve. Jonny's attraction to Neve seemed more an obsessive curiosity about Leo, and Neve's attraction to Jonny seemed more a desire to escape talk about Leo. So when they suddenly profess to real feelings, the reveal felt insincere.

I personally thought Jonny had more of a spark with Em, his best friend from the hospital who is living with cancer and for whom Jonny sketched a superhero alterego who fights off evil blobs. Em was probably my favourite character in this book, and I thought she deserved a much better ending than she got. I thought her friendship with Jonny seemed very strong, and even if he didn't reciprocate her feelings, he could've been more sensitive in how he treated her. The book also includes Jonny's sketches of both Em's superhero alterego and Neve, which I thought enhanced the story beautifully. 

Jonny and Neve were compelling characters mostly because of their stories beyond the romance. I liked seeing Jonny readjust to life outside the hospital and try to fit in at school. I also felt for him when he tried to join activities Leo did, to somehow make himself 'worthy' of receiving Leo's heart, even though Leo's life was clearly the wrong fit for his personality. Neve in turn had a prickly, defensive posture throughout, which took her a bit longer to warm up to, but I like how Murray explores the psychological trauma Neve and her family struggle with after Leo's death. I can sympathize with Neve wanting to stop talking about Leo all the time, and with her corresponding guilt at the desire to forget him even for a moment. These pieces seemed sincere, and the romance felt incongruous in contrast.

I’m not sure what to think about Instructions for a Secondhand Heart. I enjoyed the concept, but not the characterization. I also found certain aspects of the book to be kind of creepy, and I didn’t enjoy the romance. This book had so much potential, but I ended up pretty disappointed.

This book has such an original concept! It tells the story of a boy who receives a heart transplant and befriends the sister of his donor. Neve is dealing with the grief of her brother’s death, and Jonny is dealing with the guilt of getting a second chance at life while his friend is still battling cancer. I enjoyed how the narration alternates between Jonny and Neve, allowing the reader to understand Jonny’s reasons for wanting to know more about his donor and Neve’s regrets from the day her twin brother died. The story is pretty complex and is definitely a whirlwind of emotions.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about Jonny’s character. I sympathized with him, and the challenges he faces are so real, but I found his actions to be kind of creepy. I understand his curiosity, but tracking Neve down and lying about the reason why is a bit unsettling. He shows up at a fundraiser she attends and sends her messages on Facebook, all while hiding his true relation to her and his motive. Even when he and Neve become friends, Jonny always seems to lead her on, and the constant back-and-forth got kind of annoying. I also didn’t enjoy Neve’s character very much. She is a bit whiny and gets overly jealous without knowing the full story. I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if the characters had been easier to connect with.

My main reason for not loving this book is the subtle creepiness, but I also didn’t enjoy the romance. It seemed a bit unnecessary, and I would have preferred if Jonny and Neve had stayed as friends instead. Their forced relationship takes away from the impact of the story in my opinion, and the love triangle is kind of pointless. Instructions for a Secondhand Heart would have been much better without all the extraneous drama.

Instructions for a Secondhand Heart is an intriguing story about grief and a second chance at life. I have mixed feelings about the main characters, and I just couldn’t really connect with them. Jonny’s borderline creepy actions and the forced romance take away from the story, and I definitely feel like the book could have been better.

I enjoyed the parallel aspect of organ donation, The tragic side of losing someone and the possibility of a new life. Both main characters felt authentic and genuine in their divergent circumstances. I thoroughly enjoyed this story.

The first 60 pages were the best imo. After that the story and plot quickly declined. I thought Jonny and Neve's relationship was realistic enough but Murray just didn't create enough of a story-line to have a successful arc which slowed things down.

Jonny and his bf Em's relationship also never really felt real. There wasn't enough focus on it throughout the book which hurt the impact of the ending for me. I am disappointed because it started out strong but fizzled never able to regain its strength.