The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae by Stephanie Butland is a fantastic read. There is so much content in this story and you won't be bored for a second. This is first book I've read from the Author and I am definitely going to read more.

A Must read for all readers.

This is the third book in my NetGalley Spring/Summer Reading Project and so far….3/3 in good reads!

I picked this one to include because I read another book by Stephanie Butland, that I really enjoyed and so I figured I would like this one. It’s also in terms of my NetGalley shelf, relatively recent!

Ailsa has been ill her whole life. She was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome where the left side of the heart doesn’t develop as it should. Not long prior to Ailsa’s birth, this would have been a pretty quick death sentence but medical advancement means they have methods by which to extend her life and she is able to have what is a sort of relatively normal childhood, in terms of going to school and then even doing a university degree. In her twenties though, Ailsa becomes quite ill and it’s apparent that she’s going to need a heart transplant and her whole life revolves around waiting for one. She has an finite period she is going to be able to wait or her disease will kill her. At 28, Ailsa receives her transplant and it is successful. She then needs to learn how to live as a person whose whole life doesn’t revolve around being critically ill.

Ailsa has kept a blog during a lot of her experience, detailing waiting for the transplant and then in the aftermath, what it’s like to learn to live not again, but really, for the first time. A lot of the time she asks her followers questions and lives her life based on the way they vote in the polls she sets up. It’s something that frustrates her mother and threatens to put a rift in their relationship, especially when Ailsa begins to want to know things about the biological father that abandoned her mother to care for her singlehandedly just after Ailsa was born. Ailsa has only really had her mother and her mother’s whole life has revolved around keeping her healthy and alive. It’s fostered a close relationship but one that is no longer necessary at the level it has been, after Ailsa is released from hospital after receiving her transplant. Ailsa no longer needs around the clock care – she still has frequent appointments, takes a combination of drugs to make sure her body doesn’t reject her new heart and must take care not to get ill but ultimately, her life is finally her own, to do with what she wishes. The only thing is, Ailsa is having a lot of complicated feelings about what to do with it and how she should feel about this chance she has. In order for her to live, someone had to die. And Ailsa is very aware of that.

I really enjoyed this. I loved Ailsa as a character, she felt very relatable even though I’ve obviously never been through anything like what she has been through. But she felt so real, every single feeling and thought that she had, her conflicted feelings about living because someone else died and what she should do with her life now. How she should go about it. Her entire life from the time she was self-aware, she’d always known that she lived with limitations and with a potential/probable reduced life span. She has a degree that she chose because she liked it and knew it probably didn’t matter if she couldn’t do anything with it. For perhaps the first time ever, she has real freedom to do what she wants and to think in the long term. It’s not a guarantee (nothing is, is it?) but she has the best possible chance she’s ever had, of having long term goals and working towards something.

There’s also a little bit of a romance in here, when Ailsa meets a man who like her, has had a transplant. His is a very different type of transplant though and he was never in danger of dying, like Ailsa very much was. However it’s still a common experience that links them together and I think that Ailsa feels comfortable confiding in him, especially some of her more darker thoughts when she doesn’t want to be seen as ‘ungrateful’ but is still struggling with certain things. And he helps her not take herself and things so seriously as well, which I enjoyed. He is also a person that is somewhat in the public eye and this book showcases the way that media and others feel like it’s their right to comment on women’s bodies, judging them solely on their weight and how they look. It’s gross.

I thought this was beautifully written, the complexity of Ailsa’s relationship with her mother, her thoughts about her birth father and her conflicted feelings about her transplant and what to do with her life. It felt really well researched – as much as I am sure transplant recipients are grateful to be able to continue to live, there would be so many other feelings involved, knowing that you are alive because someone died and donated their organs. It’s like survivor guilt, when people are the only ones to survive something horrible like a plane crash. There’s also a lot about grief in here as Ailsa loses someone very dear to her, who was also chronically ill and who, on the other side of the coin, didn’t get what they needed in time. It’s very well done and juxtaposed nicely with Ailsa being one of the ‘lucky’ ones. There are many times when she very much does not feel lucky, even when she is grateful to be able to continue living.

Highly recommend this one and there are other books by Stephanie Butland that I definitely intend to read.

8/10

This is a wonderful, uplifting, and highly emotional story.
I loved this book. I cried, laugh, and hold onto my ereader as I turned the pages.
Simply, beautiful.

A great read to take to the beach! Alisa’s story will give you all the feels. I recommend this book!

Good book with a really good message. Characters were fully developed. I enjoyed reading this book. Thank you for the opportunity.

BOOK REVIEW: The Curious Heart Of Ailsa Rae by Stephanie Butland

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pages: 397
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Sub-Genre: Second Chance At Love Romance
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

IF YOU LIKE THIS BOOK THEN TRY…
Book: Before We Grow Old by Clare Swatman
Movie: Return To Me

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All my reviews can be seen at This Is My Everybody | Simple Living | Denise Wilbanks at www.thisismyeverybody.com

♡ Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

What a heart-warming and emotional read this is!!
It has a beautiful message of never giving up and living every day to the full, I loved the easy to read writing, it's charming and full of hope and love. I have to admit that I did think it started off a little on the slow side but after a few chapters as it didn't quite know where it was going or what pacing it should have, which I found a little tiresome, but it soon all settled into place and I fell in step with the story and my heart was bursting with love for Ailsa.

This is a lovely story of a young woman who has to learn how to lead a "normal" life after receiving a much-needed heart transplant at the age of 28. Ailsa has been blogging for a while about her life as a young woman in need of a transplant, and her blog entries help inform us about her life before and after the transplant. Post-transplant life proves to be a bit more tricky than she or her mother had anticipated - Ailsa finds her growing independence to be both liberating and frightening, and her mother has a difficult time letting go, especially since Ailsa has led such a sheltered life. When her blog wins an award in its genre, she sets out on her journey through her "new normal". Along the way we meet the new people in Ailsa's life, and we're gradually let in on the mystery of the father she's never known. All along the way we're pulling for Ailsa to "make good choices" as she takes new risks with her expanding life. It's sweet and sad and funny and heartbreaking and charming. I combined listening to the audiobook with reading this one, and the narrator definitely added to my enjoyment with her lovely accents. Definitely enjoyable either way.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

Ailsa Rae received a heart transplant and now faces what life is made of outside o being sick. The book deals with seriousness of recovery, losing a loved one who is waiting for their own transplant weeks before she receives her own, and finding balance in her newfound independence. The book had a strong romance plot that at times seemed to take over the story, but the author found a way to bring it back to Ailsa’s new life each time.

A strong and easy read that is worth giving a chance. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Ailsa Rae is learning how to live. She's only a few months past the heart transplant that--just in time--saved her life. Now, finally, she can be a normal twenty-eight-year-old. She can climb a mountain. Dance. Wait in line all day for tickets to Wimbledon.

Ailsa Rae’s relationship with her mother is at falling apart, she needs to find her father, her friends left her in the dust, and she just had a heart transplant. And then there's Lennox. Her best friend and one-time lover who was also sick. He didn't make it.

Ailsa is trying to figure out how to move forward without Lennox or her family support. Ailsa deals with poor health and getting used to the restrictions on her lifestyle. She starts a blog about her life as a coping mechanism. The timeline got confusing as this story jumps back and forward a lot. I liked how the author used Ailsa’s blog as a device for telling the story. This book is about friendship, health, grief, and recovery. Overall the story was ok but fell flat.

Thank NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

3 Stars

A powerful book with a powerful message. Emotional and heartfelt this is a story that will tug at your heart and leave you fulfilled.

St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae. I voluntarily chose to review this novel and my opinion is freely given.

Ailsa Rae had been living under the shadow of her heart condition, but can a transplant give her a new lease on life? No longer dependent on her mother, will both women be able to look forward to Ailsa's future?

With a title like The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae, I was expecting the book to be more about how her donor's life is infused into the organ and shapes Ailsa's future. This is not what the book is about, as it is more about how the young woman has to change her way of thinking about her infinite future. I am on the fence about this novel, as the book misses the mark for me. The author really glosses over the seriousness of transplant, especially in the health and care of the person afterwards. The novel is more concerned with the romance than really developing the characters. The inclusion of the best friend/first love angle did not carry as much weight as it should, especially given the transplant situation. The author does not really convey one of the central aspects of a transplant such as Ailsa's, that she physically feels better in every part of her life. A normal heart, after living with a failing one for years, gives a person strength. The author misses the opportunity, though the dancing that Ailsa takes on, to explain and express this notion. I liked The Curious Hear of Ailsa Rae, but did not love it, so I am hesitant to recommend it to other readers.

The author is new to me, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It’s the story about a young woman who was born with heart complications. She’s had a heart transplant and is trying to adjust to her new life. Interestingly, using blog posts, e-mails, etc. to tell the story really worked.

I enjoyed this book very much and am thankful to the publisher and NetGalley for the free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who lives with a chronic illness, I'm always interested in reading stories that feature a character with medical challenges. Plus, I recently traveled to Scotland and LOVED it, so I'm eager to read books set there and pretend I'm back in that magical country. This book did both well, and I thoroughly enjoyed both Alisa Rae and Edinburgh.

I laughed, I cried, I swooned. The Curiou Heart of Alisa Rae was such a fabulous read! I enjoyed reading Stephanie Butland's The Lost for Words Bookshop last year so I was eagerly anticipating getting my hands on a copy of her next book. It did not disappoint!

I love the premise of the story and the character development however the pacing seems a little to plodding at times it was quite difficult to get into the story. It does give I think a good background about people who have gotten transplants or waiting for one.

This book was everything I needed and more. I really connected with Ailsa's character and loved the focus on chronic health/illness. While I am not a transplant recipient, I was born with a disability and spent a lot of time in the hospital. On that same note, I also, like Ailsa, started a blog to document my experiences and therefore fully understand the catharsis of sharing your story in order to help others. I also enjoyed Butland's exploration of Alisa's relationship with her mother. Mother-daughter relationships can be strained in general. When you add in chronic health issues, it creates a whole new dynamic. I also loved the development of Alisa's relationship via email. It brought back butterflies of the early days of my own relationship. I wish there had been more exploration into Alisa's friendships and I wanted to know so much more about Lennox's character. All in all, wonderful read for fans of Jojo Moyes and Christina Lauren.

The Curious Heart of Alisa Rae is a captivating tale that explores what happens when you get a second chance at life. Having had a heart transplant, Alisa is determined to seize all that life has to offer. Journeying with her through blog posts and other correspondences is a surprising funny and warm adventure.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this. I will be posting a full review to Goodreads, Amazon, and Instagram.