Ailsa has received her much needed heart transplant. After an entire life of dealing with a heart which is near failure, she is on a road to recovery.

She went to University, but had very limited activity. She has never held a job, because she was limited in what she could do. In fact, her life has been limited for as long as she can remember.

Her best friend has died because he did not get a much needed transplant. She realizes that if someone had donated a liver for him he would still be with her to be her best friend.

Ailsa writes a blog which is award winning and that has brought her some unexpected attention. She blogged about her life, her need for a transplant and now how her life is going with her new heart. She named her new heart Apple.

Her mother has lived a life in fear of losing her daughter. Being over protective is a long time habit. That situation makes a relationship which is not comfortable for Ailsa.

Ailsa has met a man. He is charming and funny and listens to what she says. He offers a new perspective on the world.

All in all, I should have liked this book more than I did. I felt that jumping from one era to another, and from a blog to real life to email, became too much work. I also wanted to find myself more deeply involved with Ailsa and her life.

Ms Butland is a very talented author who has created interesting and well developed characters. Her writing makes Ailsa a likable and sweet young woman. Because her life has been so restricted, she is limited in her ability to deal with events of the day.

All in all, I wanted to love this book, but I just did not.

I will look for some other books by Ms Butland because I believe I will find something more attractive to me. Everyone else apparently felt more invested in the story than I have.

I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley. I am voluntarily writing this review and all opinions are my own.

I received an advanced reader’s copy of The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae.

At the start of the story, Ailsa Rae is waiting for a heart transplant. A heart becomes available and her life is saved. She is a likable character who is trying to figure out her life after years spent sick while waiting for a heart.

I found that the jumps in the timeline of the story and the format of the chapters as blog posts or emails confusing which pulled me out of the story at times.

I thought the topic of organ donation was handled delicately.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book.
It was quite a serious read with a lot of life questioning issues. It is obvious that the author did a lot of research in order to write this book, and the story flowed fairly well.
There were a few unresolved issues involving Ailsa's father and love interest, and it may have been nice to find out what happened in the end. I realise it was meant to be left open to the possibility of reconciliation, however there was so much heartbreak (no pun intended) during the book that it would have been nice to have the character blissfully happy.
The underlying message for others to be an organ donor was lovely and thought provoking.
3.5 stars

This was simply wonderful! Beautiful, insightful writing, wonderful characters and ALL the emotions! Ailsa is a 28 yo heart transplant recipient who has lived under threat of death since birth. We’re beside her as she navigates her new normal...the ups and downs, the losses and gains as she finds herself and reexamines her closest relationships. Heartwarming, heartbreaking, hilarious, and illuminating.
Out 10/29

Thanks to #StMartinsPress and #NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions are strictly my own.

After a slow start, this ended up being a really absorbing read. Ailsa is such a well-developed character and her journey from living with the knowledge that if she does not receive a transplant her days are numbered to learning to live without the shadow of her imminent death hanging over her is compelling. The transition is not an easy one and there are issues that Ailsa could not have predicted. She has so many decisions to make, large and small, about her life from her health to her first ever job. She does not always make the right choices but watching her grow from her mistakes made her an even more endearing protagonist. The only element that I could have done without was the romance. It seemed less realistic and was not a necessary addition to the plot.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for sending me this arc. I will be reviewing this book in the near future with an honest rating and review.

Utterly charming. A first purchase for adult fiction collections, especially where romance or UK titles are popular.

When we first meet Ailsa Rae, she is dying. She has lived with a heart condition since her birth and is waiting for a transplant. She has a blog and has blogged about her experience as a patient on the organ registry. She has also had a best friend, boyfriend and a fellow patient in Lennox. 

Just as Lennox dies, a heart becomes available for Ailsa. And this is the story of how she learned to live instead of existing.

Months later, she is doing well physically but not so much emotionally. It is going to take a bit of time to stop feeling fragile and stretch her limits. She has ups and downs and uses her blog to ask her followers advice in poll form. She's missed out on so much and now she needs to learn to be healthy and alive.

I loved her mum. What a woman she is! And she has always been there for her only child. Now they both have to figure out what their new roles and lives will be. 

Her new heart is strong and thumping along and it makes itself at home in her chest, she must learn to not only protect it but to listen to it and claim it as her own.

A good story. There were a few discrepancies, but all in all a good story.

NetGalley/ St. Martin's Press

A journey through life that will pull you in with each word while getting a second chance at life. This story makes you appreciate each day you wake up and have the ability to achieve your dreams with each beat of your heart.

I really enjoyed this one, The. mix of writing styles: blog form and just regular narrative, were not cliched or worn out, they actually enhanced the story and made it both contemporary and literary at the same time, The story was touching and just had enough of a hint of romance to appeal to a romantic heart but ultimately this is the story of growth, resilience and life. It’s about moving forward in every way one can,

This book dealt with many issues; organ transplant and shortage, death, life, grief, family issues, and love. It was a very well written story with realistic characters. I ran the gamut of many emotions while reading this story.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved this book, it was sad, funny and happy in various parts, and just got better as the book went on and Ailsa developed more confidence in her new heart and her life in general.

Ailsa has been ill since a baby with a serious heart problem that, had she been born only a short while before, would have killed her with no hope of a future.  But as it was the doctors had been helping her live, but with her gradually getting weaker and bluer, resulting in the need for a new heart if they could find a suitable donor for her.

Luckily for Ailsa she received a new heart just in time and slowly starts to recover.  But having been ill and looked after by her Mother and the doctors for so long there is a big adjustment to make for Ailsa to start living a more 'normal' life again.  Her Mother finds it very hard to step back a bit and there is quite a bit of tension between them as Ailsa slowly gains confidence, especially when she decides she wants to live on her own, and also to contact her Father who abandoned them both when Ailsa was a baby.

Whilst Ailsa has been ill she has been writing an internet blog trying to help other people in her situation and always has a poll at the end of each posting, asking for peoples opinions on a certain topic she's struggling with at the time.  As the story unfolds Ailsa slowly starts to trust her new heart more (nicknamed 'Apple') and starts to  be braver, helped by her followers, starting tango lessons etc.  She is also interviewed about her blog on the radio and meets the lovely actor Seb, and they slowly get to get closer through various charity/acting/tango events they both get involved with, not without their hiccups of course, but the relationship developed slowly as they helped each other out along the way.

Very enjoyable and uplifting story about learning to live again after a chronic, life threatening illness.  I'm glad to read that the law is shortly changing in England and Scotland so that people can opt out of organ donation now, instead of trying to get people to opt in which is always harder.  If you or a loved one can help someone else live a better life after a death then why on earth wouldn't you do it, as hard as I understand it may be for some relatives at the time.  Very thought provoking - loved it.

Alisa is trying to live day to day. Her only hope is if someone dies. She has a mother who loves her and is very good at taking care of her and hiding the truth.
Her first and only love is gone.
One day her life is turned around and she has to learn how to live her new life. She has to learn to plan for a future and how to navigate a love.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I liked how the subject of transplants were treated. They happen to real people with real lives.
I would definitely recommend this book.

Aisla Rae gets a new heart at the age of 28 after a lifetime of surgeries. The last few years before the transplant she was really sick, as was her first boyfriend, whose Hepatitis went undiagnosed until his liver was in dire shape. Lennox didn’t get the transplant he needed, but she did, and now she has to figure out what to do with her life now that she’s going to have one.

She had been blogging about waiting for her transplant, and now that she’s out of the hospital, she continues to blog, asking her readers to help her with decisions. When she goes to do a radio interview about the importance of getting on the organ donor list and letting your family know what you want done with your body after you die, she meets a handsome actor. She and Sebastian become friends and then more.

The conflict in this story comes from two places mostly. The steroids Aisla has to take make her pack on the pounds, and journalists can’t seem to stop saying nasty things about how much Sebastian’s latest girlfriend weighs. Second, now that she can focus on more than just trying to stay alive, she’d like to meet her biological father. Her mother has spent her whole life taking care of Aisla and has told her almost nothing about him. Though Aisla and her mother are very close, in this case, Aisla still wants to go against her mother’s wishes and meet him.

This is an interesting look at what life would be like if you spent most of it too ill to really live. What do you do now that, as long as you take your meds, you’ll live almost normally for many years to come?

Thanks to NetGally for the opportunity to read this book, which will be released in the States on OCTOBER 19, 2019.

This was an interesting, original premise that interjected a different way of telling a story through blog entries which I greatly enjoyed since we are in the age where we tell our lives through blogs.

The characters did seem way younger than their actual ages but that was okay they were witty and funny and I liked that we got a a story about chronic illness because it’s rare that we see this when so many people suffer from them.

This was a nice read and I want to thank the publisher and Netgalley for this copy of my Arc.

I received a copy of THE CURIOUS HEART OF ALISA RAE from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to the author and publisher.

FIVE STARS and here’s why:

This book really opened my eyes to the world of organ transplants. Not only is this a story grounded in realism, which I appreciate immensely, it helped me understand what it is like to be on the receiving end of an organ when your friends may not be so lucky. There are no guarantees in life; there’s only hope. Alisa has been so sick, she starts a blog and through her readers, she takes polls on how she should approach life when she gets a new heart and her BFF Lennox does not. Each character is well written, the dialogue realistic, and the plot kept me up all night to learn what happens next. Highly recommend this story as required reading in schools.

I give this book 3.5 stars.

Overall I really enjoyed this read. The format was entertaining (a mix of more standard prose, blog posts, and email messages back and forth; perspective changes between the past and present). This kept my attention. I was able to relate (to some extent) with Ailsa's experiences (I too was on immunosuppressants) and in those moments found myself drawn in; wanting to find parts of my own story in Ailsa. The character growth is well-written with Ailsa learning to take a step away from the blog she has relied on to help her navigate life, to take control and start making her own decisions. The plotline with her father felt a bit out of place... contrived. I am not really sure what it added to the novel.

Edinburgh resident Ailsa is not your typical heroine — born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, it’s a miracle she has made it the age of 28. As the book opens, she is rapidly winding down until she is given the miracle of a matching donor heart. This is the funny, insightful, and intimate story of what happens to someone who suddenly gets to think about a future she never thought she would have.

Ailsa is a blogger. She blogs as BlueHeart — named for the constant bluish tint to her skin due to lack of oxygen. To make the blog more interactive (and to ease the burden of choice from her own shoulders) she polls her large community of followers whenever she needs to make a decision. Post-transplant polls lead her to tango classes, a trip to London to help a new (and pretty sexy) “friend,” and an exciting role in an Edinburgh Fringe Festival gig.

Told through blog posts, emails, and narrative, we follow Ailsa through her adventures of coming to life and forming a relationship with her brand-new heart. Funny, heartfelt, and deeply philosophical, this book took me on a journey I never expected to make (and hope to never have to in real life).

Unsure of how to review this. The plot was interesting, and the story was good overall but the characters were a right mess. No way were these two lead characters nearing thirty. Both Seb and Ailsa acted like tweens, not even teens. Ok so Ailsa has a bit of a pass seeing as she spent her life in and out of hospitals, but surely going to uni and having what she described as a basically normal life otherwise would have helped her to act more like a twenty eight year old and less like a confused eleven year old.

Seb has no excuse really, he’s your typical narcissistic bro. I was not surprised at all by the video that went round, since he acted like a secret jerk through most of the book really. For these reasons the pairing didn’t sit well with me. Ailsa just seemed to fawn over Seb because “omg why would he be interested in little ole me!” And let’s face it Hayley was no help at all here. It really felt like Ailsa had no one in her corner. I suppose that’s related to her need to ask the internet to make most decisions for her. Something I also found shocking as an adult. When her friends and family tried to point out how crazy that was, it seemed tween Ailsa would just pout and stamp her feet.

Just not for me I guess. It wasn’t a terrible read but I could not stand Ailsa as a character.

The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae has a highly unusual premise, which makes this book stand out from most others. It is also features a strong protagonist and a heartwarming story. Alisa Rae was born with a heart having only three ventricles and as a result, she is in and out of surgery on a regular basis. The book begins with her dying and she is waiting for a transplant that finally comes through for her. Ailsa yearns for an ordinary everyday life like most people have.

The book centers around her life as a organ donor recipient, something I actually knew nothing about so it opened up a whole world for me. We meet Ailsa both before and after her heart transplant and see what such surgery does to a person’s life.

Ailsa has an amazing relationship with her mother Hayley, who happens to be a pharmacist, and is her rock of emotional support. With Hayley, the reader gets a second perspective of the organ donor experience and what a mother goes through with a child having a defective heart. There is actually a third major character — Ailsa has named her new heart Apple and we are regularly updated on how Apple reacts to situations. Ailsa has always lived with Hayley but she feels now, after the successful surgery, that it is time for her to begin her life and be on her own. In that sense, The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae is like a coming-of-age story and a story of transformation.

There can be no doubt that Ailsa is a very brave person that has learned to cope with the hand she was dealt. After the transplant, she has to learn how to live though she has always had to lead a very guarded life but now she still has to be because she has to be on immunosuppressant medication for life and cannot afford to get sick. Her life has a new perspective since it now has a future.

The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae is a well-written feel-good story that will open your eyes to the world of organ donation. We get to know Ailsa Rae in depth and she makes it a stand-out story. The book makes use of blog posts and polls she conducts among her blog readers, which I found realistic as well as entertaining. I highly recommend this book and think it could very well lead to more people checking off the box on their driver’s license to donate their organs.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press/St. Martin’s Griffen and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.