My sweet, fragile heart could barely handle this adorable story. What an interesting and unique spin on a love story. I was enamored by every character and their story. Well done!

I don’t really know how to describe this story. It was intriguing, heartbreaking and beautiful. I was quickly drawn to Wren and Lewis and their love story and ultimately, their heartbreak. This story was told in several timelines and perspectives that gives you different insights into the lives of Wren and Lewis- before, during and after the mutation takes place. If you are looking for something different that celebrates love and the life we have - this could be the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Element for and advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Content warnings: relationship abuse, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism

This book was emotional, funny, quirky, and ultimately just a great read. I loved the different writing styles throughout, and Habeck truly made me want to read more.

I loved this book! When I read the summary I knew I had to read it. As a biology teacher I was intrigued by a mutation that turns someone into a great white shart. It's part romance, part fantasy and a lot of heart. I really enjoyed how unique it was and that it was an unconventional love story. Don't think too much about the science of it all and just enjoy the story.

Newlyweds Lewis and Wren are an unlikely couple. Lewis loves performing –– both in his personal life on the stage. He moved to New York in his early 20s to pursue his dream of becoming a Broadway actor. Wren is practical and had a hard time sitting through her first play.

Lewis draws up tree house sketches on anything he can find: old napkins, the backs of invitations, cardboard boxes and more. Wren wants to have an orderly house and is always trying to get him to organize his sketches. She even buys him a plastic file to organize them. Lewis appreciates the concept but never remembers to actually organize.

Oh, and Lewis is slowly turning into a great white shark.


In “Shark Heart,” by Emily Habeck, Lewis’ transformation takes place over the course of nine months. It’s not sudden like in Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis.” The mutation, Carcharodon carcharias, is just one of many known conditions in this magical realist world where people sometimes mutate into animals (it’s not explained in detail).

The unconventional plot hooks you in, but this book shines in capturing relationships: between Wren and Lewis, her new friend who is pregnant with twin birds (also a mutation), and her family. Lewis and Wren’s relationship is an ode to the way that vastly different people can fall in love with each other, and the story feels like an allegory for the ways a relationship changes when someone is diagnosed with a terminal medical condition. Wren slowly loses the man she loves, slowly at first and then all at once.

Fundamentally, Habeck’s debut isn’t just about a guy turning into a shark. So sci-fi/dystopian fans shouldn’t expect rich world building in that respect. It’s a story about generational trauma, breaking cycles, and loving people even, and especially, when it’s temporary. Wren and Lewis are doomed from the start, but readers will root for them against all odds.

Vibes and structure-wise, it reminds me of “Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin. “Shark Heart” has a beautiful cover and has a slower third quarter that deviates from the rest of the book but then you can’t stop reading it. It’s experimental and the narrative is intercut with scenes from a play based on the events of the book that Lewis is writing.

This debut novel has a voice you’ll be excited to return to each time you pick up the book and will miss when it’s over. It has all the elements to be the next big book on Bookstagram/Booktok. I can’t wait to see what Habeck has for us next.

this looked like an interesting read, and boy it was. very different story, about a newlywed who transforms into a shark. very interesting story.

I loved this book. It's hard to setup, or to convince people they will want to read it, but it's utterly captivating. I loved the world she built and the characters we get to know in this story. What a feat!

What an unusual and stunning book. Loved the take woven and how the author switched from a bit. Wonderful story of grief, love and caretaking. Beautiful!

This book was funky! I will definitely be on the lookout for the author’s next release. Wren’s husband is turning into a great white shark. 🦈 What if she can learn to scuba dive, so that she can stay with him forever? 🥺 You will get a lot of weird looks when describing the book you are reading to others, but honestly, it was so emotional and raw! At times I was confused why certain characters were being introduced, but as I kept reading the author revealed how their stories added to the overall plot. If you’re not sure at first, stick with it. This book was so well done. Loved loved loved it!

Best book of the year! What a lovely, lovely surprise. I devoured it and have been recommending to everyone I see.

Brilliant and heartbreaking. Poetic and visceral. I loved this slim novel. The author tackles loss, grief, and trauma in a gentle and accessible way. The prose was tight and Habeck played around with format in a way that added depth to the story of Wren and Lewis and Angela. Some people might say, "This is a book about a man who mutates into a shark," and it is, but it's also about so much more than that. It's about joy and how we can find it in even in the darkest pain. It's about caregiving and the toll it takes. And overall, it's a love story. I couldn't put it down and I'll be following Emily Habeck to see what she writes next.

This one was absolute magic. I had no idea what to expect and was kind of excited to read about a man turning into a great white shark, but still hesitant. I didn't know such a beautiful story would blossom from such an eccentric storyline.

The writing was beautiful and made me tear up at many points in the book. I also didn't expect the transformation to occur so soon in the book, and was nervous to see how the rest would play out, but I loved how it did.

There were so many beautiful and haunting stories contained in this one book and it felt like I was reading poetry. My only gripe with this book is that it did not have to waste so much paper by putting only one sentence on each page. Regardless, this was amazing and I am stunned by Emily Habeck!

#whynotwednesday
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Why not a novel about a newlywed couple, Wren and Lewis, who face the toughest of first year? Just weeks after they get married, Lewis receives a very rare diagnosis. While he will retain memories, thoughts and intellect, his body is slowly transforming into a Great White Shark. This first year will be their last together.
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Shark Heart, a debut novel by Emily Habeck was definitely a #bookstagrammademereadit when it hit the gram with high recommendations and praise for this very unique book. People have praised it’s sentimentality, funny and airy look at love, life and relationships.
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To me, it is one of those books that make me wonder, what did I just read? It is definitely unique and I enjoyed the look back on Wren’s life, which helped me to see her thought process as she went through her husbands transformation. I really admire Habeck’s imagination, which wove a love story with such a nonsensical premise in such a way I was believing it was possible.
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I am glad I read this, it still comes up in my conversations about books and I definitely recommended it to my daughter who is the biggest shark fan around. She might actually be excited about her partner turning into a shark.
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This shark transformation isn’t the only one in the book, Wren befriends a woman pregnant with bird twins at a clinic that treats and supports those afflicted with this condition. This adds more depth and interest to the story.

I was very unsure of the premise of this book but after reading many reviews I wanted to see what it was about. It was such a soul-searching book about love and loss. I loved the premise of turning into different animals as a disease. I really enjoyed the author's perspective.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book. All opinions are my own.

(I ended up listening to this book on audio and the narration was very enjoyable.)

This book genuinely took me by surprise! The concept behind this novel intrigued me from the start and the execution did not disappoint! I think going into this book blind is the best way to read this, so I will refrain from saying anything more other than everyone should give it a try. I definitely will be looking forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon Element for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

This book is amazing. Each word calls for you to read it slowly and with thought. It draws you in and it’s like a big hug. The descriptions of the characters personalities and what ether love about each other is amazing. A unique perspective for a love story. I don’t often reread but for this one I will!!!

Newlyweds Lewis and Wren are just starting their marital bliss when Lewis discovers his health issues are the result of an animal mutation that will eventually change his body into a great white shark. This shocking news turns their lives upside down as Lewis physically and mentally changes, and the marriage is tested. Through it all, the love between Lewis and Wren stands the test of time.
This unique love story took me by surprise. I thought it would be an odd sci-fi love story, but it felt like an actual love story that could take place in the real world. Pages in I was sucked in and obsessed. The story of Angela was fascinating and heartbreaking. Overall, I am obsessed with Shark Heart and after laughing and crying, I can say this is one of the best books of 2023.

Man this is a weird book and that is a-okay. I went in thinking this book was about a guy who finds out he's turning into a shark and how that effects his new marriage. That is all true, but there is just so much more to this one. I actually found the sections of the book after Lewis completes his shark transformation to be my favorites. The story's emphasis on many different forms of love, especially a mother's love, was stunning. This book is funny, heartbreaking, and beautiful, however I am certain it will not land for everyone. I will be very thoughtful in my recommendations, but personally I will be watching the book world for what Emily Habeck does next!

Thank you to the author Emily Habeck, publishers Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of SHARKHEART. All views are mine.

First, I want to say that I rarely give ratings this low or reviews this candid. But I took a lot of issues with SHARKHEART that I wasn't expecting to find. Second, the biggest problem this book has is how it looks at illness-- it's terribly ablist. We can't just offload sick people into the wilderness, no matter how their illnesses affect their behavior; and if we do dump them in the ocean, there is no coming back from that, no matter how sentimental our hearts.

I won't be sharing this review anywhere else but perhaps my own blog, at a much later date.

Things I loved:

1. The concept has real promise. I wish it was one of two slightly different concepts. Either the same story except Lewis is the first person to change, like ever. Or forget Lewis and Wren and write a story focusing on several other characters with the genetic disorder.

2. The description of loss of language Lewis begins to experience is the best writing in the book up to that point. Quote loc. 1368. Unfortunately, this story logic folds later in the story when Lewis has no trouble, as a shark, thinking in language.

Things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. I don't know if this is the book for me, okay. This whole premise is, I'm afraid, outside of my ability to accept. That this is a world far enough into the future that humans have suddenly started to spontaneously transform into other species. For long enough and frequently enough that it's generated a whole advanced and well funded field of medicine of its very own. And yet, the world isn't different from contemporary earth in any other identifiable way? I don't know, that's such a long way to stretch! Maybe if Lewis was like the first case, but then it would be such a different story.

2. Habeck abruptly ends scenes right in the middle and then cuts to backstory, it kills the pacing and tension. All said, I really question a lot of this book's stylistic choices, such as artificially prolonging the withholding of pregnant lady's name so Halbeck can keep up the ridiculous word count booster. Or anonymity? Either is totally unnecessary.

3. I don't think the author really researched sharks very well. Because, why put gills on his face? They would be on his ribs. No higher than his neck, at least. There are other problems with the mutation process, things that don't really spell "shark," but too many to list here.

4. The goodbye party scene-- really this whole book concept-- is making me uncomfortable it's so ableist. There's something even worse about it that it's a disability the author made up just so she could ogle like this. And give her audience permission to do as well. Quote loc. 1482.

5. The backstory scenes are not only ill-placed, they appear to be irrelevant. She has whole parts of the book (Part 2 and Part 3) that are backstory, why not keep it all together? Or ideally, interspersed it where it is actually relevant because very little of it is.

6. Story logic problems abound. Here's one: Lewis loses language fairly early in his transformation process, but thinks in fluent English when swimming around as a shark.

8. Oh man, this book is nothing but sentiment. It should have been a novella that ended when Lewis went into the ocean. I even cried at that part. It was the only scene I connect to.

The premise was so interesting but the book fell flat for me. I enjoyed the first half which deals with his transition but then it went off on a tangent.