Well, this is definitely a first! A love story about a man mutating into a Great White Shark. While I did enjoy the thought that went into such an absurd transformation, such as the change of features, eating habits, sleeping habits, I found the whole story of mutation incredibly sad and heart breaking. Which maybe is the point! Seeing our loved ones succumb to illness beyond their control is incredibly sad. A sad reality of what it is to be human.

A great debut novel of marriage, motherhood, letting go, and metamorphosis. Wren and her husband Lewis are newlyweds. Over the course of nine months, transforms into a great white shark. The love story is funny, airy and visceral. The book deals with creating a meaningful life.

You just gotta go with it. This is a lovely novel-implausible to be sure- but intriguing, emotional, and bigger than it appears at first. Wren and Lewis are newlyweds when he begins to turn into a Great White shark, an event which doesn't seem to shock anyone, even Lewis. Apparently, this sort of transformation, resulting from a mutation, is so common that the hospital where he is treated has teams and stages for patients to help them, and their families cope and prepare for the day when the patient- in this case Lewis- returns to the ocean. Wren is utterly devoted to Lewis- she quits her job to feed him and care for him- and her only solace is swimming, which is where she meets the tiny pregnant woman who is pregnant with birds. The second half of the novel is Wren's back story, and the back story of her mother. No spoilers because it should come as a surprise to other readers. This defies genre- it's not sci fi, it's not magical realism, and so on- but it is the product of a vivid imagination (backed up with science about sharks) and great storytelling. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. I very much enjoyed this and highly recommend.

For a book with a really out-there premise, it provides a surprisingly accurate, and beautiful, representation of life with all its love and loss. This was an unexpected joy.

Just....wow! I don't think I have ever read anything like this before. I was intrigued by the title and synopsis. But what I wasn't expecting is just how beautifully written this story is. The reader believes that animal mutations really do happen every day. I look forward to reading Emily's next book.

Beautiful, lyrical, and bizarre, Shark Heart is the story of a man who turns into a shark. It's also the story of his wife, Wren, and her evolution from a precocious child to a practical wife to a fully-realized woman with a hard-won understanding of loss and love. Although the events of the story are fantastical, the emotions they provoke - in the characters and the reader - are quite real. A truly unusual, memorable, affecting book.

Shark Heart was such a surprising read! I did not expect to go through the emotions I went through reading the unique story. This book was entertaining and thought-provoking. I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.

Shark Heart is such a unique book that I don’t even know how to describe it to properly capture its essence. It is set in a world just like our own, but where some people develop a condition that causes them to begin to mutate into an animal. It starts with the story of Wren and Lewis, who are newly married when Lewis learns he’s turning into a great white shark, before going back in time to the story of Wren’s mother Angela, then circling back to Lewis.

I know, this sounds like such an odd premise, but if you can go with it, this book is just incredibly beautiful and sad. Whether you see the animal transformation as a metaphor for terminal illness or dementia, or simply as an element of magical realism not meant to signify anything more, this is truly just such a beautiful story of what it means to be human. The writing in this book is so amazing, somehow simultaneously both spare and lyrical. Parts are written like dialogue in a play (perhaps a play Lewis is writing), parts are almost more poetry than prose, but all of it is just so lovely. I couldn’t put it down and of course it made me cry. This one is going to stay with me for a long time.

4.5 stars

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
Published: August 8, 2023
S&S / Marysue Rucci Books
Genre: Literary Fiction
Pages: 415
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Emily Habeck has a BFA in theater from SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts as well as master’s degrees from Vanderbilt Divinity School and Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. She grew up in Ardmore, Oklahoma.

“I’m not worried at all.”

Wren never expected to fall in love. She was planning on getting her education and landing a high-paying job. Then fun-loving and charismatic Lewis stumbles into her life. And things are perfect until they aren’t.

I initially chose this book because the cover was gorgeous and had a shark on it. I didn’t know the story, so going in, I had an open mind.

The metaphors and imagery used throughout this novel were stunning. I associated the mutation as an entry into grief and working through those steps.

I liked Wren. She was solid and serious. I love that Lewis brought out the cheerfulness in her with his outgoing personality. Their dynamic was lovely. Lewis was boisterous and passionate. He balanced Wren beautifully.

This was written in a very lyrical style, and that made the story feel both longer and shorter, which won’t make sense unless you read the book.

This was a unique storyline, with a plot that had a little bit of everything. The pacing was perfect for the narrative, and the ending was spectacular.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster & NetGalley for the advanced copy of Emily Habeck's debut novel, Shark Heart: A Love Story!

First, this might be the most gorgeous cover of any summer release. It is absolutely stunning and so are the contents of this novel. Shark Heart tells the story of Wren and Lewis through their first - and last - year of marriage. They live in a world where people can experience genetic mutations that take them from human to animal. Lewis receives a diagnosis that he will turn into a great white shark. We follow his metamorphosis and their loss of life as they know and imagined it. We also get to understand the relationship between Wren and her mother, Angela. A young mother who survives an abusive relationship and a genetic mutation of her own. This book will not be for everyone.

It has a unique writing style, structure, and a very quirky plot. With that, it falls into a genre sweet spot for me -- one that I can't quite describe. Think, Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett and The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. Shark Heart is, truly, a love story. It is the story of love of a partner, friend, parent, animals and how we still hold on to and cherish memories despite how relationships grow and change.

I received a copy of this book as an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review.

This. Book. Whoa.

I got a marketing email from NetGalley to try this book, and as a fan of sharks, I thought "why not?". The cover looked cool, and the premise seemed strange but intriguing. Little did I realize I was about to read a story about generational challenges and pain, love, family, hope, joy, illness, memory, art, beauty, grief, and what it means to be human.

The premise: Wren and Lewis have just gotten married when Lewis gets a diagnosis that within a year he is going to mutate and transform into a Great White shark.

This book has three parts. The first we learn about Wren, a perfectionist, realist, who lost her mother at a young age, and who is intellectual but guarded. And her husband, Lewis, an artistic dreamer who wanted to be an actor, but ended up being a theater teacher, and then a shark. We learn about their relationship, their backgrounds, their love, and witness Lewis's transformation into a shark. The second part is about Wren's mother, Angela, who got pregnant at 15, and had Wren, and had her own "Illness" as well. The third part is about Wren after Lewis has transformed and what her life becomes without him physically with her, but emotionally by her side through his memories.

I love how this book is written. There are very brief chapters, sometimes only a paragraph or a sentence on a whole page, and I hope that is how it looks once printed. There are also parts where character dialogue is written almost in verse instead of prose. The characters are rich and fully developed. The way this author can succinctly write something so deeply relatable and profound strikes me as unique. I highlighted so many passages, laughed, teared up, and felt empathy for the lives these characters lead.

This story is very unique and does not feel formulaic at all. I could see this being literature discussed in a college classroom or even a book club. And I could also see myself reading this story again in a decade and picking up even more quotes and passages that resonate with my life. Highly recommend this book!

Oh my goodness. This book.

I went into it with some hesitation. The description sounds so…bizarre. A man who turns into a shark? A woman pregnant with birds?

But it’s beautifully written. It’s about life, love, relationships, family, grief, learning to live when you feel like there is no hope, finding the beauty in the little things…it is so many things!

It’s a love story between two people, but also a love story between mothers and daughters. And I loved it so much.

Pros: When I heard about the premise of this book on Anne Bogel’s Summer Reading Guide, I thought it sounded interesting (a man turns into a great white shark!), but I also worried it would be too similar to Our Wives Under the Sea. (I liked that book! I was afraid this book would feel like it copied Our Wives…) As I read Shark Heart, I was pleased to discover that it was uniquely its own. I liked the structure of this book—how several large sections were divided into many very short sections—and how this structure allowed the examination of how a metamorphosis can affect different relationships—husband/wife, mother/child, coworkers, exercise acquaintances, etc.

Cons: I did not finish this book with any specific cons in mind. I don’t think this book will be for every reader because not all readers like magical realism, but I think the readers who it is for will really like it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Element, S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books for the opportunity to read this book.

"Shark Heart" may be titled a love story - but it's so much more.

At first glance, the storyline is fantastical, bordering on unthinkable, when theater teacher Lewis is diagnosed with Carcharodon carcharias, a condition in which he will slowly mutate into a Great White Shark. For Lewis and his new wife Emily, this discovery changes their entire lives as he's given 9 months until his transformation completes. The first half of the novel focuses on their relationship, as Emily and Lewis navigate his physical and mental changes, and as they both recall the earlier days from when they first met. While the focus may initially have been on Lewis, it shifts towards Emily in the second half as we delve into her past and her mother, Angela. We watch as Angela navigates an abusive relationship, eventually raising Emily as a single mother, until she also succumbs to her own illness.

For a debut novel, Habeck has crafted a thought-provoking and emotional work that highlights the important topics of motherhood, family and relationships, and grief and loss. This is not a love story in the traditional sense, although there are elements of romance, but focuses more on what comes after - when we lose what feels like a part of ourselves, how do we come to terms with our own identity and purpose? The prose is poetic and lyrical, and builds several strong female protagonists that many readers will relate to.

I did struggle with the structure of this novel as it felt like two separate stories and there were times I just wanted more. There's an incredible starting set up here but I'm not sure the themes are explored or concluded by the end of the novel.

If a book sounds a little weird, I promise I'll be all over it. I couldn’t resist the pull of Shark Heart when I learned it depicted a man with a mutation that slowly transformed him into a great white shark.

Of course, the book is so much more than that. It's about the power of time and change, of grabbing hold of something and having no choice but to let it go. It's sad yet hopeful, and even though we as readers knew part of the story was inevitable, it didn't make the "goodbye" scene any less heartbreaking.

I loved the quick rhythm of the book (short chapters for the win!), and it was easy to get caught up in its whirlwind. The hype this novel had been getting is completely well-deserved.

I devoured this beautiful book. I’m not much of a romance reader, but i was swept up and moved by the love story between the couple at the center of the novel. The author employs a unique structure that intersperses scenes from a play about the characters. This actually flows really well and makes sense, as one character is a former actor and high school drama teacher. Loved it. Going to be one of my best books of the year.

Mutation is normal, or is it another way to look at loss. I enjoyed the love story of Shark’s Heart and the acts of the play it shared within its story. A highly unique way to look at life!

Easy 5 stars! I went for this book because of the weird storyline combined with such a beautiful cover, and even though this book was definitely not what I expected, I was glued to it!

I think fans of Fredrik Backman will love the way this book is written (this is probably the highest praise I can give a book!!). Emily Habeck has a similar style of writing characters in such a raw and human way. Both her and Fredrik Backman can take some mundane and everyday human tasks and emotions, but write them in such a way you really feel the weight and meaning behind them. The characters are so real and complex, yet explained in such a simple and matter-of-fact way, that you grow to love them for their strengths as well as their flaws. Like a Fredrik Backman book, I just wanted to curl up inside of it and savor every word.

This book is filled with a lot of things I usually dislike in a book (but the fact that a main character is turning into a great white shark is not one of them 🤣). This book is very character-driven without a lot of action, which I normally dislike. Then Part II takes a turn and follows a different character, which I also would usually roll my eyes at, but I got just as enraptured by Part II as I did Part I. Lastly, this book doesn’t necessarily wrap everything up in a tidy bow at the end - but it was done in a perfect and beautiful way, where it felt like real life.

When reading, I typically feel like I’m sprinting towards the end, ready to finish and move on to the next book even if I’m enjoying it. But I can’t explain the disappointment I felt when I got to the Epilogue, because I wasn’t ready for this book to end.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon Element for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I loved this so dang much. I can’t shut up about it. I went in for the weird and came out with a touching story of grief. Can’t wait to get a copy for my shelf.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved Wren and all aspects of this story , especially Angela. The jumping back and forth in time was hard to follow at times and is really my only issue with this book. Unique and unlike anything else I’ve read.