Such a unique premise and soooo twisty. Collins’ writing is so palatable and flows like I’m talking with a close friend. I enjoyed this start to finish!

Really good book, did not end up going where I thought it was and I was SHOCKED!!
Easy read and keeps you on your toes the whole time

This was an easy read and one I had high hopes for. I really enjoyed "The Winter Sister" by this author, unfortunately, this one just did not hit the same.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the book, but once part two started, I lost interest and things that started happening seemed too complicated and convenient. There are also 5 woman characters and aside from the main character, I really had a difficult time remembering who each character was. The supporting woman characters all read very similar to me.

The main character was also very annoying. She had so many inner monologues about guys and dating and really read very self-pitying. She was also a stalker who watched someone in their house and kept a detailed list of things she learned about them. There was almost no character growth. At the end, the main character talked as though she had learned valuable lessons throughout her ordeal, but ended up going back to her stalkerish ways with a new man.

I was interested to see how it ended and didn't want to dnf so I am giving it two stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc.

Fascinating look at the literal ties that bind us, this slightly Jane Eyre-esque tale was fast-paced and fun!

I have so many thoughts and feelings about this book. The ending left me feeling uneasy and I like I need to discuss and break down everything I just read. This book would make an incredible book club book. There were so many times I felt bad for Rosie and then in the blink of an eye I would be like “girl you are crazy what the heck are you doing?”. The author did such a great job confusing the reader on how they should feel about the characters and if they should even trust what was being told to them. I will be thinking about this book for quite awhile.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, I don't think they'll be a big fan of my review. I'm genuinely shocked that this book has such a high rating here because, besides a few exceptions, I did not enjoy this book at all.

The premise caught my attention, and it starts as an easy read where it looks like you'll fall in love with the characters in no time. Wrong. All of the main female characters in this book are desperate to find love, willing to do anything to keep a relationship - even when it's toxic, can rationalize any red flags into something magical, etc. It was so unappealing to keep reading about desperate women. Look, I get it, plenty of people are looking to find love. But multiple characters who go to unrealistic lengths to try to find it, keep it, stop it from ending...come on. The writing style is easy to read, so I will give the author credit for that. I just found myself reading page after page, thinking, "this woman is insane." I kept thinking this would turn into a twist and things would return to a world where everyone isn't insane, but sadly, it did not.

There is one major twist in the middle that I definitely didn't see coming. I was so excited, thinking, here we go, now is where things will really start to get interesting. And they did, a little, because the story's focus shifts. But the ending felt unrealistic, too much of a reach and suspension of reality that it just didn't make sense and was overcomplicated.

Overall, the book had a lot of potential, but there was too much going on, to the point where the story was no longer believable. I am a thriller lover, and some parts of the book surprised me and kept me engaged, wanting to learn what happens next. But as far as being a good thriller, it misses the mark. Too much time is spent on the main character's own delusions (past and present), and sometimes hating the characters can be a fun book to read, but that's not the case here, at least not for me.

2.5/5

3 ⭐️ - Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books, and Megan Collin’s for the ARC of Cross My Heart! I went into this book with super high expectations, and I wasn’t disappointed! Megan Collins takes you on a roller coaster through her writing and observations. So many twists and turns that I did not expect (loved all the Taylor references) and was definitely a page turner!

Rosie Lachlan, after a heart transplant, begins an online anonymous correspondence with the husband of her donor, Morgan Thorne. Although he doesn't know who she is, she knows who he is in real life. Rosie also happens to be desperate for love and a lasting relationship and fantasizes about the connection that they make online. Her history of being overzealous in past relationships has gotten her labeled "crazy" and you'll be wondering what crazy thing she'll do next. Be prepared because the twists will keep coming.

✨ARC Review✨

“She has his dead wife’s heart; the one she wants is his”. Rosie, a heart transplant patient, becomes Romantically obsessed with her donor’s husband. She suspects she has the heart of a local celebrity author, Morgan, and starts to message him via an anonymous system for donors/recipients. Rosie digs into Morgan’s past and realizes he might be responsible for his wife’s death.

“He said he’s drawn to people who’ve lived through darkness and survived it.”

There are some thriller books that leave you with your jaw on the floor, they flowed beautifully, and just have a WOW factor. Sometimes they even feel like an episode of Snapped or Dateline…believable. Unfortunately, I thought this might be one of those thrillers, but atlas I don’t feel it is, let me tell you why…

“I worry that everything beautiful, even love, eventually ends in bloodshed.”

Part One and Part Two of this book feel like totally different books. I ended part one feeling hooked, and ended part two honestly somewhat bored. I think what didn’t work for me overall is the ending with all of its twists to get there, seems far too incredulous. You have to really set aside all sense of reality to think that could even possibly happen. I ultimately felt underwhelmed at the end.

“For some of us, bad love feels safer than no love at all.”

What’s On The Pages:
-heart transplant patient
-twisty thriller
-obsession
-email communications
-who/what do you believe?

⚠️CW/TW: death of a spouse

✨Rating✨
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

A special thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this eARC! Cross My Heart is out now!

This one did not reach me the way it did others. The main character was so obviously unreliable to the point of being a cliche. She was unlikable. The story didn't have any suspense or real mystery. The Who in Who-Dun-It was pretty obvious. It was just turning pages and waiting for the rest of the characters to catch up.

When a woman named Rosie receives an organ donor’s heart; gratitude and curiosity quickly morph into deep obsession. After gaining illegal information about her potential donor’s identity from her best friend who works at the hospital, Rosie begins doing a deep dive into the live(s) of both her alleged donor… and her husband, Morgan.

“But the more I searched Morgan’s socials for specifics about his wife, the more I realized that, even if Daphne wasn’t the person who saved my life, Morgan was someone I was meant to know.”

**Be warned spoilers lay beyond this - read at your own discretion**

A year after her surgery, Rosie begins anonymous correspondence with Morgan as the donor’s surviving connections through a program that organ donation receivers may choose to use at their discretion. The identity of those who either received or were impacted by the donation are to remain anonymous, unless both parties decided to reveal who their identities were if/when that time ever came. During their correspondence Rosie begins asking more detailed questions about Daphne in order to 1) confirm that it is indeed her heart that she had received; and 2) to make an effort to know more about the woman who’s heart now was keeping her alive. Morgan slowly shares bits of information about her, and their lives with Rosie. Morgan shares the bit of information that Daphne was inherently good as a person. But she had experienced some deep trauma when she was younger involving her sister.

“And I thought I was drawn to that, the idea of someone untouched by darkness. But when she told me what had happened to her, I kew better. What I’m really drawn to is someone who’s seen darkness—breathed it even—and survived.”

Rosie is a manager at her mother’s bridal gown company next to a cute danish bakery named the Sweet Bean. We quickly learn that Rosie endured a tragic break-up not long before she became very sick with her heart condition. Her ex called off the engagement after deciding that Rosie’s love was too much. We also learn Rosie had an enlarged heart and often viewed every previous relationship that she had been through those “rose colored glasses” people often describe when in love. Her history slowly reveals that she altered bits of herself to become the thing she believed her previous crushes and lovers to want. She often begins to compare herself to Daphne, and tries to decide if she could become more like her in order to be the woman that could become Morgan’s forever. Her best friend senses she’s going off the deep end in her fascination with Morgan and encourages her to be done with it.

Rosie encounter’s a woman at the bridal shop who wants to return a dress after an engagement is called off. Her and the woman quickly bond over their traumas and the woman’s fandom of Morgan. They exchange information which becomes more important later on.

Stalker tendencies also begin to emerge. Rosie liv es with her mom and dad…. just around a mile away from Morgan and Daphne’s home. A scene occurs where she walks the dog and diverts to her new “favorite path” and winds up outside of his home… Later during a break at work Rosie decides to go over to the Sweet Bean… where she finds Morgan and his best friend Blair meeting for coffee. She quickly decides to get her order to stay, foregoing returning to work when she should - in the off chance that they finally can meet face to face. She believes it to be destiny. Blair she overhears is getting married, and Rosie fantasizes about what all of their lives could look like if they were too entwine. When Rosie gets a text from work urging her to return Rosie decides to go ahead and gather her things to leave. Just as she turns to leave, Morgan accidentally spills cappuccino all over her - triggering a chain of events leading to them spending hours together talking and laughing. Morgan wants to keep talking to Rosie and she doesn’t share her information… she lets him know she knows how to get a hold of him and that turns him on. Morgan is HUGE on emailing his thoughts and words to the people he corresponds with. He writes off an email to his best friend Blair about the whole encounter.

But just when you think you have figured out where this story will be leading you as the reader… things… develop.

“Before tonight, I’d been thinking it was best to let my love life die with Daphne. I’ve always known it’s a risky thing, letting women get too close to me. You’re the only one, Blair, who knows the real me and somehow hasn’t suffered for loving me.”

Morgan’s wife Daphne died the year before mysteriously in their home… while Morgan was home. As Rosie begins delving into the dark mysteries surrounding Daphne, her lack of presence on the internet despite being a teacher at a college AND published poet - secrets have a way of slowly coming to light. Strange comments start emerging on social media (instagram, youtube, and various outlets she finds). Rosie finds herself contacting the new woman that she had met at the bridal shop, remembering that someone she knew had previously worked with or had known Morgan’s wife. The woman who9 knew her was named Piper - her and Rosie have a meeting at the library where she makes the connection of Piper being a mean girl - Piper went to her school and remembers who she is. Piper had been good friends allegedly with Daphne not long before she had died. Piper swears up and down that Morgan murdered her. We learn some disturbing things surrounding some of Morgan’s work. Daphen’s sister was murdered when she was a kid. The last thing that Daphne said to her sister was “Someone is at the door” which Morgan wound up naming his first big print book.

“Wait. The last thing she said to her sister was “there’s someone at the door”? It’s almost identical to the title of Morgan’s debut. Someone at the Door.”

This leaves Rosie in a bit of a state - she wants to believe that Morgan is not capable of such things… but wants to deep dive more for herself to have more concrete evidence that it isn’t possible.

“Admittedly, though, I’m confused about it myself. If he told police he didn’t hear Daphne fall because he was working in his office with music on, then why did he tell me he needs “complete silence” to write? He even mentioned he can hear Sickle’s (the cat) scratching—from three rooms away while he works, and compared to a scream or thud, a scratch is just a whisper."

We also in the same chapter get a correspondence from Morgan to Blair. Rosie winds up leaving a note in Morgan’s mailbox to meet her in the park at a certain time… and he does. This email details the reactions he had to her note.

“I hear you screaming at your screen: “red flag, Morgan! Red fucking flag!” But I think you’re wrong about that. If anything, it’s a pink flag (yes, that’s a pun about Rosie’s hair), and you know how I feel about playing things safe. “Safe” becomes uncomfortable. It itches like a sweater with a too-tight collar.”

… then we get this internal monologue treat….

“In the past few days, I’ve been preoccupied with ideas for my next book. I think it’ll be about a woman who had a heart transplant. She connects with the husband of her heart donor and then… something terrible happens. (I haven’t gotten very far. Still waiting for the protagonist to take shape.)”

Weird. I was beginning to get super sus about Mr. Morgan at this point too. While discussing at the park meet up there’s this little treat as well…

“I shrugged. ‘Passion can be like that.” She laughed. “Violent and painful?” “Exactly,” I said.

When it comes time for their date to end then this happens….

“Wait, what’s your last name? I showed her the empty field (on his phone). Again, she froze—committed to her performance. Careful, mysterious Rosie. “That’s third-date info,” she joked, “so if you really want to know, I guess we’ll have to see each other again.” ‘I only have heard her. In my head, I was working on the pink-haired character, brainstorming the darkness that haunts her. The thing that’s made her leash up her heart— an old dog that refuses to learn a new trick.”

Rosie later that night decided to write Morgan another anonymous email that night from the organ donor platform. She makes this description about her previous relational encounters. “All I can say is: the beginning was so blindingly beautiful, it kept me from seeing the end.”

After reading her dark story Morgan responds with, “I also wasn’t you to know: I don’t think you’re crazy. You were in love. And if I’ve learned anything from my own experience, it’s that love turns you inside out. It changes you—on a deep, cellular level—until even your skin feels different, your voice sounds foreign, until you do and say things you never thought you could. Some days, love makes you look in the mirror and admire your own reflection; others, it makes you a monster in the glass.”

Later Rosie finds an old podcast that both Morgan and Daphne went on together. Daphne says some chilling things: “Daphne—even thought your writing is beautiful, there’s a lot of violence in your word choice. “Branches knife the sky.” “The silence suffocates.” “Is that a conscious choice for you?” “Daphne cocks her head, considering the question. “I don’t know if conscious is the right word. But it’s definitely a natural choice. I find that beauty and brutality often go hand in hand.” **Queue the Chills!**

During the same interview that Rosie watches… she also observes Morgan behaving oddly. “It happens so fast. I go back to be sure. But the image repeats: his fingers stiffen, digging into her leg like a claw, and as soon as Daphne jolts, Morgan lets go.”

Then in the same chapter we switch to Morgan corresponding to Blain once more… in an email he says; “So maybe the way forward is to keep seeing Rosie as much as I can—to prove I can care about a woman without things ending in bloodshed.”

Morgan invited Rosie to come to his home for dinner. Rosie is hesitant after all the things she learns, but she decides to go. She observes the home non-chalantly and notices that there are no photos of Daphne anywhere. She brings this up to Morgan and he takes it as she googled him and is a fan. She thinks its because he misses her and it hurts too much to have her photos anywhere. “Let her think I missed Daphne so much that seeing her face was like stubbing out a cigarette right on my heart. You’re the only one I’ve ever trusted with there truth, B—that the photos morphed after that night. Blame settled into Daphne’s posture; accusations slid into every smile. It was your idea, wasn’t it, to take them down? You knew that if I didn’t, I’d never have a moment of peace.” This is such an odd thing to be emailing a friend over…. definitely am feeling more suspicious of Morgan at this point…. possibly even Blair?

Morgan decides after that moment while in the library of his home.. .to kiss Rosie and an even odder thought crosses his mind…. “the lasagna almost ready, I closed the gap between us. Kissed her in the room where Daphne used to write. Her face was soft between my palms, but as we deepened the kiss, I felt the shift of her jawbone, reminding me that beneath that soft skin was a skill so easily crushed.” WTF…… Morgan quickly continues a house tour and leads her upstairs attempting to take things further with Rosie… but things stop - Rosie notices the bathroom door (where Daphne died) is ajar and it rattles her. Morgan attempts to take control of the situation and kisses her more aggressively and accidentally harms Rosie. This pulls Rosie out of her stupor and she quickly leaves.

Morgan describes the moment to Blair. “Nervous. Apprehensive. And that’s when it clicked; her hesitations when she first arrived, her eyes scanning for ghosts— for clues…… how brave of her, then, to still come over tonight. How sick, even. Or, from another perspective, how sweet. I watched her go, Blair. Listened to her say she was sorry, she’d be in touch. And now the lasagna is charred on the counter, and Rosie is gone—spiraling, maybe, with dark thoughts about me—and I can’t let her do that. I shouldn’t have let her leave.”

In desperation, Morgan repeatedly reaches out to Rosie to try and explain and apologize for any misunderstandings, or fears that happened as a result of their time together. Then we get Rosie’s perspective - she finally got her hands on the copies of Daphne’s works..and her final poem. She takes the time going through them (see my highlighted notes). Her work gives correlations between what Rosie already knows, exposes the lies she knows she has been told, and also corroborates the mixed signals that she’s been getting from various sources. She feels mixed on what she has learned. Morgan also reaches out on DonorConnect to try and meet up with her there as well, not knowing her true identity at this point. Rosie decides to meet him, expose her truth and get the answers that she feels both her and Daphne deserve.

Mixed multiple POV’s occur in the events that take place immediately after. Essential part one ends with Morgan and a knife in his chest.

From here, a whirlwind of information and dangerous game of “who dun it” ensues. The author does a brilliant job of keeping the reader guessing, and I was shocked with the ending!

This isn’t my first book I’ve read by Megan Collin’s and this definitely won’t be my last. She is an author that has a very gripping writing style to me. This kept me guessing from the get go and couldn’t wait to finish. The premise of the book was also very interesting. Once you got to the twist it got really good! Highly recommend!

Cross My Heart had me hooked from the beginning.

Rosie Lachlan seems to be the definition of crazy. Everyone wants to find their true love but Rosie takes it to the next level.

She starts messaging the husband of the donor heart she received, on DonorConnect, trying to get him to fall for her. As the messages continue she starts stalking him. Rosie learns that he might have just had something to do with his wife's death.

Is it murder or fate that Rosie received her heart and finally has the opportunity for love.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book blew me away! The suspense build-up was so good that I couldn't put it down, and once the twist was revealed, I was on the edge of my seat needing to know what was going to happen. I had three different suspects and still ended up being wrong! I also love the FMC, Rosie, so much. She has been through a lot, and I think her resilience is inspiring. It also has a cat and a dog, which I loved, but I appreciated that they were spoken about throughout the book. Overall I just loved this book and will be recommending it to my fellow thriller lovers!

If you are looking for a quick thriller, Cross My Heart is a great one to pick up!

I fairly quickly felt sucked into this book. The main character definitely made me feel pretty uneasy at first with some of her behaviors so if you like unreliable narrators this book has this going for it!

Once I hit the second part I really didn’t want to put it down. I was very surprised by the twist at the beginning of the second part and while I guessed some of how the plot in advance, I was mostly surprised by how it unfolded.

I think thriller fans will enjoy this one and I’m excited to dive into her backlist!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc.

Cross My Heart was the first novel I’ve read by Megan Collins. This was popping up all over my socials as a “must read” and I was grateful for the ARC I received.

Rosie is a girl, recovering from a bad breakup and a heart transplant. Rosie has a history with her exes. Rosie connects with Morgan, her heart donors husband, online and starts an online correspondence that has her weak in the knees- figuratively. But over time, Rosie starts to wonder if everything is as it seems or if Morgan may have had something to do with his wife’s death. That’s where the twists start coming!

This book was full of twists and distractions. Again, set aside rational thought and suspend belief temporarily if you want to enjoy this book. Overall, it did not speak to my heart (all the pun), but the writing was smooth and the story kept me guessing! Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this ARC!

This was a DNF at 50%, but not for any bad reasons, this book's style just wasn't for me. I'm giving it a three because I can see a lot of people liking it, but I just don't like the "tell" not "show" style of storytelling. I also found that I just don't like the whole "e-mails tell the story" plot device. I didn't like it in The Coworker or The Appeal and I definitely didn't like it here either, so I think I just need to avoid books that tell the story with that type of narrative.

Other than the above mentioned, the storyline is intriguing and the writing is really good. It just didn't fit my style personally and was just a tad too slow paced.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and all opinions expressed are mine.

I did not expect this book! The premise was intriguing and some of the characters quite unlikeable: The book is perfect for fans of books that feature an author ,bookstore ,dog and organ donor. I was hooked to be honest and I cannot wait for more Megan collins books.

I loved Winter Sister and was excited to see this new book from Collins! It definitely threw me for loops and kept me guessing until the end! I thought she did a great job in this book of giving just enough information to keep me coming back for more!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

If you got a heart from someone else, would you go to certain lengths to find out who they were and who they left behind?

Rosie wants to know more about the woman who saved her life. So, through DonorConnect, she gets to messaging the woman's husband. Rosie is also someone who loves hard and big, following her heart almost always and praying for the one to show up. So is it any surprise that she starts to fall for the husband of her organ donor?

This book was fun and twisty and had me shaking in my boots. I wanted to toss my Kindle across the room while simultaneously not taking my eyes off the page. Without giving anything away, this is a definite must for thriller lovers.

Big thanks to the publisher for an early copy!