I love Megan Collins. Her books always scratch that dark thriller itch I crave. I don’t think the twist is super shocking, I think any casual thriller reader can see it coming but it’s still a very entertaining book.

When heart transplant recipient Rosie begins corresponding with her donor's widower, famous author Morgan Thorne, Rosie begins to wonder if Morgan may have had something to do with her donor's death.

This is the first book in quite some time that had me floored at an unexpected twist halfway through the book. The first half of the book was really fast-paced and entertaining and I liked the multiple perspectives of it. While I admit after the twist, the second half was a little less exciting, but I was super intrigued to keep writing and find out what was going on. I had no idea what to expect and did not figure out the ending whatsoever. There were so many different possibilities and red herrings which I absolutely loved. Rosie was such a wild card and while she wasn't terribly likeable, I was still rooting for her. Overall I would definitely recommend this one.

Wow, this was a fun, unique read. It got to be a bit over the top at the end, and some of the twists I found hard to swallow, but I really enjoyed reading this novel.

CROSS MY HEART
Megan Collins

I was staying in Morro Bay when I read this book, in the midst of summer, in the middle of a heat wave. I received three books in the span of ten seconds. All from Atria with the subject line “ Your weekend is booked.”

This was the one I was the most excited about, the one I couldn’t wait to read. I picked it up and finished it that afternoon. I loved it and I think you will too. It comes out in the middle of January, and you should add it to your Goodreads WANT TO READ shelf, because you don’t want to be late on this one. Someone will assuredly spoil it for you.

Her parents have been married for a lifetime. Love and fidelity are all she knows. She spends her days selling wedding gowns and half-baked dreams to young soon-to-be brides. And spends her nights pondering her future.

She was engaged at one point. In a life that feels like it was lived by someone else. He left her at the altar and literally broke her heart. Days after the break-up she would find her heart did not work the same way, the way it should. To heal she would need a new heart. She would need someone to die.

The man she messages at night is a writer. His emails are golden. With her new heart, she falls in love. What she doesn’t know is what parts of her have fallen, and what he doesn’t know is her little secret, for now.

This was good. This was really good. The concept is a winner and brought to fruition successfully. The twists had me at every turn. I enjoyed Collin’s prior thriller, THE FAMILY PLOT, but I liked this one more.

Desperation was a running theme that propelled every character and informed their choices. It was palpable and you could feel it in every move they made. Each character introduced was more desperate than the last. And you really couldn’t tell how far they would go to get what they wanted. And I had no clue how it would end until the last final pages.

So good, so fun. One of best coming next year and there are a lot of contenders.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the advanced copy and for booking my weekend!

CROSS MY HEART...⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Cross my Heart is another amazing thriller by Megan Collins! Thank you NetGalley for another amazing read, I can’t wait to read more novels by Megan Collin’s!

This book was sooooo fun!!!! I love a twisty thriller!

Rosie, receives the heart of the wife of a famous author in her town, and begins corresponding with him via a website called "DonorConnect." Rosie begins fixating on him and thinks they'd be perfect together. Rosie has typically been unlucky in love, and often fixates on men. What could go wrong?

I loved this book! Rosie, as an unreliable narrator (yet in my opinion, likable even though you wanted to shake her sometimes!), the emails and donor connect messages to keep the story moving, the unexpected twists -- I had a great time reading this.

I thought I had it figured out a few times and totally did not. I will definitely explore more of Megan Collins' books now!

Thanks so much to Netgalley for the ARC - all opinions are my own.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for this arc. I received this book in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts are entirely my own.

In this book we meet Rosie who had a heart transplant and decides to contact the husband of her donor who happens to be a thriller writer from her hometown. Rosie works at her parents wedding dress store. Rosie starts to fantasize about the husband named Morgan whose wife Daphne died after hitting her head. Morgan blames himself for her death. Rosie starts to wonder if he did it and befriends people that either knew him or his wife. Morgan begins to write a thriller about a woman who had a heart transplant and when Rosie goes to his house to talk to him she finds him with a knife in him. Rosie is instantly a suspect after they find pink hair on the body. The hair comes back as not Rosie’s and she finds out that a women with a similar experience with an ex was pretending to be her. Rosie finds out that Morgan’s best friend who was also an ex killed both Morgan and Daphne. At the end of the book Rosie starts to obsess with the detective that was on Morgan’s case. This book was very interesting and I did not guess the bad guy properly. This book is a must read for 2025.

I really enjoyed this book and was surprised by the twist in the middle. It was a page turner and a fast paced read.

This book grabbed me from the very beginning and didn’t let go, making it impossible to stop turning the pages. I do feel The main character seems intentionally written to be a bit frustrating, which adds to the way the story guides your thoughts as you try to piece together the outcome. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Rosie Lachlan has had a rough year. First, she was dumped in her wedding dress. Then, she found out she had a heart defect and needed a transplant to survive. When Rosie starts corresponding with the husband of her heart donor on a site called Donor Connect, she realizes that he is well-known author Morgan Thorne. As Rosie and Morgan start to form a bond, she can't help but realize how perfect they are for one another. Rosie's best friend is concerned for Rosie's mental and physical health, but Rosie is laser focused on figuring out if Morgan Thorne could be The One or if he is a psychopath who is responsible for his wife's death.

I enjoyed this book! Rosie is the type of flawed main character I love to read - she's likeable but makes very frustrating decisions! I like how the author moved the plot forward using the Donor Connect correspondence, and I really enjoyed how she worked twists into the story elusively - sometimes I didn't even know a twist was coming, so it allowed me to be immersed in the story without expecting something. There was enough action to really hook me, but didn't move so quickly that the character development suffered. I particularly liked the ending which leaves the reader guessing a little, while still giving a satisfying conclusion to the story.

This book is a masterpiece. The main, character gets a heart transplant and reaches out to the husband of the donor and there is where the action begins. The plot unravels like a ball of yarn and Icould not figure out how all of the events connected or who was the mastermind of the horrible events that ensue. Turns out, no one can be trusted. Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I received an ARC of this title on net galley.

When heart transplant recipient Rosie begins to connect with her heart transplant donors husbans, Morgan Thorne through a secure donors choose website she begins to think that he might have been responsible for his wife’s death.
This was a read that had me hooked most of the way through the book. It was twisty in all of the right places and there were many different angles I didn’t anticipate or expect….all of the way until the end . While I had a strong feeling of “who done it” about 3/4 of the way through, the writing style kept me engaged enough to confirm
My suspicions. I am definitely going to back read this aotjor’s other work!

This is an appealing thriller about a woman that just had a heart transplant.

I had to know what was going to happen when Rosie contacted Morgan with a Donor Connect email. His wife, Daphne, had the good heart that replaced Rosie’s. After some time, she noticed that she had different cravings like the desire for potatoes that she previously hated. Naturally, she was curious about the donor’s life.

But one girl told her to be careful: his wife may have been murdered by Morgan. After several emails back and forth and having a good feeling about this man, she knew this could change everything. They weren’t supposed to identify their names and addresses but it was easy to figure it out. He was a famous author of dark thrillers. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to want to meet him.

The first half of the story was exciting trying to wrap my head around a woman that had a new heart and how that would change her perspectives. Yet, the second half slowed down even though it was full of revelations about Morgan’s wife and what was going to happen next with the detectives working on it. The characters were believable and it was full of drama about trying to find one’s soulmate. I can think of a number of people that would love to read this.

My thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of January 14, 2025.

Rosie, Rosie, Rosie.... It's been a tough year. She was dumped while wearing her wedding dress. YIKES! But she did receive a lifesaving heart transplant so that was something to be immensely grateful for. It's natural to wonder about the donor, who wouldn't? Rosie believes that the doner was the wife of a famous author who she begins messaging on DonorConnect . Obsession is the name of the game in Cross My Heart! She has his wife's heart, now she wants him!

Obsessed much?

This book kept me on my toes. There are quite a few characters and as I got to know more about them, I began to scratch my head. Hmmmm....who can be trusted in this book?? Who is reliable? What is going to happen next? I had no idea where Megan Collins was going to take me on this wild ride, but I kept on my rose-tinted glasses and enjoyed the twist filled ride.

Megan Collins excels at writing unreliable and interesting characters. She also kept me on my toes and engaged and I Cross My Heart, this was a riveting book. I found it to be well thought out, creatively told, wonderfully written, and intense!

This is my first novel by this author. I’ve had all her books on my radar but for some reason or another I just passed them by. I was in the mood for a good page turner and settled on this one. It’s only about 300 pages but took me over 8 days to finish (typical is 3-4 max) and felt like 400+ pages. This was not only a slow burn but very predictable. I predicated all the twists and turns and found it cliche and eye rolling. Rose colored glasses? Ugh how many times do we need to hear that expression. This was a big loss for me and my reading and now I’m slumping. Unfortunately I won’t be recommending this one.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book. I enjoyed the writing and the pacing, but just for not really care for thrillers with unreliable narrators.

THIS is definitely one of my top reads of the year! In Cross Your Heart, Megan Collins once again proves her ability to write stories that are as haunting as they are heartbreaking. For fans of thrillers with a dark psychological edge, this book is a must-read. Collins expertly explores themes of guilt, grief, and the dangerous lies we tell ourselves, leaving readers questioning who they can trust until the very last page. I didn't want it to end which is the only reason it took me as long as it did to finish it!

All I needed to read was the dedication page to it was going to be a good book. “For everyone who relates to the prophecy by Taylor Swift”

I really enjoyed this read! Rosie, who recently received a heart transplant, is desperate to find love. She connects anonymously via DonorConnect with the husband of her heart donor. He is a famous author named Morgan Thorne. She becomes obsessive with the idea of him but soon discovers a common rumor that many seem to believe… they’re saying Morgan killed his wife. Are these just rumors or could it be true? The more she discovers the more she questions it. Is she willing to risk her life for the possibility of love?

This novel was intriguing from the very beginning and became even more enticing with each page I turned. The MC is not the most likable in the beginning but by the end you will, without a doubt, be rooting for her. After the first few chapters I thought I had it all figured out but I could not have been more surprised and delighted with the twists this book had. I admired that Megan included many different types of communication in this book such as text messages, emails, and online messages. It made it fun and kept it interesting. I would love to read a sequel with Rosie’s next adventure!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for an ARC of this novel.

This is the epitome of unhinged female behavior! MC always delivers from the thriller standpoint, and this one is no exception. Such a unique plot, telling the story of a love obsessed heart transplant survivor. Add about a dozen twists and turns and you have an easily bingeable book a cozy weeknight at home!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

* review posted on goodreads

I am not sure how to really sum up this book! I will admit the cover is what sucked me in. So I went in completely blind into this book. I think that helped a lot because I was instantly sucked in and couldn't put it down. I could summarize everything but I think it is best to go in blind like I did. The author absolutely killed this book! Seriously, I can't wait for it to be published and share it with my book club.

What I did enjoy:
- this was fast paced and I couldn't put it down! I finished it pretty quickly. I was intrigued from the first chapter.
-I had no clue who or what to believe. This book is full of all the twists! I did not see most of it coming
-our MC is interesting and multilayered for sure. I felt for her at times. But at other times I wanted to shake some sense into her.

Overall, I really loved this book! This helped me get out of a reading slump. The book is twisty and fast paced, perfect for any thriller fan..4 stars out of 5. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!