This book was truly so beautiful - it was full of grief, but also the reminder to live. I'll never be able to do this book justice with a review, because Erin just did such a phenomenal job with this one. Sydney is a teenager who gets a second chance at life when she receives a heart. As she struggles to come to grips with what that means and tries to understand that she lived because someone else died - she attempts to find meaning.

The characters were all written with such a level of depth that truly impressed me. From grieving family members, a destroyed best friend trying to find a purpose to live, to Sydney's best friend as she continues to struggle with life before a transplant, and then Sydney's family - her mom and dad are both really well written and the struggle of letting their daughter change post-transplant is expanded on in a really great way. This is truly a great one, and you might want to have tissues nearby when you read it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

💖 Top 5 Reasons to Read Every Borrowed Beat by Erin Stewart💖

1. 💔 A Deep, Realistic Exploration of Survivor’s Guilt

Sydney's imposter syndrome hit me hard—and it will resonate with anyone who's survived something life-altering. After her heart transplant, she grapples with guilt, confusion, and the pressure to do something worthy with this second chance. As someone who’s survived cancer, I felt this in my bones. That deep, soul-searching “why me?” isn’t often shown with such vulnerability in YA, and it’s portrayed here with honesty that brought tears to my eyes.


2. 💕 An Emotional, Slow-Burn Romance That Feels Earned

Clayton is the kind of character who grows on you—gentle, grieving, and a little broken in his own way. His connection with Sydney doesn’t feel rushed; it evolves through shared pain and tiny flickers of hope. It’s a love story born from grief, but it blossoms with warmth. Their relationship reminded me that love after trauma doesn’t have to be perfect—it just has to be real.


3. 🫀 A Unique Narrative About Life After a Heart Transplant

Erin Stewart dives deep into the medical and emotional reality of living with someone else’s heart. From the routine of medications to the physical fragility and emotional weight, this isn’t just a backdrop—it’s integral to Sydney’s identity. The representation of chronic illness feels authentic and grounded, shedding light on a reality we don’t often see in fiction.


4. 📓 Mystery Elements That Keep You Turning Pages

This isn’t just a character-driven story—it’s also got a mystery woven into the fabric. Who was Mia, the donor? What secrets still linger between her brother Tanner and best friend Clayton? As Sydney uncovers more about the life behind her new heart, the story takes on an investigative edge that keeps the emotional stakes high and the pages flying.


5. 🫶 Found Family, Long-Distance Friendship, and the Power of Connection

Sydney’s friendship with Chloe, her long-distance bestie from TheWaitingList, is beautifully done—bittersweet and heartbreaking. Their bond is a lifeline that speaks to the power of connection even across miles and illness. And even though Chloe’s storyline is deeply emotional, it adds a layer of perspective to Sydney’s journey and keeps the book grounded in real, messy human relationships.


Final Thoughts

Every Borrowed Beat is one of those rare books that gets under your skin and stays there. It’s not just about falling in love or surviving a transplant—it’s about figuring out how to keep living when your life doesn’t look like it used to. Erin Stewart crafts a story that’s tender, emotionally honest, and beautifully hopeful.


Whether you’ve walked through illness, grief, or just the messy journey of being seventeen and uncertain, this book will break your heart—and slowly help stitch it back together.

I thought I was going to be reading a sweet romance story, but I was so wrong. Don't get me wrong, there's a sweet romance in this one, but there's so much more to it. This book takes a close look at what it's like to be a young patient waiting for an organ transplant. Then, the happiness and guilt that comes after receiving a transplant. Despite the heavy times, there were still happy times and first love woven into the book. It's a story about not taking things for granted or being afraid to live your life to its fullest. It was so beautifully written and took me through a gamut of emotions.

Sydney has been on the transplant list and it finally happens. Now she's feeling lost at life, especially as her best friend Chloe, who is also on the transplant list, is getting sicker.

Sydney connects with Clayton, the best friend of her heart donor, Mia. The thing is, at first, Clayton has no idea who Sydney really is. Sydney lies and tells Clayton she is an old friend of Mia and he believes her. The two get to know each other, as well as Sydney getting to know about Mia's life before her death - and why Mia's brother wants nothing to do with Clayton, and the guilt Clayton feels surrounding the death of his best friend. While all of this is going on, Sydney is finally starting to feel like she's really living, but it something she doesn't feel like she's able to share with Chloe.

A heavy book, with pockets of laughter and romance.

Rating: 3-3.5 stars

I wanted to love this.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed a lot; I think it’s an interesting book and definitely worth a read even with some of its weaknesses, but I wanted to love this in the way that you love your favorite book or an incredible story that speaks to your soul, and I’m kind of, really disappointed I don’t.

A Meta Analysis (Not the Scientific Kind)
Every Borrowed Beat is a unique book in the sense that I can’t really think of any stories that are comparable. I know there’s the Five Feet Apart comp, but even that feels a little like a bit of a stretch because I feel like Five Feet Apart or even something like Sick Kids in Love focuses a lot more on the romance, which, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for–sick kids deserve love too–but while there’s definitely romance in Erin Stewart’s latest book, it’s not primarily a love story, and I think that’s what it makes it stand out from a lot of the sick kid lit out there.

At the heart of it, Every Borrowed Beat is an exploration of identity, illness, and what it means to live. It’s about moving on from loss–of a best friend or even a life you once knew–and wrestles with the idea survivor’s guilt, but it also grapples with the life-altering nature of a terminal illness but approaches it from the unique lens of transplant patient who’s essentially been given a second chance at life. In it, Stewart peels back the curtain and gives us a glimpse of what life on the other side of a terminal illness looks like because, the central conflict at the heart of the book is Sydney wrestling with the question, what does the dying girl do when she’s not dying anymore?

I was a little worried when I started Every Borrowed Beat because the premise–a girl trying to decode a dead girl’s bucket list with the conveniently hot boy who happens to be her don’s best friend–can seem a little of farfetched, and I was worried the buildup to the story’s start would feel contrived. But the story’s set-up is surprisingly realistic, and I was pleasantly surprised I didn’t have to suspend much disbelief to buy into the story because Stewart really aims for realism and does her best to keep the book grounded.

She’s incredibly honest in her portrayal of heart failure and the realities of post-transplant life, and I think the timing in which the story is set is especially interesting. It doesn’t deal so much with heart failure itself or even the immediate recovery period after a transplant but with the murky transition period after a transplant when things aren’t new new but still new enough to be different.

If you viewed it solely through a storytelling lens, the transplant should be the climax, the high point, the happily ever after when the protagonist gets a new heart and her illness is vanquished.

But real life can’t be condensed into an hour and a half feature film and is often a lot messier than the neatly packaged stories Hollywood sells us. I really like the fact that Stewart doesn’t end or even start her story with the transplant. Instead, she focuses on the complicated, messy transition that comes after.

Throughout the story, Sydney grapples with the fact that she is essentially benefitting from somebody’s death. She struggles with the guilt of celebrating in the midst of others’ grief, the burden of quite literally carrying someone else’s heart, and the shock of sitting around waiting for a new heart to being relatively well. It’s complex and confusing, and there are no easy answers, and I have to give major props to Erin Stewart for tackling some of the complicated feelings patients can deal with post-transplant.

I really like Erin Stewart’s approach to the story. While Sydney’s illness plays an important role in the story and we definitely get to see how it impacts her day-to-day life, but it doesn’t ultimately define her. We get glimpses of some of the practical considerations transplant patients deal with–the pills, the immunosuppression, the precautions–but the story focuses less on the physical and primarily on the mental and emotional burden transplant patients deal with, shedding light on an aspect of the recovery period most people don’t think about.

One thing I really appreciate is how Stewart doesn’t shy away from some of the harsher realities of end-organ failure or romanticize pediatric illness. While Every Borrowed Beat isn’t a particularly depressing, morbid, or even emotionally heavy story, it’s realistic in the sense that it recognizes that not everything ends happily ever after and that sometimes, kids die young. The story isn’t sugarcoated, and the ugly realities surrounding sickness aren’t smoothed over with a glossy finish. Stewart is up front about life on the transplant list and that not everyone comes off the waiting list because they get the transplant they’re waiting for.

It helps that she approaches it from a really honest angle and seeks to give flesh, blood and personality to the sick kids she portrays. Sydney isn’t a generic YA protagonist who happens to be sick or even a sick kid viewed through rose-colored glasses. Sydney is a blunt, matter-of-fact sick kid who deals with being dealt a pretty crappy hand with sarcasm and sometimes dark humor. This is the kind of sick kid rep I can appreciate since I’m not the kind of patient who philosophizes from my hospital bed or puts the killing thing between my teeth. Characters like Sydney and the brash, unapologetic Chloe Munoz, who’s even more irreverent than her best friend is and literally laughs in the face of death just feel so true to life and are great additions to the ever growing canon of disability rep in YA.

Even though the medical aspect of having heart failure or a heart transplant doesn’t play a huge role in the book, I have to give Erin Stewart major props for the seamless way she integrates it into the story. She makes medical concepts accessible and entertaining and brings you into the life of a patient without coming across as didactic or simply info dumping. As someone who cares a lot about patient education and health literacy, I know it’s not an easy task and really admire Stewart’s skill in this particularly niche aspect of her storytelling.

Another little thing about her storytelling that I appreciate is her small-town setting. I’m used to reading stories set in cutesy, Stars Hollow-type small towns worthy of a Hallmark movie, but I can’t think of a single book I’ve read in the past decade set in a keggers in cornfields, middle-of-nowhere kind of a small town, and it’s a surprisingly refreshing change of pace.

I’m Old (Oh, I’m like the Cryptkeeper)
There are times when I was reading Every Borrowed Beat when I felt impossibly old. As a former sick kid turned sick young adult and healthcare provider, I have a lot of mixed feelings about some of the questionable choices Sydney makes in the book. Some of it can be attributed to the occupational hazard–maybe trying to read about teens trying to be teens after work isn’t the best idea–because I was constantly torn between girl, live your life and don’t go jumping into bacteria-infested lake water when your scar is still healing! and skewing heavily towards the latter, but it was mostly just the overall vibe I got while I was reading.

I might be a literal young adult (like an actual young adult and not the age group as defined by the genre) who reads a whole lot of YA, but I’m not one of those readers who expects the genre to fit my adult sensibilities or be targeted toward my age group. I want to keep YA spaces safe for YA readers–and if this review wasn’t already much longer than I anticipated, I’d take this opportunity to get up on my soapbox and rant for a bit–and that’s one of the reasons I love reading YA. I love when stories are geared towards teens and done well, so I can definitely appreciate the genre for what it is, but something about Every Borrowed Beat makes me feel my age a little bit. I don’t know if that’s necessarily a bad thing because, again, I’m not the target audience, and I don’t think it’s because the book is particularly juvenile or poorly written, but as a non-teenaged reader who reads and enjoys a lot of YA, it was just kind of weird experience that I have to point out.

Again, it’s a weird, kind of niche thing that could very well just be a weird, personal thing, and this isn’t necessarily a critique, so do with this information what you will, but with my pathological need to be overly comprehensive in my reviews, this was noticeable that it affected my reading experience, so I can’t not point it out.

Not a Perfect Match
I know I made a big deal about how romance isn’t the star of the show in Every Borrowed Beat, and while I stand by that, I do have to say it’s probably one of the weaker aspects of the book. Don’t get me wrong, I love the banter and can certainly see the appeal of a sensitive, thoughtful not-a-cowboy who says the only women in his life are his Nana and dead best friend and “spends his nights with his head in the stars and his days with his hands in the dirt,” but I just don’t find the actual romance particularly compelling. I think it could be really great if it’d been developed a little bit more, but it skews heavily towards instalove territory. I mean, right after his big confession scene, the love interest, Clayton, literally talks about how doesn’t know anything about Sydney in the very next line.

The pacing of their relationship in general just feels kind of uneven. It doesn’t quite have the tension I was hoping for, and the internal conflict as why can’t be together now feels a bit shallow. And then we hit the climax, when we really start to get away from the story. For a book that has been so grounded up until that point, the story reaches a high point and suddenly becomes this ridiculous adventure that’s, if I’m honest, a little melodramatic for my tastes. Sydney’s actions are unnecessarily irresponsible seemingly for the sake of artificially raising the stakes for no real reason, and the tonal shift doesn’t do the story any favors.

It’s especially disappointing because the romance has the potential to be a really interesting and complex love story. Even without the survivor’s guilt he gets as a consolation prize for his best friend’s death, Clayton has more than enough baggage from his tragic backstory when he meets Sydney. And Sydney, as we all know, is a verifiable mess post-transplant (for completely understandable reasons.) They’re both broken, grieving, lost, scrambling for purchase and wonderfully flawed, and even if it isn’t the central focus of the book, we could’ve gotten a really beautiful love story where these two lost souls come together while trying to find meaning after a life-altering death, but instead we get something that’s just kind of pedestrian.

Which kind of plays into my issues with the story as a whole. My biggest issue with the story was that it never really gets any kind of meaningful emotional investment from me. It’s weird because Every Borrowed Beat is obviously a deeply personal project and the story itself is very emotional by nature, but it just never really plucks the right heartstrings for me. I think a big issue is that the pacing is way off. Instead of moving at a steady pace, it kind of stutter steps the whole time. In keeping with the heart motif, if a well-paced story is like a nice, even heartbeat, the pacing in Every Borrowed Beat is an arrythmia or irregular heartbeat.

It’s hard to put my finger on it, but something about the way the story is structured feels jerky and uneven. It almost feels like Stewart is trying to do too much–even though I really don’t think that’s the issue–but the characters, relationships, and plot aren’t as fully fleshed out as they need to be.

I like Sydney’s character arc and development in theory. It seems honest and, I imagine, can be true to the experience some post-transplant patients experience, but the actual execution feels awkward and clunky. I like Clayton on paper. His tragic, complex backstory would be great to explore further, but we just barely scratch the surface. I already talked about how I could’ve liked their relationship together under different circumstances, but I find myself mourning the loss of the relationships we could’ve had in this book like Sydney’s relationship with her just-shy-of-overprotective mother and poetry-loving father or Clayton’s relationship with his TikTok-watching grandma or even his dead best friend or his dead best friend’s family members who hates his guts.

And don’t even get me started on Syndey’s relationship with Chloe. The complexities of a long-distance best friendship between two heart failure patients once one of them comes off the transplant list while the other doesn’t is interesting enough, but when you add the fact that they were essentially waiting for the same heart, the potential to craft a complicated, messy relationship grows exponentially.

And we didn’t get to see any of it.

I like a lot of the things I see in the story, but I just feel like Stewart sets out to create a compelling story with unique character dynamics but never fully delivers. Because of the nature of story behind Every Borrowed Beat, it has a lot of potential to provide really interesting explorations on the impact illness and loss have on family and friendship, but it never goes deep enough for me to really enjoy it.

And I think that’s my problem with the story as a whole–I like the idea and the heart behind it, but it just doesn’t quite hit the mark for me. I struggled with the feeling that the story was either missing something or just not quite right the whole time I was reading, and it wasn’t until I reached the acknowledgments that I realized what it was.

Stewart thanks a lot of people for sharing their stories, and she talks about her own heart failure and cardiomyopathy, but I don’t know if she’s actually gone through the experience of having an organ transplant. Granted, it’s not like I have either, so I’m no expert on whether this is a good representation of the post-transplant experience or if transplant patients will read Every Borrowed Beat and feel seen (even with the obligatory caveat that no one book can really represent everyone’s experience,) but there’s something a little bit detached about the way Stewart tells the story.

It’s subtle, but it’s there.

And it’s just prevalent enough that it transmitted to the reader. There’s just something about the story that feels, well–pardon the pun–borrowed. Stewart’s author bio says she’s a “heart failure survivor,” and at the end of the day, her health is her business (HIPPA police don’t come for me and my license,) but it just feels like she was writing about something second-hand rather than from a true, lived experience. Because whether she’s had a heart transplant or not, it’s clear from all her talks about post-partum health complications that her experiences happened as an adult, which are equally valid and scary and awful, but there’s still something profoundly different about dealing with major health issues are an kid versus as an adult, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s why the full emotional weight of the story never really hit me.

Veronica’s Verdict (Final Thoughts)
Again, I enjoyed Every Borrowed Beat and fully appreciate what Stewart was trying to convey. I like the book as a whole and will be recommending it if only because of what it tries to do. But I wanted to love it and will never not be disappointed that I didn’t. I wanted complete emotional investment. I wanted to feel the pain and the heartache in my bones; I wanted my heart to break in two, I wanted my rib cage cracked open, my heart pulled out, and the deepest part of me projected onto an IMAX screen, and I just didn’t get that.

“Every Borrowed Beat” was such a heartfelt story (no pun intended).

I loved the complex relationships, themes of guilt and grief, and overall approach to the story. This one was a tear-jerker for sure. I also really appreciate how the romance was very PG— it didn’t take away from the more important, mature themes.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Length: 338p
Source: Physical ARC - TBR & Beyond, Delacorte Press
Release Date: March 11, 2025

Right away I knew only someone who had LIVED the experience could WRITE the experience like this. I fear if I describe how my heart felt during this emotional story (it ACHED) it could be misconstrued as a pun, considering the heart of the story is about—well—hearts.

Oi vey.

Such a heavy book with so many topics we tend to take for granted. Sydney Wells has a new heart and she is struggling. Struggling to understand why SHE deserved the heart. Struggling to figure out what to do with a life she never thought she’d have. And struggling with her rapidly growing feelings for a boy she was never supposed to meet.

Raw, unfiltered, and completely believable, I can easily see this being on a top seller list because the writing is so good and the message is so powerful.

♡ ya fiction w/a dash of romance
♥ heart recipient x heart donor’s best friend
♡ survivor’s guilt
♥ dark humor
♡ second chances
♥ VERY heavy topics

{I was gifted a complimentary copy of this book. All reviews are my own. Any quote mentioned is subject to change.}

This was such a beautiful and emotional story about loss, grief, heartbreak, guilt, and love. This book deals with such heavy topics so well. It’s evidently written with so much care, and the writing itself enhances the story. While it does contain coming of age themes, this book is so much more.

Sydney was such a great MC. Her feelings and actions felt so real. Seeing her feel so guilty about having a second chance at life was heartbreaking. It was as though she wanted to make up for the guilt by living her life to fulfill the wishes of the person whose heart she received.

I also loved the other characters. Sydney’s parents were so protective, yet supportive. Chloe was an amazing best friend, and the bond she and Sydney had was so sweet. The romance between Sydney and Clayton was so cute, and while it wasn’t the focus of the story, it added so much. Clayton’s own story surrounding Mia’s death combined with Sydney’s guilt of having Mia’s heart led to some very heart wrenching moments.

I enjoyed the conclusion of this book so much. It tied all the strings together so well and provided such a strong message. I loved seeing how Sydney’s perspective changed.

Overall, this book was so much more beautiful than I can express in words 🥹. There’s so much depth and emotion in this book, and I do not have the capacity to give it justice.

Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours and the author for having me on this tour and for the eARC! All opinions are my own.

Every Borrowed Beat is a breathtaking story about the meaning of life, exploring profound themes like survival, hope, healing, self-discovery, guilt, and grief.
It’s a story I HIGHLY RECOMMEND, though be mindful that it does touch on some sensitive topics.

The plot hooked me from the very beginning, following Sydney, a 17-year-old heart transplant recipient, as she gains a second chance at life.
Her journey to battle with survivor's guilt and uncover the life of her donor, Mia, was both emotional and captivating.

Erin Stewart masterfully handles these heavy topics, making me appreciate life even more through the perspectives of Sydney, Chloe, and Clayton.
The exploration of organ donation’s realities from Sydney and Chloe’s stories also deepened my admiration for their resilience and unwavering hope.

The characters are wonderfully developed, each with their own secrets, flaws, and personal challenges. The rawness of their emotions made it easy to connect with them.

Overall, Every Borrowed Beat is both heartwarming and heart-wrenching, wrapping up beautifully with a hopeful ending.
I devoured this book in just one day and am now eager to explore more of Erin Stewart’s works. She might just become a new favorite author of mine!

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: death, chronic illness, grief, brief mention of alcoholic and domestic abuse

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my e-ARC of Every Borrowed Beat!

•𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐓

1. Have you ever lied to someone about who you really are? Sydney has. Read on to see why and how she handles it when the truth inevitably comes out.
2. Everybody dies, but not everybody lives (or has the chance to). Sydney is using her second chance at life to help finish what someone else lost.
3. If you are fan of YA romances, with a twist, this one might be right up your alley.
4. If you know or have been someone on the end of an organ donation, this story will resonate with you.
5. Ever had a friend that you had never even met in person? So does Sydney!

• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓

Sydney Wells should have died. She was supposed to die.

She never expected, after years of waiting, to receive a heart transplant. Now, seventeen-year-old Sydney doesn’t know what to do with her life. Her daily routine consisted of staying indoors, eating heart-healthy foods, and posting about her transplant list experiences on TheWaitingList with her long-distance BFF (and heart failure buddy) Chloe. 

Now, Sydney latches onto the one thing that gives her meaning: learning as much as she can about the person whose heart she inherited. After finding the family of her likely-donor, Mia, Sydney falls deep into her world—and may also be falling for Mia's best friend, Clayton. 

But Sydney isn’t the only one hiding something. Mia’s brother Tanner won’t talk to Clayton, and Clayton won’t tell Sydney why. And hundreds of miles away, Chloe’s health has taken a turn for the worse. Sydney needs to face what’s in her heart—the truth, the guilt, and the future—before it’s too late.

After receiving a new heart Sydney Wells is given a second chance at life, but now, she doesn't now what to do with it. One thing that is giving her life meaning is learning about Mia, her likely heart donor. She falls deep into Mia's life, and soon Mia's best friend Clayton.

This book falls under the same category as Fault in Our Stars and Five Feet Apart-you might need tissues! Every Borrowed Beat dives deep into what happens after a chronic illness patient is given a second chance at life. For Sydney, she struggled at what to do, figuring out who she is with her new heart, and the underlying guilt that someone died in order for her to live. There is also feeling of disconnection with other chronic illness patients her age, like her best friend Chloe, who is still waiting for their turn. Meeting Clayton and learning about Mia gave her a sense of purpose, Clayton on his end is grieving his best friend's death and feels some responsibility for her death. He wants Mia to be remembered, and thus leading to the bucket list mission. It was Mia who brought Sydney and Clayton together, but they needed to learn who they are without her.

>>> Coming-of-age
>>> Chronic illness
>>> Second chances
>>> First loves
>>> Grief

Honestly, I was reading along, and everything seemed to be coming to a close, so I peeked at what percentage I was at in the book because I thought, wow, I must be close to done. 59 percent?! All I could think was what the heck else could possibly happen for the second half of this book?!? The answer is….a lot. A lot happens in the second half of this book. Never a slow moment. Never felt like filler. So full of complex emotions, feelings, relationships, and life!

The settings were so well done. It never felt too wordy, but I feel like I could picture every detail! The characters were chefs kiss. Everyone. The parents, the doctors, the best friend, everyone was very 3 dimensional to me. This story isn’t your typical “sick girl learns to live life again”  story.  The ups and downs and  twists and turns are so artfully done. Not only will you not guess the ending, but you’ll be on your toes for most of the book! I don’t think I’ve ever said that about a book that isn’t a thriller!

Remember when Sicklit became the genre everyone was looking to read? Im pretty sure the craze started with John Greens “The Fault in Our Stars.” This wasn’t the first sicklit book… but it started a craze that was absolutely unstopable at the time. All this is to say that if you enjoyed books like “The Fault in Our Stars” or “5 Feet Apart,” you’ll love this story. Get your hands on it now.

One more 5 star read for the books. Thank you, PenguinTeenCa and Netgalley, for the Arc 😘 Im a bit behind in posting (March Break with all 3 kids home 😅), so this one is out already!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children's, Delacorte Press, and Erin Stewart for the opportunity to read Every Borrowed Beat in exchange for an honest review.
Every Borrowed Beat follows Sydney, a girl diagnosed with heart failure at the age of fourteen, dubbed the "sick girl," and awaits a heart transplant. For those who love Five Feet Apart, this definitely has those vibes, but it follows the post-transplant story, exploring the excitement of life, but also the guilt of another's death in order to survive. These feelings can be challenging to navigate, and I would say Stewart explores these concepts through. a finely crafted novel.
Syd is on a mission. She wants to know more about the person her donor heart came from. Following an overheard lead in the hospital, she tracks down a girl named Mia who lived only one town over. A few months post-transplant, Mia's family is holding a birthday service at the cemetery for her, and Syd decides to creep; she just wants to know the person whose heart she now ahs. She know she can't be found out; what would she say? So she hides in a mausoleum...where Mia's best friend Clayton is hiding too!
Certainly Syd cannot tell Clayton who she is and why she is there, so she says she was in an online Ukulele group with Mia. One lie turns into many, and one can see how this might go if Clayton, et. al. are to find out. In the meantime, Clayton finds some solace in Syd as a "good friend of Mia's" and invites her to help him complete this vision board that Mia left in Clayton's treehouse.
Together Syd and Clayton explore the photos Mia left, trying to complete Mia's bucket list for her while also aiming to fill the blank middle space: what did she want?
Behind the scenes is Syd's best friend, from an online support group, Chloe. She is also waiting for a heart, and with Syd now on the side of the living, priorities get construed. Syd is enjoying life, maybe a little bit too much when she puts her best friend on the wayside and possibly overexerts what she is doing with her new heart. Post-transplant care is very specific and crucial. Hiding this aspect of herself from Clayton might just be Syd's undoing.
I loved this novel from page one. It is well-written, impossible to put down, and explores so many aspects of the human condition. Syd and her family prayed for years for a heart to come in, but that means they were also praying for someone else to lose a life so that Syd could live. There is happiness in the family moving forward, but also this aspect of guilt that Syd feels, especially as she explores the life and person Mia was. One key take-away is that transplant patients shouldn't feel guilt; it's not their fault someone died, and people volunteer to be organ donors. But the reality is, people will feel guilt. I like the mention of the other organs Mia donated to save lives, and how meaningful the letter was to the family about one of the donations. I think that really helps the family with moving forward on both ends, giver and receiver.
There is also an exploration or relationship and survivor's guilt. Clayton blames himself for his best friend's death due to the nature of the sequence of events. Others place blame on him too, and he want's to make things right and have a clear conscience. It is hard to move forward when one is stuck under the waves of those emotions.
More positive aspects are learning how to live and love, after literally spending life in a dying state for so long. Learning to live and move forward with the value of life and everything it holds can be a challenging life change. Syd loves reading young adult romance books, but she has never had the opportunity to experience romance itself due to her previous condition. Now that she can, she doesn't want to over do it, but romance is an integral aspect to life and what we may find importance in.

This book is so full of life, one can tell the author, who explains their own experience at the end, has really poured her heart into making this novel something phenomenal and impactful, a story sure to stick in the heart of everyone who reads it. Perfect for a young adult audience while offering insight into an experience they may not be familiar with, or connecting to those who seek stories they can relate to when there isn't much out there as such. Also a great read for adults who want to explore the value of life and revisit the whimsy of being a teenager in love.

Sydney is finally off the waiting list. She got her heart transplant that allowed her to live another day. But the guilt that comes with the heart overwhelms her. In order for her to live, someone else had to die. Mia, who died and gave up her heart to Sydney, has a best friend named Clayton. Sydney meets Clayton and the two become close friends as time goes on. Clayton makes Sydney feel excited and happy, and she realizes that this may be love. But lies and guilt tower over Sydney, making her feel undeserving. Can Sydney sort out her feelings before all her guilt and grief consume her?

I have to say that this book was kinda sad. The beginning was really sad and sort of depressing. The words that Erin Stewart chose were heartwrenching and full of emotion. This book was really heartfelt (no pun intended).
Rating: 9 out of 10

📖 Title: Every Borrowed Beat-a standalone

✍🏾 Author: Erin Stewart-new to me author

📅Publication date: 3-11-25 | Read 3-10-25

📃 Format: e-Book 352 pgs.

Genre:
*YA
*Romance

Tropes:
*h illness-heart failure
*coming of age
*tear-jerker/heart wrenching
*small town
*book lover-h
*secret identity

👆🏾POV: 1st person single-Sydney

⚠️TW: life-threatening illnesses, organ donation, grief, drug addiction-mentioned, survivor's guilt, and an abusive, alcoholic father

🌎 Setting: Cherry Hill, UT

Summary: Sydney is post-op from a heart transplant, finally maybe to leave the house and live again. She wants to know about the girl Mia who donated her heart. She meets Clayton, Mia's BFF, and Sydney lies about knowing Mia from an online ukulele group. Clayton wants to finish Mia's vision board with her photography and enlists Sydney to help.

👩🏾 Heroine: Sydney Wells-17, diagnosed in 8th grade, spent 3 years on the donor list waiting for a heart

👨🏾 Hero: Clayton Cooper-lives w/ his Nana, his mother is on drugs, father is MIA. Blames himself for Mia's death

🎭 Other Characters:

* Mia Stoddard- teen girl who Sydney believes gave her heart
*Tanner -Mia's brother, blames Clayton for Mia's death
*Chloe Munoz-Sydney's BFF, heart failure in ICU

🤔 My Thoughts: A heart-wrenching story of a girl given another chance at life. She faced trying new things- riding on an ATV, swimming in a pond, and falling in love. All of this happened while Chloe was losing her battle with the same disease. This was a deep dive into organ donation, life/death, and first love.

Rating: 5/5 ✨
Spice level 1/5 🌶️kissing only

🙏🏾Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Children's | Delacorte Press, and Erin Stewart for this ARC🩷! I voluntarily give my honest review, and all opinions are my own.

🩵💛 Every Borrowed Beat ARC Review 💛🩵

Thank you so much to Erin Stewart and Delacorte Press for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Every Borrowed Beat is a standalone YA contemporary romance. Sydney never expected to receive a life saving heart transplant, but now that she has, she feels lost. She becomes fascinated by the person who donated her new heart and ends up meeting Clayton. Can they overcome their fears and build something new together?

This was an interesting read. Sydney definitely went through some struggles and I did enjoy her growth in this book. Clayton was an interesting character and I found myself wanting to know more about him. I would have enjoyed seeing some of the book from Clayton’s PoV. I struggled a little bit with the concept of the main plot, but once that was resolved it got better

Overall this was a three star read. I enjoyed the characters and their growth, but personally would have liked additional PoVs. This book does have some potential triggers, so please check if you’re sensitive. This book did have a romantic plot but had YA levels of on-page spice, so one flame for spice

If you’re a fan of contemporary YA with bucket lists, grief and learning how to move on, then absolutely pick this one up.

This book was such a different take on the usual “sick” person story, and I really liked it! Instead of focusing on the illness itself, Every Borrowed Beat dives into what happens after—what it’s like to live with someone else’s heart and the emotional weight that comes with it.

Sydney, who just got a heart transplant, is struggling with survivor’s guilt and feeling like she has to live a life worthy of her donor. That’s how she ends up on a road trip with Clayton, her donor Mia’s best friend, trying to honor Mia’s dreams. Along the way, Sydney and Clayton slowly fall for each other, and I loved watching their relationship grow. It felt so natural and sweet, even with all the heavy emotions they were dealing with.

The book hits on a lot of deep topics—grief, guilt, finding purpose—but it never feels too overwhelming. The romance and humor balance it out perfectly. If you love heartfelt stories with emotional depth and a road trip full of healing and love, this one’s definitely worth picking up!

Get the Kleenex ready when you read this book. As the sibling of a multi-organ donor, this one really touched my heart. Our main character Sydney gets a heart transplant after being on the waiting list. A beautiful book that reminds us that behind every heart recipient, there is a donor family who has suffered a great loss.

A wonderful powerful story about life. The way this story pulled at my heartstrings 😭 I even shed a tear or two. The emotion I felt while reading the was very real. The characters really made you feel like you knew them personally and were on this journey it's them. I can see this being made into a future movie for sure!

*4.5

I didn't expect this book to make me cry but it definitely did. It was a bit weird reading about a character with my name but they don't say it too often so it was fine. Sydney just wants to live but she feels so guilty about her heart. I totally understood where she was coming from and can't imagine being in that position. The romance with Clayton was really cute but her and Chloe had me sobbing.

I received an arc through netgalley.