Cross My Heart

Well, Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do" played in my head as background music while I was reading this book. It's a gripping tale of female obsession, passionate love, and getting too attached until it bleeds! It's bleak, disturbing, and batshit crazy to imagine how far one would go for reaching happily ever after and how a distorted perspective makes people see things in different versions. Everybody has their own version of truth that leaves no space for reality.

I honestly got drawn in from the first page, guessed some of the twists but mostly missed the important ones that made my jaw hit the floor. The riveting pacing, the increasing escalation of pressure, breathless climax, and well-developed conclusion made me enjoy my reading. I never dare to say no to any book about human's pure obsessions, which highly deserves five stars and has guaranteed its place as one of my favorite novels by the author.

Here's a quick recap: Meet Rosie Lachlan, who suffers from cardiomyopathy, is urgently added to the list for a heart transplant, and luckily gets one belonging to famous author Morgan Thorne's wife, Daphne Thorne, who died in a bathroom accident at a young age.
What can we say about Rosie except that she had a heart transplant operation and is healing perfectly? Well, she's working at the family business, a bridal shop, selling brides their dream gowns as she still keeps her own gown as a ghost of her past relationship that ended on bad terms with a broken heart.

Rosie is kind and good-hearted, looking at things through her own version of Rosie-tinted glasses, as her overprotective best friend Nina mentions. But another thing about Rosie is that when she loves someone, she can be extreme, molding herself into the significant other's needs, copying his hobbies and things he likes to do. Each time she exaggerates her actions, men just disappear from her life. Just like what happened with her fiancé, she finds herself with blood pouring from her hands outside his home.

Now she's emailing with famous thriller author Morgan Thorne, the same man whose wife died in an accident and whom some fans suspect might be the killer. The same woman whose heart was transplanted to Rosie and saved her life. Now Rosie thinks they are connected in some way. She anonymously sends emails to him through DonorConnect Communications, and he answers back with full optimism and enthusiasm she didn't expect. They seem connected not only in words but in minds as well, making Rosie think he might be the one! But what if Rosie is playing with fire, and the man she thinks is her soulmate might be a killer or a more dangerous person than she can trust?

As she starts to dig deeper into Daphne and Morgan's relationship and keeps connecting with Morgan, she realizes she's seeing things in front of her in different ways, and she might be in more trouble, even becoming a murder suspect.

I'm stopping here not to give too much away. This book contains many great spoilers, and the fabulous ending makes you let out a good, long villainous laugh! I truly enjoyed it and highly recommend it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for this riveting, smart mystery's digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.