Review: Heartbeat by Faith Sullivan

Summary/Cover Image from Author's Website:

Katie and Adam are afraid of love.

She carries the scars of a first kiss gone terribly wrong.

He uproots his life to flee the stinging betrayal of an ex.

When trust is no longer an option, all romance is suspect.

As a young paramedic, Adam rescues people for a living but cannot save himself. Katie, just out of high school, struggles with a tortured home life she cannot escape.

Everything changes when Katie hops into the front seat of Adam's ambulance. Overwhelmed by what they are feeling, neither possess the confidence to make the first move. They walk away from each other, full of regret.

To find her, Adam risks his future. To be with him, Katie sacrifices her security.

Little do they know, what little time they do have, is being measured by a heartbeat that is slowly dying out. 

Review:  

Ever since I stumbled upon this book on Goodreads, I've been dying to read it, because not only did it sound amazing, but also as a huge fan of the ever-growing New Adult trend, I thought it would be a good way to feed my addiction. Thankfully, Faith Sullivan provided an amazing and heartwarming story within the pages of Heartbeat.

Heartbeat tells the story of Adam and Katie, two lonely and broken people brought together by faith on one snowy day. Shy and timid, Katie hasn't had the easiest of lives. Her father is controlling and mean, always quick to put in a jab or two. Plus, ever since a failed attempt at a fling, Katie has been terrified of starting something up with another boy. The only good thing in her life is her grandmother, but the problem is even she can't always save her. Adam, on the other hand, is on the run from his past and the girl who broke his heart into a million pieces. Living in small town wouldn't be his first choice, but he likes the solitude plus his job as an EMT, especially when it leads him to Katie. Katie and Adam have a lot to learn, but will it all be worth it in the end? Only time and more pages can tell in this shocking and addicting new addition to New Adult.

There were so many things I adored about Heartbeat but one of my absolute favorites was the characters. I adored Katie and Adam from the get go. Both were fragile and broken from their pasts, and this made me root for them all the more. At the start of the book, Katie was incredibly quiet, and all I wanted to do was push her in the right direction, and hope that she would see that there was good parts to life, amazing things. Therefore, I was so happy when she meet Adam. Together, Adam and Katie truly evolved as individuals. They grew stronger and more daring. More importantly, they begin to make a stand for the parts of their lives that meant the most. I also really enjoyed some of the side characters in this one, such as Katie's grandmother and Adam's EMT friends.

The plot in this was another high point. I always love a good romance, and Heartbeat provided just that and much more. I'm not going to lie: Katie and Adam's relationship reeked of insta-love. However, it worked with the book, and really, I could see the pull between them, and why they were destined for each other. Really, it wouldn't have worked another way. I also enjoyed seeing Adam's life as an EMT (one of my guy friends is one so I know a lot about that area) and the little twists and turns that came from that.

Faith Sullivan's writing was also up to par. As mentioned before, she did a great job with the characters. Plus, as a PA resident, her descriptions of small-town PA where spot on, and that made me enjoy the book even more.

Last but not least: the ending. Prior to reading this, I had heard a lot of mixed things about it. Some people hated. Others loved it. Some were even confused by it. As for me? I LOVED it. It wasn't what I was expecting that's for sure, but just like with the insta-love, it worked incredibly well in the story. Plus it's made me respect and like Faith as a writer even more, because she's not afraid to take risks when it comes to writing.

In all, Heartbeat is an emotional and well written tale of love and moving on. It blew me away, and I hope that occurs to you all as well. :)

Grade: A

Heartbeat (Amazon, Goodreads) is now out, and it's only 99 cents for the eBook. It can't get much better than that, now can it? :)

Source: purchased from Amazon

Side Note: I highly suggest you guys check out Faith's blog as well. She writes some pretty interesting posts, and it will give you a good feeling of what her book is like. :)