The Anatomical Shape of a Heart
by Jenn Bennett
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: November 3rd 2015
Artist Beatrix Adams knows exactly how she's spending the summer before her senior year. Determined to follow in Leonardo da Vinci’s footsteps, she's ready to tackle the one thing that will give her an advantage in a museum-sponsored scholarship contest: drawing actual cadavers. But when she tries to sneak her way into the hospital’s Willed Body program and misses the last metro train home, she meets a boy who turns her summer plans upside down.
Jack is charming, wildly attractive . . . and possibly one of San Francisco’s most notorious graffiti artists. On midnight buses and city rooftops, Beatrix begins to see who Jack really is—and tries to uncover what he’s hiding that leaves him so wounded. But will these secrets come back to haunt him? Or will the skeletons in Beatrix’s own family’s closet tear them apart?
Beatrix, or Bex, is such a cool girl. She is someone who doesn’t necessarily have the greatest life. Her family consists of her mom and brother after their dad left them. Her bedroom is the dining room but she is not a woes is me girl. She is a I’m going to find a way girl. Another character describes her as a Lake, calm and still. Which is exactly what she is. I’m not sure if it’s because she loves to draw anatomically correct organs but she has a way of dissecting things in her mind. Looking at them with that scientific eye.
Jack, Jackson, is the nobel bad boy with the not so bad background. Everything that we find out about Jack explains his actions. He makes a great counterpart for Bex, where she is creative/scientific he is more creative/adventurous. I don’t want to give too much away about his backstory just because finding things out about him is a great part of reading the book.
Their love story is the best. The best from the minute they meet on the Owl. I just want to hold that moment forever and it will always be my favorite meeting in a book. Plus I admit the fact that the Night bus is called the Owl makes me think of Harry Potter. My best friend lives in San Francisco and now I want to convince her to take the Owl. She will, I’m sure, think there is something wrong with me. I love that their relationship has sort of a role reversal. Not so much in life but in the way we see it in books. It’s hard to explain until you read but it was nice to see Bex have the upper hand in some things. One of the things that I love and wish that we would see more is that the characters don’t spend the book trying to get together. They go into things together and are able to be support for each other. The drama isn’t necessarily them but the things that happen around them and how fits together with them.
There is also a side point about divorce that I like how it was portrayed. Simply because even parents with good intentions can have selfish motivations when they themselves are hurt.
Pacing is absolutely perfect. Sometimes with a contemporary I can get a little bored. Just because it’s hard to have stuff happening all the time. There is no magic or monsters attacking you every other second. The Anatomical Shape of a Heart manages to keep every second interesting always something going on. It made me want to keep reading. This a book you could easily finish in one setting.
Simply stated this is one of my favorite books of the year. So yes read it. Read it as soon as you can.
Jenn Bennett is an artist and RITA-nominated author of the Arcadia Bell urban fantasy series (Kindling the Moon) and the Roaring Twenties romance series, including Bitter Spirits, which was chosen as one of Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2014 and winner of RT Book Reviews Paranormal Romance Book of the Year, and Grave Phantoms—which was awarded RT's May Seal of Excellence for 2015. The Anatomical Shape of a Heart, (akaNight Owls in the U.K.) is her first YA contemporary romance. She lives near Atlanta with one husband and two evil pugs. Visit her at www.jennbennett.net.
Want to be notified when her next book is coming out? Join her mailing list: http://eepurl.com/V5il9
WEBSITE | GOODREADS | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | TUMBLR | IG | PINTEREST
