Sneak Peek Saturday: In A Heartbeat

In A Heartbeat

By: Loretta Ellsworth

Pub date: February 2nd, 2010

When a small mistake costs sixteen-year-old Eagan her life during a figure-skating competition, she leaves many things unreconciled, including her troubled relationship with her mother. From her vantage point in the afterlife, Eagan reflects back on her memories, and what she could have done differently, through her still-beating heart.

When fourteen-year-old Amelia learns she will be getting a heart transplant, her fear and guilt battle with her joy at this new chance at life. And afterwards when she starts to feel different — dreaming about figure skating, craving grape candy —her need to learn about her donor leads her to discover and explore Eagan’s life,meeting her grieving loved ones and trying to bring the closure they all need to move on.

Told in alternating viewpoints, In a Heartbeat tells the emotional and compelling story of two girls sharing one heart.
____________

 Chapter One

Eagan

I’m fatalistic. I’ve always had the feeling that time was running out. After 9/11, I started reading end- of- the- world- type books: Alas, Babylon; Lucifer’s Hammer; On the Beach; The Stand. Then I started hoarding bottles of water and granola bars under my bed. Last year I spent my birthday money on two hundred batteries, which I kept in a shoe box at the back of my closet.

Of course, I never intended to die. I mean, really die. I thought I’d be one of those who survived the end- of- the- world catastrophe. In the end, what did me in was a freak accident. No end of the world, just the end of my world. If I had to do it all over again, I’d have eaten those granola bars.

The odd part is that the whole thing started in such a small way.
____________
You'll want to read more...trust me. ;) You can find the remainder of chapter one here. Feel free to visit Loretta Ellsworth at her website as well.