My Beating Teenage Heart
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Breckon Cody's on the edge. He's being ripped apart by grief so intense it literally hurts to breathe. On the surface, Breckon is trying to hold it together for his family and his girlfriend, but underneath he's barely hanging on.
Even though she didn't know him in life, Ashlyn sees Breckon's pain, and she's determined to find a way help him. As her own distressing memories emerge from the darkness, she struggles to communicate with the boy who can't see her, but whose life is suddenly intertwined with hers. In alternating voices of the main characters, My Beating Teenage Heart paints a devastatingly vivid picture of both the heartbreak and the promise of teenage life—a life Ashlyn would do anything to recover and Breckon seems desperate to destroy—and will appeal to fans of Sarah Dessen, John Green, and David Levithan.
From the Hardcover edition.
C. K. Kelly Martin
C. K. Kelly Martin is the author of several critically acclaimed YA books: I Know It's Over, One Lonely Degree, The Lighter Side of Life and Death, My Beating Teenage Heart, Yesterday, Tomorrow, The Sweetest Thing You Can Sing and Delicate. She has also penned an adult novel titled 'Come See About Me.'Currently residing near Toronto with her husband, she's an aunt to twenty-one nieces and nephews, and a great-aunt to two great-nephews. She's a citizen of Ireland and Canada and visits Dublin as often as she can while working on novels about young people. Learn more at her website: ckkellymartin.com
Related to My Beating Teenage Heart
Related ebooks
My Beating Teenage Heart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbsent Mercies: Six Weird Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsParting the Veil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNot Alone: What Does An Anthology Feel Like?, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat Feels Like An Anthology? Two Book Box Set: What Does An Anthology Feel Like? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCorrupt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNight Visitor: The Demonic Realms, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlbatross Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Man Caught in Time (A Dark Tale of Fantasy) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Best Friend's Brother: A Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost Kid Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClone Three Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of Silence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLight in Darkness: In The End, #2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Witch's Heart Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Snare (Delirious): Delirious, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Portion of the Eternal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Loves: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Murder Of Harriet Krohn Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThese Bad Dreams Combined Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDream Within Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKeeper of the Bees Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Clocking Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsParty Headquarters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Remnants Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHe Fell Up Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLike Firelight Through Campfire Sky My Voice Can Slide Into Your Mind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe digital version of my brain is one big grey hole Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Forgotten Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsO2: Dylan Malloy series Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
YA Paranormal, Occult & Supernatural For You
City of Bones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girl from the Well Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5City of Glass Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Clockwork Angel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Poison Heart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thirst No. 1: The Last Vampire, Black Blood, Red Dice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Splintered: A Splintered Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bone Witch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Silence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Clockwork Prince Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Heart Forger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shadowglass Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Stars Come Out Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Midnight Club Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grimmer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNight World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unhinged: A Splintered Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lobizona: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wee Free Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anna Dressed in Blood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Wicked Fate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dark and Hollow Star Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Finale Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forbidden Game: The Hunter; The Chase; The Kill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Within These Wicked Walls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Circle: The Initiation and The Captive Part I Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for My Beating Teenage Heart
15 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One of my favorite bloggers, even though she doesn't blog much anymore, is Presenting Lenore. She's helping to host a twitter book club, the aim of which is to read books that are amazing but do not have nearly enough buzz. This is the first selection. Well, it definitely isn't well known enough, since I totally thought Yesterday was going to be Martin's debut. Apparently, she's written four books before that one.
The opening of My Beating Teenage Heart is quit alarming. You're thrown into some weird dream-state type thing with the heroine whose name you don't yet know. It's odd and mystical and it's hard to tell whether anything is real or a dream or what. Actually, the book continues to be this way. Ashlyn learns a bit about herself, but what she figures out results in more questions than answers. Breckon (we also get some chapters from his perspective) is mired in depression.
For me, this is one of those books where how much I likes it depended entirely on the explanation of what's going on. The writing is decent, but didn't especially resonate with me. The characters are both so whacked out on grief or confusion that I had trouble connecting to them. The plot is so strange, requiring some serious suspension of disbelief, but, if she pulled it off with the ending, it could definitely make the book epic.
Without a doubt, I can honestly say that My Beating Teenage Heart is unlike any YA book I've read before. It picks up steam very slowly, but, by the end, I was definitely engaged. For the first hundred or so pages, the melodrama of the narration irritated me, especially given the fogginess of Ashlyn's memory. Plus, she made so many assumptions that seemed strange to me.
Anyway, having now finished the book, I'm still not sure how I feel about it. On some levels, it was definitely really cool and thought provoking, and I'm certainly glad to have read it, but there were also aspects with which I did not reconcile. My main issue with the book I can't express to clearly without risking spoilers, but, basically, I do not get why Ashlyn's memory would ever work that way. However, on the plus side again, Martin can write the heck out of a steamy scene.
Looking at those labels at the bottom of the post, you might notice that they're not super happy times themes. Nor is the book at all light and fluffy. At all. Recommended to fans of Ilsa J. Bick and Laurie Halse Anderson. Although I didn't love this, I am now definitely looking forward to reading Yesterday more than I was before. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5What an interesting book! At first I was pretty confused to tell you the truth. My Beating Teenage Heart is about this boy, Breckon who has lost his sister and his journey through dealing with that, and Ashlyn, a girl who is watching over Breckon for reasons unknown to her.Right away I feel bad for Breckon. The loss of his younger sister takes quite the toll on him and he's unsure how to act and get through this. Unfortunately, his family doesn't seem to be overly helpful at times because they are still coming to terms with things as well. For me, I really feel for characters who have to deal with situations like the death of a family member. Thankfully, I have never had to deal with anything like that and since I have a very tight knit family, I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened. Along with Breckon's narration of My Beating Teenage Heart, we are reading through Ashlyn's point of view. She understands that she is either dead or in a coma, realizing something is wrong with her situation she tries her hardest to remember her life and memories. All while doing that, she is looking over Breckon, who is spiralling downward in his own attempt to deal, and trying to make him understand and realize that she is there for him. (Though she does not know why she's been sent to Breckon and not her own family).I really did enjoy this book. The change of POV's between the two main characters was enjoyable. The story was original and C.K. Kelly Martin is a good writer. She can get the reader interested in her book and pull the reader in for more. For example, we know right away that Breckon's sister died, nothing is explained up front we just get little more information here and there and it isn't until the end that we really read what happened. Also, we wonder how Breckon and Ashlyn are connected, and it isn't until the end that we find out. But it's done in a way that the story is spread out, and we don't just get hit with a whack of explaination at the end, it's written so well that that doesn't happen.Overall, My Beating Teenage Heart was a heartfelt read that I enjoyed. The story, the writing and the characters are all worth it, and made for an "unputdownble" book!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Um…I like the concept of Ashlyn’s part, but only the concept. Her story is actually mostly lame and boring. The connection with the guy is tenuous and not particularly interesting. His story is more interesting, but partially from the short length of the piece overall I never get that invested in him. Plus there’s nothing original about his character or his plotline. The whole thing feels like it could’ve been a good short story, but stretched out to make a dubious novel.