I recommend this book to everyone who has a heart.”
– Rachel Hettrick, Book Mouse, Ottawa, IL
IN A HEARTBEAT
Loretta Ellsworth
Walker & Company / Macmillan
$16.99 Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-8027-2068-9
On sale February 2010
Young Adult Fiction set in Milwaukee and Minneapolis
“IN A HEARTBEAT by Loretta Ellsworth was an amazing book. It was given to me as a new unknown book that I could read and review, and I read it all in one sitting. The story is told by Eagan and Amelia, two teenage girls connected by life and death. The two different narratives make this story impossible to put down. I recommend this book to everyone who has a heart.”
– Rachel Hettrick, Book Mouse, Ottawa, IL“A captivating novel….This was one of my favorite books ever. I loved how the two girls were so much more than it seemed. Just a warning, though, it is a very, very sad book, and it is one that will make your heart hurt.”
– Gwyneth Schuler, Young Readers Advisory Group, Watermark Books & Café, Wichita, KS“I loved Loretta Ellsworth’s In Search of Mockingbird, and was excited to read IN A HEARTBEAT. I was not disappointed! Ellsworth has a knack for putting life into perspective. Her female characters are strong, yet express the same fears and concerns of all teenage girls. Eagan and Amelia are different in many ways, but they are alike in many more. More importantly, they are like the teenage readers who will find themselves in Ellsworth’s characters. Again, she has wonderful character development and a compelling storyline. I can’t wait to share IN A HEARTBEAT with my customers!!”
– Angie Grafstrom, Inspiration Hollow, Roseau, MN
Loretta Ellsworth also has written two other YA novels: IN SEARCH OF MOCKINGBIRD, a Midwest Connections Pick and the 2007 Midwest Booksellers’ Choice Award Honor Book for Children’s Literature, and THE SHROUDING WOMAN.
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MBA BOOKSELLER INFORMATION
Booksellers — Earn up to $100 in rebates from MBA for promoting IN A HEARTBEAT!
Midwest Connections rebate form for IN A HEARTBEAT (PDF) – available now!
IN A HEARTBEAT ($16.99 Hardcover, ISBN: 978-0-8027-2068-9) is available from Macmillan or from your preferred wholesaler. Be sure to contact the publisher for more information about this title.
Author Loretta Ellsworth will be a featured author at the MBA Spring Meeting in Minneapolis on Saturday, March 6.
Loretta Ellsworth is available for interviews and events at bookstores. If you’re interested in scheduling a store, book club or community event with her, please contact Deb Shapiro, Publicity Director, at deb.shapiro@bloomsburyusa.com, 646-438-6070. If you have marketing questions about this book, please contact Diana Blough, Marketing Director, at diana.blough@bloomsburyusa.com.
MBA and Walker & Company would love to have your comments and reviews for this outstanding YA novel. Please send them to us so we can share your endorsements with your fellow MBA booksellers and with your customers!
DOWNLOADS
- Full-color sign/flyer (PDF)
- Full-color shelf-talker (PDF)
- Author photo (JPG)
- Book cover photo (JPG)
- Midwest Connections rebate form for IN A HEARTBEAT (PDF)
– available now! - Midwest Connections Generic Display Materials
ABOUT THE BOOK
“The writing is great! The issues faced by heart transplant donors and recipients are very well presented – explored from various perspectives. I don’t know what my friend who is 18 years out from her heart transplant would say, but from all I’ve learned from her over the years, this book tells the story better than most. And it is told in a way that keeps you turning the pages.”
– Kati Gallagher, Assistant Director, Midwest Booksellers Association
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.
Expressed from the alternating viewpoints of these two special girls, IN A HEARTBEAT beautifully tells the emotional and compelling story of two young women sharing one heart.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LORETTA ELLSWORTH is the author of three novels for young readers, In a Heartbeat, The Shrouding Woman, and In Search of Mockingbird, which won the 2007 Midwest Bookseller’s Choice Award Honor Book for Children’s Literature, and was named to the 2008 New York Library List of Teenage Books. She lives in Minnesota.
