Rating: 
Summary: hmmmm.
Review: "A mind with its own heartbeat!" This is one of the best aspects of geekiness according to the father of My Heartbeat's narrator--Ellen, an honest, perceptive, urban teen.I have found few books that show the struggles of sexuality and young love in a realistic, complex way. This one does. ("And now James and I navigate around each other's bodies, trying to establish boundaries even as we erase them.") It also blurs the lines of what exactly it means to be straight or gay and examines how we figure out who we are and who we love. Another refreshing aspect of this story is that, despite confusion and heartache and love, the melodrama is kept in check. It's not overly tragic, nor is it all perfectly sweet in the end--it's more complicated than that, just like life. Ellen is a likeable narrator who never becomes annoying or whining, and both James and Link are dynamic and believeable. I should mention that, depending on perspective, some people may find the frankness about sexuality shocking in such a young person (Ellen is a 9th grader) while others will think it is realistic. I don't mean to imply any raunchiness--the narration is never obscene or explicit in any way--but some of the teen characters are sexually active. Overall, a sweet, honest YA novel that many teens and adults--straight, gay, or anything in between--will enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: "A mind with its own heartbeat!"
Review: "A mind with its own heartbeat!" This is one of the best aspects of geekiness according to the father of My Heartbeat's narrator--Ellen, an honest, perceptive, urban teen. I have found few books that show the struggles of sexuality and young love in a realistic, complex way. This one does. ("And now James and I navigate around each other's bodies, trying to establish boundaries even as we erase them.") It also blurs the lines of what exactly it means to be straight or gay and examines how we figure out who we are and who we love. Another refreshing aspect of this story is that, despite confusion and heartache and love, the melodrama is kept in check. It's not overly tragic, nor is it all perfectly sweet in the end--it's more complicated than that, just like life. Ellen is a likeable narrator who never becomes annoying or whining, and both James and Link are dynamic and believeable. I should mention that, depending on perspective, some people may find the frankness about sexuality shocking in such a young person (Ellen is a 9th grader) while others will think it is realistic. I don't mean to imply any raunchiness--the narration is never obscene or explicit in any way--but some of the teen characters are sexually active. Overall, a sweet, honest YA novel that many teens and adults--straight, gay, or anything in between--will enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book I Ever Read.
Review: (I love this book.) Ellen loves her brother Link and is "Totally Madly In Love" (as she says) with Links best friend James. - Every thing is going well until one day someone in school ask Ellen if Link and James might be going out. Suddenly Ellen notices how much time the two boys spend together. She decides never to ask them but a talk with her mother leads her to spill the beans and one day while talking with the two of them she asks the simple question... Link refuses to answer. This ends up in a fight. The two boys stop spending time with each other. But Ellen is curious, could her brother be gay? Is James gay? So many questions, no answers. - She has a conversation one day with James and finds out that he has slept with men before but is not sure if he is gay. He says that Link is so self cautious of this and tells him that he is NOT gay. - Soon Link gets a girlfriend to prove his point. - The story continues on as Ellen tries to find out more about gay people and of course about her brothers sexuality. As the story continues a lot of problems and family meets happen. Ellen and James remain friends and talk about tons of things, from her brother to art. She learns there are limits about things you could ever know about people you love. - The story is beautiful, it doesn't end exactly how you might have thought, but its still worth the read. I'm sue you'll all enjoy "My Heartbeat" if you decide to read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Listen
Review: Ellen has always tagged along with her brother Link and his best friend James. They've been inseparable for some time now, and Ellen can't help but be crazy about James. During her freshman year in high school, one of the other girls asks her if James and Link are a couple, and suddenly things begin to change: for Ellen, for Link, for James, for their families. Exploring the gray areas between gay and straight, "My Heartbeat" is an exceptional story aimed at a young adult audience, but certainly deserving a larger audience. Freymann-Weyr's writing is lush without being too flowery, sparse without telling too little. She tells us a lot through this tale, and "My Heartbeat" shines because of it.
Rating:
Summary: Heartfelt, Interesting and Fun
Review: Ellen idolizes her older brother Link, but she has a puppy-love crush on his gorgeous "friend" James. When someone insinuates that Link and James are perhaps more than "friends," Ellen's 14 year-old world gets rocked. So does Link's. James seems to be the sophisticated one in all of this, but there is a twist. The author is wonderful in all of the subtleties that go into making believable teenage characters such as the real life angst and uncomfortable moments that go along with the innocence and wonder of that magical time. She is particularly shrewd in handling the squirmy subject of sexual identity, which is so central when you set out to discover who you are. What I loved most about My Heartbeat is how we get to see Ellen start to grow up through her own eyes. Growing up means expanding your horizons, realizing that things aren't always as they seem. Growing up means sorting out what you believe from what other people say to believe. Growing up can be painful, but fun too. That's what Ellen is all about. I would recommend this book both to young adults and their parents and to anyone who likes to read intelligent, gripping, real-life fiction about the world of adolescents.
Rating:
Summary: All of our heartbeats
Review: I don't bother to write reviews on Amazon unless I feel really strongly about something. This book is something I feel really strongly about. I'm 24, and a man, and I came across this book really only because I work in children's publishing, but I think it's a book that stands to benefit readers of all ages and should be given the chance. Our intrepid narrator, Ellen, is very much what she is -- a female high school student -- but her experience, and the emotional and moral clarity with which her narration is imbued, will speak to readers of all ages and from all walks of life in a way that is quite breathtaking. It's a long time since I read a YA novel that affected me like this one did.
Rating:
Summary: All of our heartbeats
Review: I don't bother to write reviews on Amazon unless I feel really strongly about something. This book is something I feel really strongly about. I'm 24, and a man, and I came across this book really only because I work in children's publishing, but I think it's a book that stands to benefit readers of all ages and should be given the chance. Our intrepid narrator, Ellen, is very much what she is -- a female high school student -- but her experience, and the emotional and moral clarity with which her narration is imbued, will speak to readers of all ages and from all walks of life in a way that is quite breathtaking. It's a long time since I read a YA novel that affected me like this one did.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite New Book
Review: I found this book refreshingly openminded, The characters sincere and understandable if a bit unusual.A quick easy read, It manages to conclude without a fairytale ending, and still be more than satisfying. A book I could not put down, Ellen's struggles to understand the realities around her and her blossoming romance with James are both realistic and fascinating to read. A great novel.
Rating:
Summary: AWSOME
Review: I loved almost every second of this book!I read it in one night! This book is one you will never forget! I hope you enjoy it!
Rating:
Summary: Well written, absorbing
Review: Let me first say that there are two things I didn't like about this book: 1) I think the cover art is strange. It gives a too childish impression to the more sophisticated ideas in the book and 2) I am sorry that the sex scene had to be included. I suppose that is expected of young adult literature these days, but it made a book that I would otherwise have no trouble recommending generally into a book that I would caution more conservative parents about. Please, authors, if one of the characters is still only 14, she and her boyfriend don't need to have sex to resolve the story line. Be creative, think of other choices! Now the part I did like: It is very well written. The characters are appealing and very real, especially, of course, the main characters, but even some of the side characters have unexpected complexity. I also love the activities that Ellen and James did for fun - people watching in cafeterias and airports, concerts where she actually ends up enjoying Strauss, interminable foreign language films. These are just quirky enough to be interesting, but not bizarre. I was a bit surprised at Ellen's sudden interest in and skill at art, which just happened to be what James was interested in - especially since it was suggested by her father, but that was only a minor distraction. Finally, I like the unabashed description of the rest of Ellen's social life - notes home about a lack of social skills and her perplexity at having to discuss trivia as a requirement to get to know people at her new school. It is a good book and well worth the time.
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