Meet Me When My Heart Stops by Becky Hunter #BookReview #Netgalley

What if your soulmate could only ever be the love of your afterlife?
The first time Emery’s heart stops, she is only five years old…

Emery is born with a heart condition that means her heart could quite literally stop at any moment. The people around her know what to do – if they act quickly enough there will be no lasting damage, and Emery’s heart can be restarted. But when this happens, she is briefly technically dead.

Each time Emery’s heart stops, she meets Nick. His purpose is to help people adjust to the fact that they are dead, to help them say goodbye, before they move on entirely. He does not usually meet people more than once – but with Emery, he is able to make a connection, and he finds himself drawn to her.

As Emery’s life progresses, and she goes through ups and downs, she finds that a part of her is longing for those moments when her heart will stop – so that she can see Nick again.

This is the story of two fated lovers who long for each other, but are destined never to share more than a few fleeting moments – because if they were to be together, it would mean the end of Emery’s life.

Emery has a heart condition and for a number of reasons (shock, pain or excitement) her heart can fail at any given time. She dies countless of times throughout the story and it starts when she’s only 5 years old.  Every time she dies she sees the same person in the ‘in between’ and he’s becoming more and more important to her, he doesn’t judge her like all the others do.

As a reader I saw Emery grow up and deal with her condition. She was overly protected by her father and – in her mind at least – it caused her parents to break up. As a young woman she then tried to get far away, living to the extreme… going skydiving for one thing. Her ageing involves different approaches and goes with many ups and downs. Her death is always looming over her and how can it not affect her life and the reactions of the people around her? It’s a difficult journey, she can’t find a job she likes or a man she loves. And frankly, having a real relationship is something she’s not interested in, because how can she when she might leave someone behind? The only one who’s always there is the ‘guide’ she sees when she’s dying. She feels safe with him, she feels they were assigned to each other for a reason and she starts longing to see him again. It’s simple, she’s falling for him while it’s an impossible love.

All the while there’s someone near her who’s loved her from a distance since she was a young teenager. Good dependable Colin would do anything for her. I have to say that I felt for him all through the novel and I wish he wasn’t treated as second best. If it were up to me he wouldn’t be in love with her at all, then I’d find it easier to be in peace with her desire for Nick. Colin, of course, doesn’t know at all about the unfair competition, as far as he sees it there’s no man in her life and he keeps hoping she’ll love him back.

I thought the story would be more soul destroying but I was quite ok and I actually wouldn’t mind having a guide who puts you at ease at what is about to come. I did find it strange (and a little disappointing) that she doesn’t attempt to tell anyone about what happens when you die, and who you see, even if it could put someone who is important to her at ease.

Ultimately she’ll have to make a choice. Is her desire to live big enough or will she choose to die? The ending was quite bittersweet for me. I think she made the right choice but I’m not sure if it’s for the right reasons.

I can’t explain in more detail but whether you’ll love the book and give it 5 stars depends on who you’re actually rooting for and I was rooting for someone else. He just shouldn’t have been so damn likeable and sweet.

I received a free ecopy from the publisher via Netgalley to read and review. This is my honest opinion.