Cold Heart, Warm Hands is the story of two everyday teenage girls. Amanda is a gymnast with a healthy and fit body and perfect scores. Dani has spent her life in and out of hospitals, undergoing numerous tests and struggling to live life with her heart on the wrong side of her body. Although they don't know each other and have never even met, their lives are suddenly connected when something goes horribly wrong.
I have very mixed feelings about this book. It had an interesting subject matter that let me learn a bit more about transplants and organ donation, and got me thinking more about the matter of organ donation, but I felt it lacked in many areas. The story is told by alternating between characters, so we get to see both Dani's side of the story - the girl receiving the heart - and Amanda's family's side of the story. It alternates between first and second person, and then includes many side stories such as the viewpoint from the guy who delivers the organs between hospitals, which made it really hard to follow, in my opinion, especially because it's a relatively short book.
While it was an interesting story, it almost felt like the author tried to tackle too many things at once, because not only does it deal with the transplant, but also a romance, Amanda's death, and the grieving of her family. So the reader gets a glimpse of each of these events, which may have been more successful in a longer book, but I felt that as it was, it lacked depth in many areas. Overall, I enjoyed this book as a quick read on an interesting subject, but felt it was missing a lot. If it sounds interesting to you, I'd recommend picking up a copy through your library, as it was a nice story to read once but probably not something I'd want to go out and buy.
- This reviewer also blogs at http://whatbrireads.blogspot.com
- Publisher: Henry Holt
- Date of Publication: March 31, 2009
