Things We Know By Heart, by Jessi Kirby

In the opening moments of Things We Know By Heart, teenager Quinn wakes up to the distant sounds of sirens, and somehow she just knows they are for her boyfriend, Trent.  Skip ahead to over a year later, where Quinn is still deep in grief, not only over Trent's death, but over the future they will never have together.  A year later, and Quinn refuses to let herself move on or let go of Trent.  However, she writes donor letters to those people who received his organs, and she's heard back from all but one - the one who got Trent's heart.

Relentless and a bit obsessive, Quinn uses her best Internet sleuthing skills and figures out the recipient is a boy named Colton, about her age and living nearby.  Crossing all lines of acceptable behavior, Quinn goes to see him, intending to confront him, but she chickens out.  Instead, she befriends Colton and soon the two start spending more and more time together.  All the while, Quinn can't bring herself to tell Colton the truth.  Obviously, we as readers know everything will come out eventually, and it won't be pretty.

As YA romances go, I felt that Things We Know By Heart was pretty lightweight.  Colton is too much the Perfect Teenage Boyfriend.  He's cute, sensitive, outdoorsy... other than the fact that he still has to stop and take medication for his heart, Colton has few flaws.

There are many four star reviews for this book over on Goodreads, which completely baffles me.  It's hard for me to review books like this not from a grown-up point of view.  The adult in me just Really.Disliked.Quinn.  I know her boyfriend died tragically, and that's a sad thing.  But they weren't married.  They didn't have kids or a family together.  They were juniors in high school.  And although I'm sorry Quinn won't get to go to her prom with Trent or celebrate graduation with him, I just didn't feel very sympathetic toward her decision to just shut down and refuse to move on.  I think part of the problem is that we, as readers, don't get to know Trent as a character.  We just know a few fleeting details: he was an athlete, he once brought Quinn a huge sunflower.  I think if we had been invested more in their relationship, I would have cared about Quinn more. 

Colton, on the other hand, is the more interesting character, but Kirby makes this Quinn's story.  As Quinn begins to fall for Colton, she begins to heal emotionally and starts to move on with her life.

I'm sure there are plenty of teenage girls out there who will eat this up.  I think it would be an additional purchase for libraries, but not a necessary one.

Review given in exchange for an ARC from Edelweiss.  Book will be published in April.