Archives par étiquette : Erin Stewart

EVERY BORROWED BEAT d’Erin Stewart

EVERY BORROWED BEAT offers an unflinching look at not only the realities of heart failure, but at memory, grief, guilt, and what it means to live—in spite of another, for another, and for yourself..

EVERY BORROWED BEAT
by Erin Stewart
Delacorte, January 2025
(via Writers House)

Delaney Moss should have died. She was supposed to die.

She never expected, after years of waiting, to receive a heart transplant. Now, seventeen-year-old Delaney doesn’t know what to do with her life. Her daily routine consisted of staying indoors, eating heart-healthy foods, and posting about her transplant list experiences on @TheWaitingList with her long-distance best friend (and heart failure buddy) Chloe. Now, Delaney latches onto the one thing that gives her meaning: learning as much as she can about the person whose heart she inherited.

After some sleuthing, Delaney concludes her heart donor was a girl her age, Mia, who died tragically one town over. Delaney tells herself that attending a post-mortem birthday celebration for Mia will help her fully know who Mia was. And she’s sure that after the memorial, she will be able to move on with her life. But then she meets Clayton: a boy who makes her new heart race; a boy whose grief and outlook resonate with her, and a boy who, it turns out, was Mia’s best friend. Instead of having her curiosity—and guilt—sated, Delaney is suddenly more drawn to Mia than ever. So much so that Delaney lies, saying that she was internet friends with Mia and furthering her connection to Clayton.

Thus begins Clayton and Delaney’s mission to honor Mia’s memory by living out entries from Mia’s vision board, one of the few things she left behind. They take on adventures like sneaking into a swimming hole and spending a day making pancakes. Delaney doesn’t want to admit it, but she’s falling for Clayton. What’s worse, she still hasn’t confessed that she lied about knowing Mia—not to mention that she has Mia’s heart. Delaney’s been shirking her responsibilities helping run @TheWaitingList, not to mention her friendship with Chloe, so when Delaney tries to pull Chloe and @TheWaitingList into the charade, Chloe is reluctant. Despite warnings from her best friend, Delaney continues to ignore the realities of her post-transplant life, opting instead to dive headfirst into creating @TheMiaProject in Mia’s memory.

But Delaney isn’t the only one hiding something. Mia’s brother Tanner won’t talk to Clayton, and Clayton won’t tell Mia why. Hundreds of miles away, Chloe’s health has taken a turn for the worse. And Delaney’s ever-worried mother has been withholding earth-shattering news: that Mia is not Delaney’s donor. As Clayton’s grief begins to overtake him and Chloe’s heart transplant is a failure, Delaney’s stress sends her (and her heart) to the hospital. Now, something needs to give. Delaney needs to face what’s on her heart—the truth, the guilt, and the future—before it’s too late.

Erin Stewart is the acclaimed author of Scars Like Wings and The Words We Keep. She loves using her background in journalism to research and write fiction based on real life. A heart failure survivor and adoptive mother, she believes life throws plot twists and people in our path for a reason.

BEAUTY FOR ASHES de Erin Stewart

An incredibly important and moving book

BEAUTY FOR ASHES
by Erin Stewart
Delacorte, Fall 2019

BEAUTY FOR ASHES tells the story of 16-year-old Ava Gardener, who is heading back to school one year after a house fire left her severely disfigured. Ava’s used to the names: Freddy Krueger. Melted Face. Zombie. But there’s one name she hates most of all: Survivor. What do you call someone who didn’t mean to survive? Who sometimes wishes she hadn’t? Now, with only her scar armor to protect her, she tries to tune out the whispers about the Burned Girl. More than anything, Ava avoids the girl in the mirror. When she meets a fellow survivor named Piper at therapy, however, Ava begins to feel like she’s not facing the nightmare alone. With her middle-finger-to-the-universe attitude and her hot pink compression garments, Piper helps Ava reclaim the pieces of Ava Before the Fire, a normal girl who kissed boys beneath bleachers and sang on stage. But Piper is fighting her own battle for survival, and when Ava almost loses her best friend, she must decide if the new normal she’s chasing has more to do with the girl in the glass—or the people by her side.

Erin Stewart is a freelance writer/editor, as well as a weekly columnist in Salt Lake City and a member of SCBWI. BEAUTY FOR ASHES is her debut novel.