The Heart of It All

HeartSick Series, Book 1

By: Weston Mitchel

Narrated by: Don Amodio

In everything you do, give everything you've got; unless you're giving blood.

Austin Kyle just wants to be a normal freshman at college, get a girl, make some friends, maybe even make it to a class or two. Except that he isn't normal. Due to a car accident in high school, and the resulting blood transfusions needed to save him, he now carries the cure for cancer in his blood.

Austin's girlfriend, Mia, has been suffering from leukemia. She tries to hide her sickness from Austin and their growing band of friends, wanting them to only see her and not her disease. As her health deteriorates, she pushes them away in an attempt to save her friends from enduring the devastation her own family went through during her mom's losing battle against breast cancer.

Dr. Greer has been working towards a cure for the last 10 years, funding and operating a smaller version of a medical X prize. Fate brings these two together when Austin becomes a paid volunteer at the Dr.'s foundation. When the doctor realizes what Austin's blood is capable of, she devises a plan. It's the only way she can be sure to control what might possibly be the cure for every illness on Earth.

Will Austin be able to make his way back to her in time?

©2016 Weston Mitchel (P)2018 Weston Mitchel

Took a bit to get to the heart, but...

Once I arrived at the "heart" of this book, it was an enjoyable read. There is a lot of time spent establishing relationships between the 4 protagonists initially, and I got bored during some of the extended flirty college text message/dating scenes. However, my assumptions about where the plot was going were only partially correct. I found myself pleasantly surprised at the pacing and twists of the last few chapters, which ultimately justify the slower pacing earlier in the book. Don Amodio's narration is spot-on, and he gives life not only to the individual characters' speech, but their inner voices and kooky observations as well.