Garrett Freymann-Weyr & "My Heartbeat"

I absolutely loved My Heartbeat by Garrett Freymann-Weyr!  When I first checked out the novel, I thought it was just going to be some cutesy little story about a girl figuring out that her brother is gay, but... it is so much more than that.  There is laughter, tears, confusion, love, acceptance, and most importantly, there's truth in the message that no matter how much you may come to love and accept yourself, not everyone is going to be ready to accept you for who you are. 

From the first page, I identified with Ellen, the main character & eased comfortably into her relationship with Link & James.  I was surprised at how subtle the issue of sexual identity emerged and how honestly it was handled.  

I haven't really ever found many books that show the struggles of sexuality and young love in a realistic and complex way.  However, I think this novel does.  It also blurs the lines of what exactly it means to be straight or gay and examines how we figure out who we are and who we love. 

The flow of the story really drew me in.  I could picture each scene in my mind as I watched the story unfold and I could picture the expressions of each of the characters.   All the characters in this novel were so unique & yet so universal.  I loved them all desperately. I liked how Freymann-Weyr gave hints so I could read between the lines... she never spelled things out or let Ellen figure out more than would be typical of a 14 year old girl in her situation.  I loved the dialog in the novel.... it's amazing and actually made my heart hurt in several places because it was so real.

I thorougly enjoyed reading the novel because it tackles topics that aren't usually discussed in contemporary YA novels.  Ellen strives to learn and understand so much in just a short span of time.  She's very naive and innocent at the start of the novel and as the story progresses, she learns to see so many different things.  I remember being Ellen's age and how I was filled with wonder at the things that I learned and discovered. I think this is an awesome novel for adolescents because of the way it deals with the issue of homosexuality... it is very open and doesn't preach about sexual choices.