Everything I Thought I Knew

Everything I Thought I Knew - Shannon Takaoka

Genre: Young Adult | Romance | Contemporary Fiction

Release Date: Expected 3rd June 2021 (Walker Books UK)

(Previously published under Candlelight Press October 2020)

Heart problems are for other people.

For Old people.

Unhealthy People.

Not for seventeen year old vegetarians who run five miles a day.

But Chloe has been silently and unknowingly getting worse since the day she was born and now her time is running out. She needs a new heart now and she's in the very awkward position of waiting for somebody else to die so she can live. And by a miracle, or a tragedy, it happens just in time.

Now it's all different - Chloe doesn't run anymore, she eats meat and she loves to surf; especially with her new surfing teacher Kai. A boy who has no idea what she's been through, who she was before, and isn't constantly asking her if she's feeling alright in that certain tone of voice.

Unfortunately being a great surfer isn't the only change in her life. The nightmares, the dejavu, it's all since the operation. Is sharing a heart with someone just a medical procedure? Or could it mean something much more than that?

It was so easy to get entranced in Chloes life from the first heartbreak to the very last and I read this whole story in one sitting. Entering into a world of where science and magical realism meet, I was hooked right away and knew I was in for something special.

This kept me in a daydream like haze the entire way through, as we go on a journey of love, loss and recovery that broke my heart and picked up the pieces again and again. So beautifully written, Everything I Thought I Knew was captivating and heart-wrenching and almost totally perfect.

Almost - the one thing keeping me from giving this book a total five star review is that I knew the ending twist almost right away and it felt a little familiar. However, this didn't stop me still wanting to take part in the journey even if I knew the destination and Takaoka still managed to keep me holding my breath in anticipation - she took something fairly common and made it sparkle.

I love the reccuring themes of alternate timelines, parallell universes, the idea that somewhere out there everything is different - all thrown in with the mundane routine of college applications and homework.

Life-Affirming and just beautiful, if you're looking for a 'smile-through-the-tears' kind of story look no further!

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Walker Books and Shannon Takaoka for a reviewers copy in return for an honest review.

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