Katie Klein – Cross my Heart
Author: Katie Klein
Genre: Young Adult/Romance
I love Young Adult books, especially books written by self-published authors. A lot are misses, since many of them don’t have good editors, but sometimes a beta could fix a lot of mistakes. Cross my Heart took me by surprise. The way the words flowed together created that feeling where you must know what happens next.
Our protagonist throughout the story is a teenage girl going through her last year of high school. Jaden McIntyre goes out of her way to do good things for people. She gets good grades in school, has never missed a day in her life. She’s the popular girl you wish you were, but like any person she isn’t as perfect as we would think.
Parker Whalen is the opposite. He’s the bad boy that rides a motorcycle to school and carries his helmet around. Like any rumors, most start off with the unknown. Not everyone is willing to give Parker a chance. Rumors fly around quickly about his expulsion from school. Drugs? Gangs? No one actually knows. His silent image doesn’t help him when he refuses to speak up for himself. But sometimes things are just rumors right?
A school project brings these two unlikely teenagers together when any other time they wouldn’t have glanced at each other. Jaden won’t settle for less than perfect. She’s Harvard med bound and will not tolerate laziness from Parker, who she just knows won’t pull his weight.
This beautiful story about trust and letting your true self out highlights the decisions teenagers must make. Most make choices out of selfishness while others have outlined their entire lives.
Cross my Heart takes the true nature of the heart, shows that love is found in the strangest places. While there are moments that seem slow and parts unnecessary, these occasions don’t take away from what I loved about the book. With a story based on the forgiveness of others and yourself, this Young Adult novel will have you turning the pages, dragging you along the ups and downs of friendship, love and the inner peace we don’t see within ourselves.
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