A lovely book with a very different type story line to what I normally read. Enjoyable

Alisa has needed a heart transplant all her life and eventually gets one aged 28, this book has a lively soft cadence dancing along at a lovely pace , while Alisa finds herself and learns how to live life now she is not ill and dying. A really lovely book to read.

This is a lovely, lovely story about a difficult subject, which is treated with such care and tenderness. For the first twenty-eight years of her life, Ailsa Rae, who has a failing heart, thinks she is living on borrowed time. And then, just when she is sure she is going to die, she gets the heart transplant she has been waiting for. Now she isn't about to die, she's got to learn how to live like she's got a future ahead of her.

The story is told through narrative, emails and Ailsa's blog, which I enjoyed as a structure as each format allowed a different perspective on the characters. This is a story which really makes you think. About life and death and what it must be like to know that, unless some dies and gives you the organ you need, then you are not going to live.

Sounds morbid, right? No, no, no. Not morbid at all. This is a joyful story about love and hope and trying new things and realising that what you thought you wanted might not be what you need. It's about relationships new and old and learning how to be yourself. I loved it!

I enjoyed this book by this author because I am used to her style from previous books but it has to be said it isn't her best.
It swaps from past to present and uses the formats of all media such as blogs emails and it just doesn't sit right. You want you read it because there's a great story behind the character where the main character has just gotten a new heart. There's SEB the man she meets... bit the characters don't seem to gel with me. I don't know why but I couldn't enjoy it to the max of her previous books.
I'd like to thank netgalley for allowing me to read this.

A coming of age story about a woman who has not been able to live life to the full because of a heart condition. In her 20s, she gets a heart transplant and learns what she's been missing - good things and bad things. Happy, funny and poignant too, a lovely book which I would highly recommend.

I have just finished this book that I was lucky enough to be sent from netgalley. What a lovely book! Aisla life story and how her need for a new heart affected her life. Her struggle to learn to trust Seb who she met while learning to live again with the new heart she was lucky enough to be given. And her grief in losing her best friend!
It's such a lovely book and I would recommend without hesitation!

In this twisting, tangled story of hospitals, tangos, theatre, Edinburgh and blogging, Ailsa is a fantastic lead character, likeable, believable and loveable. And I did love this book, I couldn’t put it down. Beautifully and thoroughly researched, the technical details (in all areas of the narrative) never got boring, and only added to the story.
A modern fairytale, I definitely recommend it!

It has been a while since I read this and I still think about Eleanor Oliphant most days. I know this book has been incredibly hyped and popular but I don't always go along with popular opinion. I cannot fault the majority of reviews though - This book was incredible. So thought provoking, I really felt there is a part of Eleanor in all of us. Some parts of this book were so funny - I laughed my head off about part where people are dancing to the YMCA aswell as when Starbucks write customer's names on cups. So cleverly observed.

This book was lovely! Such a sweet story and not your usual storyline . I really enjoyed it and loved all the characters. I like that is wasn’t a traditional love story also. I will recommend this to all my friends. Thank you for the preview copy.

A lovely book. A pleasant read. Far from perfect, but easily enjoyable. Would recommend.

The concept of taking on another person's heart - and adjusting to the possibilities of a prolonged and re-invigorated life, after many years of doubt, uncertainty and poor health, are carefully, beautifully expressed here.

I totally enjoyed the book; the character development and story line are absorbing, the relationships sensitively explored and the scenario vividly expressed - and I would recommend to readers who want an engaging, poignant and ultimately encouraging book which holds interest throughout.

I really loved this book! Excellent story with brilliant main characters. I would recommend this book.

I actually found this book rather hard going. I liked the concept of the story but found the jumping about date wise rather disconcerting especially as some of the dates are well after publication, might have been better to finish at publication date. I think the format it downloaded to my kindle was also a bit of an issue as several passages were in red which I found physically very difficult to read. The characters were good but the whole thing didn't appear to flow and certain bits seemed to drag. The anguish of the medical issues and of losing loved ones due to organs being unavailable were well written.

I loved how this book is written, with such clever insights into the mind of a transplant recipient. I know people who have received organs and a live donor, I like seeing a possible insight into their world.

Simply brilliant.

What a fabulous book! Ailsa has a had a heart defect from birth and has been on a heart transplant list and at the age of 28 she gets a new heart - this is the story of how she starts learning to live again now realising that she has a life to live. It's quirky, very funny, moving and a happy read. I loved this book . It will hopefully bring more awareness of organ donation.

A heartwarming book that introduces Ailsa as she adjusts to life post serious illness. We see her wrestle with finding a new kind of normal and rethinking her role within key relationships. It has some humour, some romance and some thought provoking reflection so is very much about the human condition and recognising both the best and worst of ourselves.
An enjoyable read.

I was so looking forward to reading this after having adored "Lost for Words" by the same author.

Ailsa is a 28 year old woman who having just recently had the gift (is that the right word?) of a heart transplant is looking forward to being able to live life to the fullest. Except of course, things are that easy are they? She has new challenges. Things that the majority of people will take for granted but Ailsa can't.

But something was lacking. It wasn't the characters. They were nice enough. In fact, I loved Ailsa and was rooting for her from the start. She's so honest and I love the way that she never forgets what almost happened to her and that she refuses to play games.
I don't think it was the subject matter, Something that is of course very serious but the author did a fantastic job of installing plenty of light0hearted moments. She has certainly done her research. That's such a ridiculous thing to say though - as if someone could / should write about anything really without looking into it first.
I just didn't connect with the book in the way that I had hoped to.

But, I don't doubt that it's going to be a very popular book and it really does deserve to be.

I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. I found the whole transplant story really interesting. I loved the characters and the interactions between them, the references to dancing, celebrity and people trying to have normal relationships with family, friends and lovers amongst all of this. I need to take a look at Ailsa's flawed at times behaviour and reflect on my own. I laughed and cried out loud through it all and finished it wanting more.

Sorry but The curious heart of Ailsa Rae really didn't grab me, the premise was good but I found it quite hard going and I found it hard to connect to the characters, I suppose heart transplantation isn't the easiest of subjects to turn into a jolly read though.

There was a lot in this book and some of it worked well. the medical parts This is, in some ways a very complex storyline, yet in others it fails to reach the depths i would have wanted. Ailsa is living a life tied down by her heart condition, she blogs - a lot- and uses polls at the end of her blogs to decide what she should do next / where she should go / etc etc. Her life changes the day the perfect heart becomes available and suddenly she has a life to lead. We move in time sometimes backwards to see her life before and after - I find this backward/ forward notion of story lining particularly difficult - I don't want to keep several dates in my head all the time I am reading and I really feel it is an overused literary style that adds nothing for the reader. I thought the author got such a lot of the medical facts and feelings right. Moving on yet holding back in some ways felt very right. My main quarrel is that the blogging nature made some of it seem superficial. It was a quick read for me and I would definitely read more from this author the book has many merits.