11 Paper Hearts by Kelsey Hartwell is the young adult unicorn you need in your life right now! Part mystery, part self-discovery and part romance, 11 Paper Hearts is the perfect book before bed (not too much drama) or throw in your bag when you’re waiting for kids’ activity pickups (a novel that you can easily pick up for half a chapter at a time) or read during the 999th viewing of the Wild Kratts gila monster episode.
Part Mystery, you say
Ella is a senior in high school and her life was dramatically altered after the Valentine’s Day dance her junior year. She left the even early by herself and was in a horriffic car accident. She made it through thankfully, but she has amnesia for approximately 11 or so weeks prior to the accident.
Fast-forward to the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day her senior year and someone is leaving her mysterious paper hearts, one heart leading to the next heart’s location. Ella believes that if she can unravel the mystery of the hearts, she can piece together the missing 11-ish weeks of her memory.
Part Self-Discovery, huh?
Ella has a tight-knit group of gal pals who apparently ran the school’s social circuit in her pre-accident life. Ella sadly discovers that she wasn’t exactly the kindest human to grace the school halls. In fact, she was somewhat of a b.
Additionally, Ella’s little sis is being frosty to her and although Ella doesn’t remember the months leading up the accident, she does remember that they used to have a really great connection.
Ella starts to connect with two people who she simply feels comfortable around and she doesn’t know why. Her group of girls doesn’t like this and makes sure that Ella knows what social losers they really are.
Part Romance, amirite?
Andy works part-time at the library (home to the second clue) and goes to a private school in town. While he and Ella are strangers, he’s all about an adventure to find these mystery hearts and help Ella rediscover those missing memories leading up to the accident.
Andy isn’t her type (again, Ella’s posse sure lets her know that Andy doesn’t cut it) but there’s most definitely a zing between him and Ella.
The Book Unicorn
What I love about this book is that it reminds us all how fragile lives are. How quickly memories can be made (or taken away). And how it only matters what we think of ourselves, the people in our lives, how we live our lives that truly matter. No one else’s.
This is such a fun, joyful, easy book! Read it and pump your fists for finding the young adult unicorn novel so early in 2021!
My Only Gripe
My only gripe about this book is the cover. If you’ve read for any time, you know that I only post about books I love or really, really like. So clearly this book is in that category. But gahd, the cover put me off so, so many times from adding to my cart. Am I a total a-hole for saying this? For sure. Could I do any better with my graphic art skills or know-how? Absolutely not. But there’s NOTHING captivating about this cover and I think it could gain so much more traffic if they added a little razzle dazzle to it.
An amazing book. Just needs a little lipstick on the outside. 💄