Heartbeat (16 page)
Authors: Elizabeth Scott
Acknowledgments
A very special thank you to Natashya Wilson and everyone at Harlequin Teen for their enthusiasm, encouragement and general all-around awesomeness.
Robin, Beth, Diana and Jess—thank you for all your support, kindness and for, well, being who you are.
Thanks also go out to the following fantastic members of my mailing list: Sebrina Parker Schultz, Petra (Safari Poet), Samantha Page Townsend, Nicole Hackett, Autumn Nelson, Renee Combs, Alexandria, Tess Puhak, Ashley Evans, Christi Aldellizzi, Nakoya Wilson, Hannah Joy Herring, Stephanie Fleischer, Meghan Dondero, Nancy Woodford, Lexi Welch, Genevieve Swords, Lauren Becker, and Lucile Ogie-Kristianson.
A special shout-out to Christi Aldellizzi for not just being a mailing list star, but for being so generous in giving to help out victims of Hurricane Sandy. Christi is another reason I know that my readers are the BEST readers ever.
Lastly, thank you to all the librarians, booksellers and readers who talk up my books. Your support means so much to me!
Questions for Discussion
- Heartbeat
explores a relatively rare situation
in which Emma’s mother is dead but her body is being kept alive due to her
pregnancy. What did you think about the situation? How did grief affect
Emma’s actions and feelings? - What do you think Emma would have done if Dan had made her part of the
decision when her mother died? - Olivia is Emma’s sole friend when the story begins. Why do you think Olivia
stays by Emma’s side throughout her grief and changing attitudes? What do
you think makes a friendship strong? - Caleb and Emma are brought together initially through circumstance and then
shared grief. Do you believe their relationship has a chance to last and
grow? Why or why not? - Why did Emma fear that Dan might choose to send her away? What was at the
root of her fears? - Emma’s attitude toward school undergoes a 180-degree change before and after
her mother’s death. What do you think will happen with her attitude in the
future and why? - Heartbeat
explores Emma’s journey from grief to
hope through different kinds of love—family love, friendship, and romantic
love. How did each type affect Emma? What helped her, and did any hinder
her? What do you think Emma will pass on to her baby brother as he grows
up?
Q&A with Elizabeth Scott
Q:
Tell us a little about yourself and how you came to be an author.
A:
I fell into writing fiction by total accident. When I was in school, I went out of my way to avoid any “creative” writing assignments because I didn’t think I had any imagination. Also, all the writers I knew seemed very intense and talked a lot about “the craft,” and it seemed kind of scary. I just wanted to read books, not write them!
I wrote what ended up being my first piece of fiction while I was at work, bored out of my mind in a meeting, and I wasn’t intense and certainly didn’t know anything about writing, but I did learn one thing—writing stories was fun! I joined an online critique group and never looked back after that. I think the thing I love about writing the most, besides getting to tell stories, is that there’s always more to learn. There are always new things to try and hopefully, ways to be better!
Q:
What inspired you to write
Heartbeat?
A:
I’d read a newspaper article about the death of a pregnant woman and thought, “What if she’d died but the baby hadn’t?” It turns out that once in a while, that does happen, and the moment I learned that, Emma sprang into my head.
Q:
Emma and Olivia have a strong friendship. What do you think is important in a friend?
A:
Someone who gets you. It might not sound like much, but everyone has a messy/dark side, and my friends, the ones who have been in my life for a long time—they get it. And they’re okay with it.
Q:
What kind of research did you do while writing
Heartbeat?
A:
Obviously, there’s not a lot out there about Emma’s situation, but I read about premature births and prenatal care. And I’d read several books about the “camp” Caleb mentions being sent to and knew I wanted him to have been to one.
Q:
As an author, you probably like many of your characters, but tell us, do you have a secret favorite?
A:
I don’t, because I can’t read my books! I mean, if I have to do a reading, I’ll pick out a passage, but that’s it. So many writers I know can read their own stuff once it’s published, but I can’t. I’ve tried a couple of times, but have yet to make it past the first few pages. I guess I’d rather just be writing something new!
Q:
What do you hope that readers will remember after finishing
Heartbeat?
A:
Honestly, I just hope they like it! I’m not a big fan of “message” books. I just want to tell a story and if people like it, then YAY!
Q:
What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
A:
Read. I meet so many people who want to be writers, who have written stories/novels, and when I ask them what they last read, they just look at me. I was a reader long before I became a writer and I think that if you don’t love reading, then why are you writing? Also, don’t just read what genre you write. Read everything you can get your hands on. Read stuff that you wish you could write. (In my case, it’s poetry.)
Thank you, Elizabeth!
Turn the page for an exclusive look at the next
powerful and romantic contemporary novel
from award-winning author Elizabeth Scott
HOPE LIES
1
I was eating peas when the police came for my
mother.
“Warren?” my mother said when the doorbell rang. She didn’t
like interruptions during dinner, but they still happened sometimes. And they
were always for my father, who could never quite leave work, even when he wasn’t
in the office.
Dad got up, giving my mother a rueful smile, then shooting a
longing glance at his roast beef as he left the room.
“Victoria,” he called out a moment later, his voice strangely
tense, and my mother, frowning slightly, put her fork down and got up.
“I bet it’s the club,” I said. The Pleasantfield Country Club
was always trying to get my parents to donate money, even though the only time
they did was for charity fund-raisers.
“Eat your peas, Isabel,” my mother said as she left the dining
room. I guiltily rolled them out from under the pile of what I’d thought were
artfully arranged meat scraps.
As soon as she left though, I picked up my plate and dumped as
many as I could onto my father’s. It wasn’t a big deal. He liked peas.
Dad came back as I was putting my plate down. He looked
strange, frightened and sick.
“Dad?” I said, my stomach clenching.
“Your mother’s had to leave with the police,” he said. And
that’s how it all started. How I found out my mother wasn’t who I thought she
was. How I found out she was someone else. Someone who’d disappeared a long time
ago.
Someone who was wanted for murder.
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ISBN-13: 9781460318133
HEARTBEAT
Copyright © 2014 by Elizabeth Spencer
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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