EBR Guest Review: Heart Tales by Celine Garcia (Emily-Ann Walsh)

EBR Guest Reviewer: Emily-Ann Walsh

Synopsis:
Three charming tales of that never ending roller coaster called life, each one sure to pack a sweet punch of candy for the heart. One story involves a girl and a mystery box with handwritten song lyrics. The second follows a guy on the road with memories of the girl that got away, and finally a teen girl who can actually speak to the source of her angst…her heart.

Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/QMcpG6QUz98

Audio Frequency
Geraldine works the counter at Audio Frequency, a small music store that was once the hub of the local music scene. The best part of her day is a little brown box that is delivered to the store with song lyrics written inside, a playful guessing game between a mystery guy who seems to totally get her. Geraldine finds she is ready to make big changes at Audio Frequency and thankfully her best friend Sam just scored her a ticket to the biggest music benefit in town. Geraldine may get everything she wants when she discovers that her mystery guy may be at the event.
A sweet little story about friendship, expectations, and the leaps that must be made to take the love you want.

Legal U Turn
Gwen and Dean share an awkward drive home for their first college break because of convenience. But with hate comes a confiding friendship that may mean more to Dean. After his true feelings slip during a trip home, his friendship with Gwen ends abruptly and they don’t speak or see each other again.

Two years later Dean finds himself driving the same route he and Gwen used to take home years ago and it’s accompanied with the best memories of Gwen. A journey filled with a fun combo of memorable road trips and not so great first impressions causes Dean to wonder, is there a possibility of rekindling one of his greatest friendships?

Heart Set on You
A funny thing happened to Ellie when she woke after her heart transplant. Her donor didn’t exactly die. Instead he stayed behind to both of their confusion and can only be seen by Ellie. Ellie is unable to make friends at school and her only confidant is her heart donor, who she coincidentally nicknames Heart. After thinking she would always be socially challenged, she comes across someone who could change everything. Can this new someone help free Ellie and Heart from their bond? Or will new feelings arise that neither of them expected?

A unique story that reveals how friends can compliment and challenge each other told with fun sarcastic humor and heart. (Taken from Goodreads)

Stars Given:★★★★☆ (4 Stars)

Overall View:

***this book was given to me by the author through Ethereal Book Reviews (Guest Reviewer Program)***

Audio Frequency - 3 Stars
This was a light fluffy short story that made me smile, but there are a few things that are just not sitting right with me. I had a hard time picturing the setting and surroundings. There was no real big description, even between the characters. Not once did the author tell us, directly or indirectly what Geraldine looks like (she’s our protagonist). We got her age, cool, but what about hair color, eye color, or even what’s she was wearing? We didn’t even get a bread crumb.

At one point we got her saying she put on her best dress, okay, again cool, but what does it look like? Was it black, blue, red, short, long? You can pretty much describe a dress in five words or less. Even if it is a short story you still need some basic descriptions. I had this cute little short haired girl in my mind, with no face (creepy right?). We did get a little bit of a description about Sam, but again, very vague. To me, no matter how short a story is, there should be some bit of detail to help created the world in the reads heads, because come on, no one’s psychic and we can’t tell what’s going on in the authors head. But I must say over all this short story, though it lacked, no, missed one of the necessary building blocks to a good story, was nice, pretty and it did give my feels a good enough jump start (more like a kick) to make me smile and go, aww.

Legal U Turn - 4 Stars
I really enjoyed this second short way better than the first. But I have to admit, I didn’t know the main was a man right away. I think it was because in the first short it was a woman, and with the writing style being the same, I got confused. In all, I got a better picture with this short. It had more, and not just for the descriptions, but overall more feelings. I could actually feel my heart start to warm, that and, I was really starting to feel for Dean and Gwen. There were more real emotions in this short, and I really wished it was a little longer. There was so much feels that I can’t even write them all down. I don’t want to give anything away about this short, because I don’t want to spoil anything.

Heart Set On You - 5 Stars

This was so sad and heartwarming at the same time that I almost cried at the end. We start with Ellie, a teenage girl who just had a heart transplant, and for some odd reason she can see Heart (that’s what she names him), the guy she received her donor heart from. She’s the only one that can see or hear him, and because of this she gets picked on in school (kids are so mean!). Outside of the supernatural plot, this story was very heart punching real and so well written. You feel all of Ellie’s troubled emotions and (I know I did) feel the need to help fix all her problems. This was a story of friendship, support, and how one outstretched hand (even invisible) can change someone’s world. Again I don’t want to give too much away (nothing actually) even though this was the longest short, even the littlest of a nibble can ruin the whole thing and I’m just not into that.