Editorial Content for Cross My Heart

CROSS MY HEART is one of those mysteries that might surprise you. The premise is that Rosie Lachlan, who has been very unlucky in love, gets a heart transplant. She finds out that her new heart is probably from the spouse of a local, very successful novelist whose wife, Daphne, died unexpectedly. Rosie becomes obsessed with Morgan Thorne and feels that he could be "the one." She works in her parents’ bridal shop, so romance is never far from her thoughts.

Rosie has been spectacularly unlucky in her past romances. Her last boyfriend's final act was to get a restraining order against her when she bombarded him with text messages and even (pathetically) left cookies for him in his garage. She couldn't believe their relationship was over. As Collins dutifully doles out background information as carefully as a mother might introduce new foods to her infant, we slowly learn just how "crazy" Rosie is. But is she really nuts? Or is she just incredibly naive and eager to find her happily ever after?

"The twists, the turns, the huge surprises and the red herrings that are really doozies all serve to make CROSS MY HEART an incredibly enjoyable mystery."

When Rosie starts communicating with Morgan through the anonymous Donor Connect service, which reminds those utilizing it not to share personal information, she actually knows that it's Morgan she's messaging. He has no idea that she lives in his town, only a mile from his house.

While it's usually difficult to be hooked by a novel with a protagonist who isn't really likable, the whole situation with Rosie and Morgan is enthralling and very different. Did Morgan kill Daphne as social media posts suggest? Rosie is determined to find out. We learn a lot about Rosie through her first-person narrative. But Collins also cleverly and masterfully inserts emails between Morgan and his best friend, Blair, to provide details about what Rosie is leaving out of her account. We find out that he is not a likable person, and we are prepared to believe that he might have been responsible for his wife's death.

In addition to the narrative, the emails and the Donor Connect messages, there are texts from Rosie to her best friend, Nina, and two new acquaintances, Edith and Piper, who might know what happened to Daphne. The totality of it all gives us a complete picture. Or so we think.

Almost exactly halfway through the novel, something happens that throws away all of our predictions, expectations and beliefs. As nearly everyone we've met in the story becomes a suspect, we start to sympathize with Rosie. Whom can she trust? Is the medication she takes to keep her body from rejecting her transplanted heart making her hallucinate? Can she trust her own eyes?

Collins creates a gripping plot, but the manner in which she presents the story --- using Rosie's narrative, the emails, the messages and the texts --- significantly adds to the mystery. I love that Rosie experiences true character development, and by the end of the book, we like her --- at least better than we did at first. I really appreciate how Collins explores the world of love, even though this is no love story.

In fact, CROSS MY HEART just might be the antithesis of a love story because it's about how futile love can be, and how, when love isn't reciprocated, it's hurtful. It's about unrequited love and whether loving someone and being in a marginal relationship is better than being in no relationship at all. The underlying theme is that we all just want to be loved. At first, Rosie appears to be pathetic in her unending search for love, but in Collins' capable hands, she grows and matures and becomes someone we can empathize with, if not truly like. Collins plays with the concept of the heart as an organ controlling our emotions, along with the fact that the more Rosie learns about Daphne, the sadder she is about her death. But if Daphne had not died, then Rosie probably would have.

The twists, the turns, the huge surprises and the red herrings that are really doozies all serve to make CROSS MY HEART an incredibly enjoyable mystery.