{Review+Giveaway} Open Heart by Emlyn Chand

February 15, 2013 Giveaways, Reviews 18

Welcome to my stop on the Farsighted and Open Heart blog tour!
Be sure to check out the rest of the tour.

Check out my review of Farsighted HERE

Hardcover, 352 pages
Published May 25th 2012 by Blue Crown Press
Age Group: YA
Source: ecopy from Author
Series: Farsighted #2

Summary: 

Simmi Shergill’s life is a mess. Her powers of psychic feeling are on the fritz, and Grandon Township’s sudden population boom has brought quite a few unsavory characters to town. She also looks like an over-blown balloon in her size 14 pants, but not even starving herself seems to be helping.
At least she has Alex, the boyfriend who loves her so much he’d do anything for her. Last summer, he even risked his life to protect her from the mysterious boy everyone was convinced wanted to kill her.
Just one problem: she’s not so sure she feels the same way. Is Alex really the man of her dreams? Why can’t she stop fixating on her would-be killer, Dax? Part of her wants to run screaming in the other direction whenever Dax is around, while the other part longs to run into his embrace, no matter whom she’d hurt or what she’d risk.
Simmi’s loyalty is on the line. Whom will she choose—the blind seer who loves her, or the charming telekinetic with “bad idea” written all over him? Emotions run high in the tension-packed book two of the Farsighted series.


I enjoyed Farsighted, the first book in this series, so I knew I would enjoy this book too. And I did. Open Heart is a good follow up to Farsighted. I really liked how the character narrating switched. It was interesting to see the series through a girls point of view. I was really used to Alex and the way he described things that it was a very different writing feel in Open Heart. It really proved to me how versatile Emlyn Chand is with her writing. Alex and Simmi are very different and I loved how each of the books writing was different to reflect the different narrators. I was impressed with the writing. 

This was Simmi’s story. I have to say, she seemed really different in this book than I remembered her in the first book. But I read the first book awhile ago, so I can’t be sure if my memory is completely accurate. Simmi is concerned with her weight and throughout the book she has a lot of body issues, and she doesn’t deal with them in the healthiest way. She becomes bulimeic. This is only one of the serious issues that the book deals with. I enjoyed Simmi but at times near the start of the book I was having a hard time connecting with her. I didn’t always agree with her actions. I wanted so badly to like her, but I just wish she went about some of the things she did in another way. 

Alex and Sharpi are back, and are as great as ever. Or Sharpu if you are Simmi’s dad. (I thought that was too funny that he always called her that!) And Dax is back as well. I don’t want to talk to much about them as I considered this Simmi’s story but I think they rounded out the cast of characters well. I am especially interested in seeing Dax in the next book. 

I enjoyed Open Heart and you already know that I loved the writing. I also liked that this book has a wide variety of characters. Different races and religions. There is a lot of diversity, and I appreciated that. You don’t find that too much in YA books. I also appreciated the fact that this book deals with real and serious issues, but at times I felt like too much was going on. I got bogged down in everything. I wanted to focus more on the paranormal element, which you do towards the end but I thought it took too long to get there. Other than that though, I liked Open Heart and I am liking the series as a whole. I can’t wait to read the next book because I think more of the focus will be on the powers, which is what I loved about the first book. Fans of paranormal YA, and someone looking for a well developed and written book should check out this series. 

3/5
Other books in the series: 

2. Open Heart
3. Pitch
4. Vertigo
5. Refrain



Connect with Emlyn Chand!



Fill out the rafflecopter below to enter to win a Kindle or a $100 gift card!





If you enjoyed this post, please Subscribe to Book Briefs in a reader a Rafflecopter giveaway

Michelle @ Book Briefs

Related Posts

18 Responses to “{Review+Giveaway} Open Heart by Emlyn Chand”

  2. June M.

    This is a new series to me but it does sound interesting. I do like the paranormal sound of it, I love paranormal stories. But, I am a little burnt out on the love triangle aspect of many books. I will have to check this one out though.

    Reply

  6. Dorothy Reading

    I love that the book isn’t just centered on the supernatural. It’s refreshing that these supernatural teens have real teen issues that they deal with along side.

    Reply

  8. Denise Z

    Thank you for sharing your lovely review. I am certain I picked this up and was trying to find it on my reader – I am now a woman on a mission to join in the exploration of Alex and Simmi’s world.

    Reply

  10. Emlyn Chand

    Thank you for the heart-felt review, Michelle, and it’s nice to see you again. You’re right, Simmi’s book is the least paranormal of the series, and the reason why will become very clear once Refrain comes out–I promise! And, oh my, let me apologize for taking so long to get over here to thank you–I’ve been working feverishly on finishing up book #3 in the series–Shapri’s book, Pitch 😀

    Em

    Reply

  12. Lily B

    Interesting review, going to have to look more into this series, it looks really good. I can see a body issue being a topic today. Great job!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.