The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae

Ailsa Rae is a 28-year-old blogger with a fatal heart condition. In fact, she’s spent her entire life with the knowledge that tomorrow is not a guarantee. She’ll have to have a heart transplant to survive. As her condition steadily declines, it’s a race against the clock to find a donor before it’s too late. When the fateful call comes telling her that there’s a match, Ailsa’s life changes in more ways than she ever could have imagined.

This novel was not what I expected, and I loved it for that. Ailsa is a multi-dimensional character. She grows and changes in many ways throughout the novel, as do her relationships with her mother, her friends, herself, and her love interest. What I especially enjoyed was the format of the book. It’s a quick read because it’s told through Ailsa’s blog posts, newspaper articles, narrative flashbacks, emails, and a few chapters of real-time narration. It was cleverly done and a joy to read. It’s also set in Scotland, which I found delightful. This heartfelt novel will particularly appeal to fans of Jojo Moyes.