Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: Exchange of Hearts

AUTHOR: N.R. Walker

PUBLISHER: BlueHeart Press

LENGTH: 133 Pages

BLURB:

Eighteen-year-old Harrison Haddon has grown up alone. Surrounded by wealth, nannies, and materialthings, all he craves is the approval of his father. Sent away to the boarding school his father and grandfather attended, it’s assumed he will follow in their footsteps from Sydney’s prestigious Ivy League school straight into medical school.

But Harrison doesn’t want to be a doctor.

He dreams of music and classical piano. His only true happiness, his escape from the world expected of him, is dismissed by his intolerant and emotionally detached parents.

Levi Aston arrives from London for a three-month student exchange program. Free-spirited and confident in who he is and what he wants to do with his life, Levi convinces Harrison not give up on his dreams.

But convincing Harrison not to give up on his family might not be so easy.

REVIEW:

I love a good young adult romance as much as the next person, ok I probably love them more than most, but it takes a talented author to convince me that two teenage boys who are falling in love for the first time are going to be together forever. Luckily, nobody does hearts and flowers like N.R. Walker does hearts and flowers. Harrison and Levi had me from hello…not that they said hello, it was more a leering once over, but hey, teenage boys right!?

Harrison Haddon is use to being alone. The only time he gets attention is when he’s being bullied by the popular jocks at his boarding school, and on the rare occasions that he sees his father he’s bullied by him too. So when exchange student, Levi Aston, befriends Harrison and is genuinely interested in the attention-starved teen, it doesn’t take long for Harrison to fall for his new roomie.

This story is told solely from Harrison’s point of view, which worked perfectly. Yes, both boys are falling in love but it’s ultimately Harrison who is having his whole life turned upside down. For the first time he has a supporter, someone willing to listen to him, talk to him and encourage him. He has someone who is willing to go into bat for him as his fragile confidence begins to make an appearance. The author absolutely convinced me that one person could make such a profound difference and change the course of another’s life. It was pretty much modern fairytale perfect, and I had no problem with that at all.

The sex scenes were few, brief and sweet rather than sexy – suitably young adult/new adult. They fit the tone of the book. I honestly think anything too spicy would have come as a slap in the face, but also, I think it would have been a little unrealistic. They’re inexperienced teens; awkward is the word of the day.

At first I was a little put off by the pacing. This story moves fast, firstly flying through days and weeks of schooling and then towards the end, skipping years. But I decided I liked it. Realistically, the boys were busy with school and exams, and I was hardly interested in reading all about that. The important bits, Harrison and Levi getting to know one another, were all covered. Again, as the story skipped one year then three, the important events were covered.

I hope this isn’t the last young adult romance that N.R. Walker gives us. When the general theme of YA seems to be homophobia and teenage angst, I could easily see this author becoming my go to for the sweeter stuff.

RATING: 

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