I want to thank Mira for giving me the chance to have an ARC of Sweet Heart and could read and review it before its publication. I decided to preorder a copy of the book myself, in addition to the ARC, because I want to support small indie authors like her.
I was pulled to the Cat and Marry as I can identify myself with parts of them. This is very important to me, but it will not be the same for every reader as we all have different experiences and traits.
<spoiler>What I see in Cat that I know from myself: Being kind of lonely because we both are shielding ourselves from other people and have a mask on to hide behind. For Marry: We both don’t care for ourselves as we should. We have risky behaviors that can even lead to self-harm, because we need to feel. Also, the feeling of not belonging and cutting ties to the past. And for both of them, that I’m sapphic too.
I really liked that the found family with 2 other sapphic couples was a part of this book.
What made the book so amazing for me: The conflict in myself reading Cat breaking her and the hospital’s ethical rules. At first, it was how can she do it, that’s not okay, but then on the other hand, I can understand it myself. I wish to find this kind of chemistry described and a person that crosses lines to find me so I will finally have a healthy and happy relationship. I was also glad that from the onset it was shown in the book that there was no significant power imbalance that Cat exploited to get together with
I would have loved if the diabetes of Mary was shown more in the book (eg if type 1 needing to use insulin injections, as I like to see more representation of chronic illness in sapphic books).
It was an amazing read and I know it will become a comfort read for me, and to dream that I have one day what they have.
The books has one heavy topics and I’m glad that there are warnings regarding them: “Child death, depictions of physical trauma, traumatic incidents, and explicit sexual content.”</spoiler>
I recommend the book to readers that like sapphic books with some spice, that show a healthy relationship without shying away from ethical problems and showing that relationships require work and communication. This was her second book Mira is publishing. I love them both and am looking forward to hopefully much more books.