"Shark Heart: A Love Story" by Emily Habeck

Wait....What?!? Shark Heart? Seriously?!?

I was on my way to the bookstore, my happy place, and my son asked me to pick up a book for him - "Shark Heart: A Love Story". He said that someone he works with recommended it to him. She had told him that this book moved her, that it had been months since she read it and she still thought about it every day. Okay....weird, but I'm intrigued. I went to the bookstore and there it was, so I bought it. I had to buy it.

I went next door and grabbed some coffee and read the back of the book and the first few pages. This book was well written, like really well written. This book is wildly creative and fascinating from the first page to the last.

We get to follow the lives of Lewis and Wren. In the beginning of the book they are recently married and happy together. Lewis starts to notice strange changes in his body, he goes to the doctor and finds out that he is morphing into a shark.

WAIT! I know I might lose you here, but stay with me, it's worth it.

Humans morphing into animals seems to be a thing that happens in this book. It forces us to consider the internet crazed question, "Would you love me if I were a worm?" But it's more like, "Would you love me if I were a fucking great white shark?" We accompany Wren and Lewis through this transformation and their love for each other. It is fascinating and heart breaking. We don't even make it half way through the book before Wren releases Lewis into the ocean and they say their final, gut wrenching goodbyes.

That's not even half way. This is the point in the book where I wondered where we could possibly go with this story.

Then, we step back in time and get Wren's backstory. She was raised by a badass, no nonsense teenage mother. Her mom was a really good mom full of love and joy. Throughout her childhood, Wren's mom when through the transformation of morphing into a kamado dragon. This transformation took much longer than Lewis's and spanned over many years. How unfair, how devastating, how undeserving for Wren to lose the two people she loved the most to this morphing into animals disease.

This book brings up so many issues regarding love and change and loss. Can we love people through transformations? Although we might not transform into sharks or giant reptiles, we do shift, change, and grow throughout out lives. Can love grow with us? Can we love other people when they change? At what point do we have to walk away from that love and that person for our own safety and well being? This book allows us to ask ourselves these questions and really do some deep soul searching.

This book was a surprise for me. I still talk to everyone I meet about it because it blew my mind. I did not expect to love it. I never imagined it would profoundly impact me. I am pleasantly surprised and hope that everyone can experience this beautiful tribute to the transformations of life.

Check out this book here: https://amzn.to/4brZFjv