“Cross My Heart” is one of those mysteries that will probably surprise you. The premise of the story is that Rosie, a woman who has been very unlucky in love, gets a heart transplant. She finds out that her new heart is probably the heart from the spouse of a local, very successful novelist whose wife died unexpectedly. Rosie becomes obsessed with the novelist, Morgan Thorne, and feels that he could be “the one.” Rosie works in her parent’s bridal shop, so romance is never far from her thoughts.

And we learn that Rosie has been spectacularly unlucky in her past romances. Her last boyfriend’s final act was to get a restraining order against Rosie when she bombarded him with text messages and even (pathetically) left cookies for him in his garage. She couldn’t believe their relationship was over. As Collins dutifully doles out background information as carefully as a mother might introduce new foods to her infant, we slowly learn just how “crazy” Rosie is. But is she really nuts? Or is she just incredibly naive and eager to find her happy ever after? So when she starts communicating with Morgan Thorne through the anonymous Donor Connect service, which reminds those utilizing the service not to share personal information, she actually knows that it’s Morgan Thorne she’s messaging. He has no idea that she lives in his town, only a mile from his house.

While it’s usually difficult to be hooked by a novel with a protagonist who is not really likable, the whole situation with Rosie and Morgan is enthralling and very different, so we keep reading. Did Morgan kill his wife as social media posts suggest? Rosie is determined to find out. We learn a lot about Rosie through her first person narrative. But Collins also cleverly, masterfully, inserts emails between Morgan and his best friend Blair, to provide details about what Rosie is leaving out of her narrative. What we find out through Morgan’s emails is that he is not a likable person, and we are prepared to believe that he might, indeed, have killed his wife.

In addition to the narrative, the emails, and the Donor Connect messages, there are text messages from Rosie to her best friend Nina and two new acquaintances, Edith and Piper, who might know about what happened to Daphne, Morgan’s wife. The totality of it all gives us a very complete picture—or so we think.

Almost exactly halfway through the novel, something happens that throws all our predictions, expectations and beliefs away. And, as almost everyone we’ve met in the story becomes a suspect, surprisingly, we start to sympathize with Rosie. Whom can she trust? Is the medication she takes to keep her body from rejecting her transplanted heart making her hallucinate? Can she trust her own eyes?

What I really liked about this novel—and there is a lot to like—is that not only does Megan Collins create a plot that’s gripping, but the manner in which she presents the story, using Rosie’s narrative, the emails, the messages, the texts, all combining to add to the mystery. I love that Rosie experiences true character development, and by the end of the book, she’s someone we like—at least better than we did at first. I really appreciate how Collins explores the world of love even though this is no love story.

In fact, this novel might just be the antithesis of a love story because it’s about how futile love can be, and how when love isn’t reciprocated, it’s hurtful. It’s about unrequited love and whether loving someone and being in a marginal relationship is better than being in no relationship at all. The underlying theme is that we all, at heart, just want to be loved. At first, Rosie just appears to be pathetic in her unending search for love, but in Collins’ capable hands, Rosie grows and matures and becomes someone we can empathize with, if not truly like. Collins plays with the concept of the heart as an organ controlling our emotions, and the fact that the more Rosie learns about Daphne, the sadder she is about her death. Although if Daphne had not died, then Rosie probably would have. The twists, the turns, the huge surprises, the red herrings that are really doozies, all serve to make this an incredibly enjoyable mystery.

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.