Author This or That: Catherine Ryan Hyde (Second Hand Heart)

Breakfast or Brunch?

Breakfast. I’m already way too caught up in my writing by brunch time. Why lounge the morning away when I can finish off a chapter?

Lemonade or Pink Lemonade?

Hmm. Have to say probably neither. I’ll have to be dreadfully boring and say iced tea.

Sedan or Sports Car?

Here comes the dichotomy in me. I’m going to say sports car. But I own a sedan. My spirit is in the sports car category (and I would still have that wonderful little Triumph Spitfire if it had been a bit more reliable) but in the real world, it’s nice to be able to seat passengers comfortably in the back. Oh, well.

Laptop or Ipad?

Laptop. That gives me as much mobility as I need. Unless I’m actually traveling. These days I try to do most of my traveling in the form of great motorhome trips to amazing national parks. In which case I can bring my laptop. If I have to travel by plane (ugh, ugh, hate…ugh), my smartphone fills the gap. Despite the fact that my smartphone and I have issues (I publicly question its intelligence and threaten to have its IQ tested). 

High Heels or Flip Flops?

Hiking boots.

Trip around the world or trip to the moon?

Around the world. It’s such a beautiful world. Planet earth is so amazing, and I really want to see more of it. I want to hike through Nepal to a great view of Everest and/or Annapurna. I want to walk on the Great Wall. I want to go to Iceland and meet a puffin. And stay in that hotel in Norway that’s made up of individual glass rooms, so you can lie in bed and watch the Aurora Borealis. I’m really quite taken with this world. And though it would be amazing to see it from space, the moon seems a bit dry and dusty in comparison.

M&Ms: Peanut or Plain?

In reality, sugar makes me too weird. In theory, and historically, definitely peanut.

Hair: Short or Long?

Another of my dichotomies. Right now it’s long. But I choose short. It was having issues. When I can, I may go back to short. But I’m torn. Short is easy-care because you can wash and dry it so fast. But with long, I don’t have to drive 1 ½ hours round trip to my hair professional every six weeks. It’s a conundrum (but I’ll survive).

Necklace or Bracelet?

Why not both?

Take a walk or go to the gym?

Definitely take a walk! I went through this period of being a gym rat, a bunch of years ago. Like, 2 ½ hours a day. Then I burned out. And I don’t mean that in a vague, figurative sense. I mean an actual, literal burnout. Now I absolutely cannot tolerate walking on a treadmill and not having any scenery go by, pedaling a bike that never moves, or sweating on a stair climber and never getting any higher. I need results. So I take some very long walks, with some very high climbs involved. 

Write at home or write somewhere else?

I’ll write elsewhere if I need to. I’ll write anywhere if I need to. But home is best. Home is my first choice.

Spring or Fall?

Both are wonderful. But I give a slight edge to Fall, especially if I’m in a place where the leaves turn. I was just in the Pike’s Peak area, hiking on the mountain, and the quaking Aspen leaves are really amazing in yellow. Fall is good.

Second Hand Heart by Catherine Hand Heart

Vida is 19 and has never had much of a life. Struggling along with a life-threatening heart condition, her whole life has been one long preparation for death. But suddenly she is presented with a donor heart, and just in time. Now she gets to do something she never imagined she'd have to do: live.

Richard is a 36-year-old man who’s just lost his beloved wife, Lorrie, in a car accident. Still in shock and not even having begun the process of grieving, he is invited to the hospital to meet the young woman who received his wife’s donor heart.

Vida takes one look at Richard and feels she’s loved him all her life. And tells him so. Richard assumes she’s just a foolish young girl. And maybe she is. Or maybe there’s truth behind the theory of cellular memory, and maybe it really is possible for a heart to remember, at least for a time, on its own.

Second Hand Heart is both a story of having to learn to live for the first time, and having to learn to live all over again.