Shari Maurer reads from her Young Adult novel Change of Heart

Mon 7/5  7pm-8pm

Shari Maurer reads from her Young Adult novel

Change of Heart

About the book: Shortly after her sixteenth birthday, popular varsity soccer star Emmi comes down with an ordinary virus. But when she doesn’t bounce back as always, she gets the worst possible news--she’s had endocarditis that’s destroyed her heart, putting her into congestive heart failure. This formerly energetic teen can now barely walk across a room without having to stop and rest. And the prognosis is bleak: without a heart transplant, shell die in a matter of months. Her family rallies around, but she’s betrayed by her boyfriend and BFF when a crisis sends her to the hospital. Its only her growing friendship with Abe, the funny, smart boy she meets in the cardiac clinic that finally cheers her up. But difficult questions race through her mind while she waits: Will she get a heart in time? Will she even survive the surgery? What if her body rejects the heart? When tragedy strikes close to home, Emmi must rely even more on her inner strength in order to carry on.  Shari Maurer’s life has always been full of “heart.” Married to a cardiologist and the mother of a child born with a heart defect, she is the co-author of The Parent's Guide to Children's Congenital Heart Defects.

Change of Heart is Maurer’s first young adult novel. Since completing the book, Maurer and her family are partnering with the New York Organ Donor Network to raise awareness of the need for organ donors and to register as many new potential donors as possible.