Everything I Thought I Knew by Shannon Takaoka (review)

Takaoka, Shannon Everything I Thought I Knew. Candlewick, 2020 [320p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781536207767 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781536216097 $17.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 7-10

Senior year doesn't go as Chloe had planned: instead of a last track-team hurrah and getting ready for college, she discovers she has a serious heart problem and eventually undergoes a transplant. Now past the transplant she's becoming a different person: she's in summer school, where she makes friends with the rebellious Jane, and she impulsively decides (without telling her parents) to learn to surf. She also has the occasional flash of memory of things that didn't happen to her and people she doesn't know, and she begins to think those may be memories of her donor. But can that be possible, and what does her donor have to do with Kai, the surf teacher she's begun to fall for? This is a satisfying soaper that combines pleasing romance with an enticing touch of the otherworldly. While the backstory of her donor is contrived, the point is the unpeeling of the mystery behind Chloe's transplant and her unexpected new inclinations, which are satisfying signs of growth as well as alluring hints at mysteries beyond science. Transplant drama is a niche but established genre, and readers looking for a complement to Kirby's Things We Know by Heart (BCCB 6/15) will appreciate both the reality and the transcendental possibilities of Chloe's survival story.