The Secret of a Heart Note by Stacey Lee
Release Date: December 27, 2016
My Rating: 4.5 stars
Summary: Love chose me, and I tried, but I couldn’t stop the arrow in its flight.
As one of only two aromateurs left on the planet, fifteen-year-old Mimosa knows what her future holds: a lifetime of using her extraordinary sense of smell to mix base notes, top notes, and heart notes into elixirs that help others fall in love.
All while remaining incurably alone.
For Mim, the rules are clear—falling in love would render her nose useless, taking away her one great talent. Still, Mimosa doesn’t want to spend her life elbow-deep in soil and begonias. She dreams of a normal high school existence—taking up a sport and limping away flush from victory, joining the debate club and saying things like “That’s a logical fallacy!” Having a boyfriend.
When she accidentally gives an elixir to the wrong woman and has to rely on the school soccer star to help fix the situation, Mim quickly begins to realize that when it comes to falling in love, the choice isn’t always hers to make.
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I've been meaning to write this review for ages, but every time I sit down to do it, I just. Forget how to write. It's mostly because I don't know how to verbalize my love for this book. I just really love it, okay! The Secret of a Heart Note is a book that you can read over and over again, and fall more and more in love with it every time.
It's honestly so difficult to describe why I love this book so much, but I'll try.
The Secret of a Heart Note is the fresh scent of spring, the caress of a cool breeze on your face, the feeling of sunlight on your skin. It's love and warmth and beauty.
To put it in less abstract terms, this book is all-around amazing. A diverse contemporary novel, it has one of the most original plots I've read with the aromateur aspect. Stacey Lee writes this so well, and you'll feel as if it's a real thing. The descriptions of the different scents are so, so vivid; it's like you're smelling the emotions yourself.
The characters are so great as well! I adore Mim; she's headstrong and doesn't care about what other people think. Her best friend, Kali, is the same, and together, they have such a great friendship. Court, the love interest, is the epitome of the popular jock, but he's also written as a three-dimensional character.
I did have an issue with the antagonist, Vicky. She's the stereotypical mean girl character, which would be fine in theory, but there's nothing else to her character. This was a bit of a disappointment, especially because I thought we were past two-dimensional female characters.
The Secret of a Heart Note is evocative and lovely; you'll be left wanting more. I adore Stacey Lee's writing, and I can't wait to read her next release. Pick this book up if you want a delightful, diverse contemporary!
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About the Author: Stacey Lee is a fourth generation Chinese-American whose people came to California during the heydays of the cowboys. She believes she still has a bit of cowboy dust in her soul. A native of southern California, she graduated from UCLA then got her law degree at UC Davis King Hall. After practicing law in the Silicon Valley for several years, she finally took up the pen because she wanted the perks of being able to nap during the day, and it was easier than moving to Spain. She plays classical piano, raises children, and writes YA fiction.
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