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Heart in a Box
Each heartbeat leads Joss closer a shocking truth that will change everything.
Joss Olstad wins the fight to switch from her private school to a public high to “find her pieces” she lost when the Indian artist father she never knew died. There, Joss struggles with a slutty friend, who flirts with her new love; Indian Culture Club girls who press her on her past, as well as her stoner mother’s lies back at home. Armed only with her handmade heart boxes that hold private messages, Joss’s search for identity leads her to a scary industrial section of Queens, and a shocking family secret that changes everything.
Joss Olstad wins the fight to switch from her private school to a public high to “find her pieces” she lost when the Indian artist father she never knew died. There, Joss struggles with a slutty friend, who flirts with her new love; Indian Culture Club girls who press her on her past, as well as her stoner mother’s lies back at home. Armed only with her handmade heart boxes that hold private messages, Joss’s search for identity leads her to a scary industrial section of Queens, and a shocking family secret that changes everything.
268 pages, Paperback
Published December 20, 2015
About the author
Catherine Stine
31 books642 followersCatherine Stine is a USA Today bestselling author of urban, paranormal and historical fantasy. Her novels have earned Indie Notable awards and New York Public Library Best Books. Catherine's newest historical fantasy, Witch of the Wild Beasts, was a second prize winner in the Romance Writers' Sheila Contest.
She loves spending time with her beagle, writing about supernatural creatures, gardening on her deck, and meeting readers at book events. Catherine suspects her love of dark fantasy came from her father reading Edgar Allen Poe to her when she was a child.
She loves spending time with her beagle, writing about supernatural creatures, gardening on her deck, and meeting readers at book events. Catherine suspects her love of dark fantasy came from her father reading Edgar Allen Poe to her when she was a child.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 18, 2016
http://www.njkinnysblog.com/2016/01/a...
Heart in a Box by Catherine Stine is the first book by her that I have read and this was a different type of story that had me entertained till the end.
The cover and the unusual title were the first things that attracted my attention towards this book and then the interesting blurb sealed the deal for me.
The plot is simple and yet the author has implemented it beautifully. Intriguing the readers right from the start the book takes us on a journey of the ups and downs faced by the teenager heroine who is struggling in finding her identity and caught up in some usual and some unusual dramas that seem so life threatening when we are teenagers.
I loved Joss and her mom who are both strong characters, headstrong and stubborn. Joss' inquisitiveness regarding her Indian father and her mother's attempt at trying to protect her daughter from making the mistakes she made when she was her age are both sweet and then frustrating.
The story is well paced and develops seamlessly. It is moving, surprising and a story many of us can relate to.
All in all, a lovely experience, I enjoyed reading Heart in a Box and give it 4 out of 5. Recommended to all readers looking for a different type of story that teaches as well as hooks.
I received and ARC from the author and the tour organizers and I am very thankful to them. The above review is my honest and unbiased opinion and in no way influenced.
Heart in a Box by Catherine Stine is the first book by her that I have read and this was a different type of story that had me entertained till the end.
The cover and the unusual title were the first things that attracted my attention towards this book and then the interesting blurb sealed the deal for me.
The plot is simple and yet the author has implemented it beautifully. Intriguing the readers right from the start the book takes us on a journey of the ups and downs faced by the teenager heroine who is struggling in finding her identity and caught up in some usual and some unusual dramas that seem so life threatening when we are teenagers.
I loved Joss and her mom who are both strong characters, headstrong and stubborn. Joss' inquisitiveness regarding her Indian father and her mother's attempt at trying to protect her daughter from making the mistakes she made when she was her age are both sweet and then frustrating.
The story is well paced and develops seamlessly. It is moving, surprising and a story many of us can relate to.
All in all, a lovely experience, I enjoyed reading Heart in a Box and give it 4 out of 5. Recommended to all readers looking for a different type of story that teaches as well as hooks.
I received and ARC from the author and the tour organizers and I am very thankful to them. The above review is my honest and unbiased opinion and in no way influenced.
December 6, 2015
Joss Olstad found private school stale and stifling. As she starts at a public high school, she's determined to find herself amidst the diverse student population. Her hopes begin to crumble as one friend flirts with her boyfriend, the other Indian girls act judgmental, and her hippie mother refuses to tell her anything about her father. Joss is losing herself even as she trying to find herself. A school project draw out the secret wishes of her heart, and she dares risk everything by going to discover a family secret that will either tear her world apart or make it whole.
This is my favorite young adult novel from Catherine Stine. It's an amazingly written story of a teenage girl trying to build her identity. Joss feels she cannot because she never knew her father or any of his history or family. I loved reading Joss' struggles in trying to find out who she is and how this helped her bloom into someone she did not expect. It's all at once genuine, sweet, heart wrenching, and wondrous. Sensational characterization and a tremendously moving story.
What a fantastic book for teens and adults. This should be on everyone's must read list!
This is my favorite young adult novel from Catherine Stine. It's an amazingly written story of a teenage girl trying to build her identity. Joss feels she cannot because she never knew her father or any of his history or family. I loved reading Joss' struggles in trying to find out who she is and how this helped her bloom into someone she did not expect. It's all at once genuine, sweet, heart wrenching, and wondrous. Sensational characterization and a tremendously moving story.
What a fantastic book for teens and adults. This should be on everyone's must read list!
January 21, 2016
For full review please go to: 5girlsbookreviews.blogspot.com, Twitter @camartinez and Facebook "5 Girls Book Reviews"
REVIEW BY: Arianna, age 13 years, 1 month
MAY CONTAIN SPOILER:
This book was really moving.
One girl is trying to juggle true love, a broken family and high school. In many ways this book sounds like a cliche, but for the most part, it is really great! I think it spins what would would be an unoriginal tale into a really interesting and unique book.
My favorite character is Will because he tries to make the most of bad situations which is admirable.
REVIEW BY: Arianna, age 13 years, 1 month
MAY CONTAIN SPOILER:
This book was really moving.
One girl is trying to juggle true love, a broken family and high school. In many ways this book sounds like a cliche, but for the most part, it is really great! I think it spins what would would be an unoriginal tale into a really interesting and unique book.
My favorite character is Will because he tries to make the most of bad situations which is admirable.
February 23, 2016
Heart in a Box was my first read by Catherine Stine, though I actually have both of her YA sci-fi novels. This contemporary undertaking was a really lovely story of a teenager on the cusp of womanhood who is struggling to define who she is. Josse (pronounced “You-see”) Olstad is a young woman born to a mother of Nordic descent and an Indian father. She kind of hates her “ethnic” name and prefers to go by Joss. She has a great sense of humor, not too snarky or snotty. She has solely lived with and been raised by her mother, who is....alternative, to say the least. She and her mom own and run a store, above which they live in a small two-room apartment in New York City. You’ll find out just what kind of store it is, and why her mother is so markedly different from the mothers of her friends. This leads to Joss being embarrassed by and about her mother, and as we meet her at the beginning of a new school year at a new-to-her public school, she has vowed essentially to keep the facts about her unusual family to herself. That vow gets broken pretty quickly on, but I could definitely understand why Joss would try not to spill the beans too soon!
Although Joss has a pretty good life with her mom and, for the most part, they work well together, as a person she feels very incomplete and unsure of who she is. Her mother has refused, repeatedly and without concession, to tell Joss virtually anything about her father. She pretty much knows only that they met when her mother was in India, he was an artist of some sort, he was never involved in the pregnancy or her life, and that he died when she was very young. These are the barest of bare facts, and, quite rightly, Joss feels she deserves much more explanation from her mother. The story centers on Joss’ navigating the waters at the new public school, quite different from the swanky private school she used to attend; making friends and finding a boyfriend; and setting on a quest to find out whatever she can about her father, in hopes of therefore finding out more about herself.
I really enjoyed reading Joss’ story, and I sympathized with her greatly. I do not know what it is like to be of mixed race, but I could really feel her angst at not knowing where she fit in, whether the Indian girls at school would find her “Indian enough” or “too white.” Ms. Stine did a great job of conveying her struggle to find her place, especially considering she knows next to nothing about her father. I can only imagine that never knowing one of your parents would have a massive impact on your own sense of self, and that is certainly what we find with Joss. Joss also has to navigate the same tricky paths we all come across as teens, namely, whether she should commit to the boy she’s been crushing on or “play the field,” how far she feels comfortable going sexually with a boyfriend, whether she should drink alcohol or try any sort of drugs, and the overarching question with all of these issues: how will she be seen by her peers depending on which of these paths she takes - and does she really care what anyone else thinks?
Ms. Stine did a wonderful job of putting me back in the high school frame of mind, reminding me of my own struggles with these questions and my own journey to find out who I was. Although my situation and my journey was very different from Joss’, it is clear that we all navigate some fundamentally similar minefields and, hopefully, come out the other side feeling confident in ourselves and the choices we’ve made. I found Heart in a Box to be a very heartwarming, positive story that was also edgy and real. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading YA fiction, especially if you like a good contemporary read! *4 stars*
I participated in the blog tour for this book. Thank you to the publisher for the complimentary copy of this novel for purposes of an honest review. My rating and review have not been influenced by the fact that I received this e-book for free.
Although Joss has a pretty good life with her mom and, for the most part, they work well together, as a person she feels very incomplete and unsure of who she is. Her mother has refused, repeatedly and without concession, to tell Joss virtually anything about her father. She pretty much knows only that they met when her mother was in India, he was an artist of some sort, he was never involved in the pregnancy or her life, and that he died when she was very young. These are the barest of bare facts, and, quite rightly, Joss feels she deserves much more explanation from her mother. The story centers on Joss’ navigating the waters at the new public school, quite different from the swanky private school she used to attend; making friends and finding a boyfriend; and setting on a quest to find out whatever she can about her father, in hopes of therefore finding out more about herself.
I really enjoyed reading Joss’ story, and I sympathized with her greatly. I do not know what it is like to be of mixed race, but I could really feel her angst at not knowing where she fit in, whether the Indian girls at school would find her “Indian enough” or “too white.” Ms. Stine did a great job of conveying her struggle to find her place, especially considering she knows next to nothing about her father. I can only imagine that never knowing one of your parents would have a massive impact on your own sense of self, and that is certainly what we find with Joss. Joss also has to navigate the same tricky paths we all come across as teens, namely, whether she should commit to the boy she’s been crushing on or “play the field,” how far she feels comfortable going sexually with a boyfriend, whether she should drink alcohol or try any sort of drugs, and the overarching question with all of these issues: how will she be seen by her peers depending on which of these paths she takes - and does she really care what anyone else thinks?
Ms. Stine did a wonderful job of putting me back in the high school frame of mind, reminding me of my own struggles with these questions and my own journey to find out who I was. Although my situation and my journey was very different from Joss’, it is clear that we all navigate some fundamentally similar minefields and, hopefully, come out the other side feeling confident in ourselves and the choices we’ve made. I found Heart in a Box to be a very heartwarming, positive story that was also edgy and real. I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading YA fiction, especially if you like a good contemporary read! *4 stars*
I participated in the blog tour for this book. Thank you to the publisher for the complimentary copy of this novel for purposes of an honest review. My rating and review have not been influenced by the fact that I received this e-book for free.
March 29, 2016
When she is seventeen, Joss transfers from a Manhattan prep school to a Brooklyn public school, where she promptly falls in love-at-first-sight with William Torres and befriends the wild, blonde beauty Katya. Joss's Nordic mother is unconventional, to say the least, but she doesn't want Joss to follow in her wild ways and is very secretive about Joss's father. The only thing Joss knows about him is that he was Indian, and the only thing of his that she has is a hand-made, painted box. Joss makes a box of her own - a heart-shaped box - as part of a school assignment, and then she can't stop making them. This obsession sets Joss off on a quest to find out more about her father - in order to find out more about herself.
Joss is an extremely likable main character, with an interesting and touching story to tell. The author gives us an insight into the Nordic, Indian, Puerto Rican, and Russian cultures through the cast of ethnically-diverse characters, each of which could have a book of their own (hint, hint, Catherine); I'd love to learn more about William, Katya, Leela, and Trenton, as we are only given a glimpse of them through Joss' eyes. The author maintains a nice balance between sentiment and humor throughout, and the cute chapter titles add to the quirky charm of this book.
Charming and heart-warming, Heart in a Box will leave you wanting more.
I received this book in return for an honest review.
Full blog post: https://booksdirectonline.blogspot.co...
Joss is an extremely likable main character, with an interesting and touching story to tell. The author gives us an insight into the Nordic, Indian, Puerto Rican, and Russian cultures through the cast of ethnically-diverse characters, each of which could have a book of their own (hint, hint, Catherine); I'd love to learn more about William, Katya, Leela, and Trenton, as we are only given a glimpse of them through Joss' eyes. The author maintains a nice balance between sentiment and humor throughout, and the cute chapter titles add to the quirky charm of this book.
Charming and heart-warming, Heart in a Box will leave you wanting more.
I received this book in return for an honest review.
Full blog post: https://booksdirectonline.blogspot.co...
January 6, 2016
I loved the flow of this book and the up's and downs of life of a teenager and the difficulty of understanding adults. It's about growing up and the pains teenagers go through trying to find themselves and the secrets that parents keep from kids saying they are protecting the kids when they are only protecting themselves.
February 17, 2016
A new to me author! I loved the way the story flowed! I loved that she was mixed race and learning about her family little bit by little bit. And how she had such good relationships with her friends at school and was able to mend ones that weren't so great. Loved it! Definitely will read more from this author!
September 10, 2016
I loved it! Catherine Stine is a new author to me. I was hooked by the mystery if Jose's family. String character development. Interesting plot lines. A great story with an solid ending. Jose is determined to figure out her family background. I definitely will be reading more from Catherine Stine. I could not out down the book until I finished it.
by Chantelle
by Chantelle
December 29, 2015
I received a copy of the book for my honest review. I liked this book. It was different from anything I've read before.
January 25, 2016
Great book. Awesome cover and title.
June 12, 2016
This was a great YA read of a girl who is trying to discover herself and navigate her teenage years.
We meet Joss as she is entering a new school. Travel along with her as she makes new friends, has a crush on Will, tries to fit in and struggles with one of her classes. This was a story that flowed well as we get to know Joss and her friends. Joss is also trying to get along with her mom, who is opposite of her and get to know her more about her father.
Ms. Stine did a great job of writing a story that is so true. You can feel the emotions of a teenager trying to navigate life. As the characters try to find their identity you will be right there along with them feeling the emotions of all.
We meet Joss as she is entering a new school. Travel along with her as she makes new friends, has a crush on Will, tries to fit in and struggles with one of her classes. This was a story that flowed well as we get to know Joss and her friends. Joss is also trying to get along with her mom, who is opposite of her and get to know her more about her father.
Ms. Stine did a great job of writing a story that is so true. You can feel the emotions of a teenager trying to navigate life. As the characters try to find their identity you will be right there along with them feeling the emotions of all.
October 14, 2016
Heart in a Box
by Catherine Stine
Mark My Words Book Publicity
Teens & YA
Pub Date 04 Dec 2015
I am voluntarily reading and reviewing an arc copy of Heart in A Box through the publisher and Netgalley.
Joss Olstad wins the fight to switch from a private school to a public school after the father she never knew died. Her Father was an Indian artist and her Mom spends must of her time stoned.
Will Joss be able to find out who she really is and find out her missing pieces.
I give that book five out of five stars.
Happy Reading
September 11, 2016
I loved it! Catherine Stine is a new author to me. I was hooked by the mystery if Jose's family. String character development. Interesting plot lines. A great story with an solid ending. Jose is determined to figure out her family background. I definitely will be reading more from Catherine Stine. I could not out down the book until I finished it.
June 19, 2016
Not a bad book. Wish there was more depth to the characters. Not sure if this is the first in the series but the ending was rather abrupt
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews