Mia, aged eighteen, undergoes surgery and is given a replacement heart. But afterwards, she experiences a battlefield... dream? She sees the aftermath of battle with wounded men begging for water and wild hogs feeding on bodies. Given that she lives in Gettysburg, she might be confused. But it feels very real. She's on heavy meds and not strong yet but it's time to return to school. While Mia loves history and English, both her parents are doctors and expect her to go into medicine. She loves reading Louisa May Alcott and helps the history guide Beth speak on Alcott's presence in the town. Sneaking into a Underground Railroad tunnel, Mia has further visions that just increase her worries that something is going seriously wrong. Or is this caused by the meds?

HEART MURMURS are not the only problem. Mia is too weak to ride her beloved mare and shares a class with newcomer Morgan, who has a mangled leg. They become friends and Mia starts to feel more strongly for Morgan, but then he reveals to her that there are secret guardians of the nearby battlefield, and he's one - not a normal person - and what's more, the supposed homeless girl whose heart donation saved Mia's life was a guardian too.

RR Smythe has combined history, literature and romance in this paranormal tale, which can be quite scary and has vivid imagery. She is drawing on her experiences as a paediatric therapist,and other medical literature which seems to suggest that heart transplant recipients can in some cases experience the memories of the donor. There is also detail about the lives of authors LM Alcott and Edgar Allan Poe, the latter making a guest appearance so that we see where he may have got some of his gothic horror inspirations. HEART MURMURS is an unusual tale which will suit the many fans of paranormal books and provides us with a young heroine getting back on her feet in more ways than one.