Shark Heart

by Emily Habeck

☕︎☕︎☕︎☕︎

“He was an aimless kite in search of a string to ground him to the world, but instead, he found Wren, a great, strong wind who supported his exploration of the sky.”

This is one of the strangest, most beautiful books I’ve read in a very long time. It’s your typical love story—boy meets girl, girl falls in love, boy slowly morphs into a great white shark.

But Shark Heart is anything but typical. Emily Habeck takes a surreal premise and somehow makes it feel tender, grounded, and emotionally true. The novel is an exploration of love in all its forms: romantic, familial, selfless, and painful. It’s about the impossibility of holding on, and the grace it takes to let go.

Habeck’s poetic storytelling and rich, dreamlike imagery make the absurd feel intimate. You sit with Wren and Lewis in their home as they navigate his transformation—not just of body, but of identity, mortality, and meaning. You feel the weight of each choice, each memory, each fleeting moment of joy or grief. The magical realism never distracts—it deepens.

This book is strange in the best way. It asks you to suspend disbelief not for spectacle, but for the sake of emotional honesty. And in doing so, it leaves you changed—just a little more tender, a little more open to the wild and unpredictable shapes love can take..

read it.