She not only has a heart issue, she also has a very great sadness of the literal broken heart over a terrible grief.” “It’s a double entendre with the broken heart. “'The Girl with the Broken Heart’ deals with a made-up town that I’ve made through the last five books,” she said. The book's title is a double entendre, dealing with a young woman with heart issues and grief. 'The Girl with the Broken Heart' is McDaniel's final novel. McDaniel said her final book is a “typical Lurlene McDaniel novel,” but instead of teenage characters, her “Luminous Love” series focuses on young adults in their early 20s. I never wanted to leave a reader without hope.”

“And yes, it's true that many of the characters died, but I always had a little love story and I always tried to end the books on a note of hope. “I loved changing people's perceptions of life of the disabled, of the chronically ill,” she said. Since the beginning, McDaniel’s books have been centered on young adults dealing with issues of chronic illness and mortality, a topic she says was inspired by her son’s struggles with diabetes. “Your legacy can live in perpetuity if the library takes it.” “I'm so excited - you know, it's not every day that your legacy gets showcased,” McDaniel said. Thirty years after her first novel, young adult author Lurlene McDaniel has decided her latest book, “The Girl with the Broken Heart,” will be her last.Ī graduate of one of University of South Florida’s first classes in 1965, McDaniel will be returning to her alma mater to discuss her career and see an exhibition of her work at the Tampa campus library Thursday.

Lurlene mcdaniel heart to heart