Review and giveaway: Beside Your Heart by Mary Whitney

"It's an emotional story that will take the reader back to those feelings that made the late teen years such a powerful time."

Late one night Nicki Johnson plays with emotional fire and Googles her high school love, only to find his name splashed across the British gossip columns. Back in his native England, Adam Kincaid is successful and dating a woman from an aristocratic family like his own. With a career in politics, Nicki’s no slouch, but she knows Adam is living a world away from her life.

Yet there was a time he was no farther than the next locker. Nicki will never forget their year together in high school—the year of her sister’s death, the year her mother checked out. Adam helped Nicki through suffocating grief, and she led him through a coming of age. Was it just high school, or was it something more?





4 Star Review by Allison East

I really enjoyed this book, and I am so happy there will be a book two and three to go with it- Adam and Nicki's story is great. It's another one of my favorites- love lost and found again!

Nicki and Adam were close in high school (1992).  Now Nicki is just a woman working in politics in US, while Adam is from noble English family working in the media in Britain. They are both seeing other people at the moment but Nicki still has not gotten completely over him.  (1998)

The book, though,  is completely set in 1992 and it shows- how their relationship developed and why it ended. After a difficult summer of losing her sister in a car accident- and basically losing her mother to her own grief, Nicki is back in school. She immediately develops a crush on Adam (I'm sorry who wouldn't? ), only to find him dating one of the most popular cheerleaders. This is when all the angst begins. I loved it! I am not a huge angsty person. I am mostly the sunshine and unicorns type- but this made me want to keep reading to find out if they end up together.

Adam was a great hero of the story. He was nice, caring and charming so I was not surprised that Nicki fell for him. Adam helped her to deal with sudden death of her sister and gained her heart in return. He made some questionable decisions, like staying with Meredith, his twig of a girlfriend, for so long. It's totally obvious how much he is into Nicki. I just wanted to shake him at a certain point. Then again 17 year old boys don't think straight when it comes to relationships.

Nicki is a great heroine- she has to go through something so painful I couldn't even imagine. I liked that about her- so strong, yet had a sweet quality about her.  She was extremely smart, she loved books and could rattle off facts about nothing, and yet she was definitely a teenage. The accident really made her grow up. The accident changed her way of thinking, made her a little bit bitter; always expecting the worst from life. She deserved someone like Adam to help her through it all.

This is a story of young love, and it doesn't end with everything solved- but that's ok. It leaves you wanting more. The epilogue is set in 2009, and we see what might happen or unfold. I cannot wait to read this second installment of their story. Maybe we will get some questions answered. All I know is I want more.


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