Beside Your Heart by Mary Whitney Tour and Giveaway

Synopsis:

Was he The One who got away?

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 coming of age. But when is a high school crush something more?

This was my first read by author Mary Whitney, and I really liked it! We start by meeting Nicole as she thinks about Adam, which tells us they are no longer together. Mary takes us back in time to when they met and how Adam changed her life.

Nicki meets Adam shortly after she is on a brutal accident that takes the life of her little sister and leaves her with a body of scars. Adam, of course, has a girlfriend but feels a strong connection to Nicki. He seems to be the only one she is able to talk about her late sister about. They struggle with relationships and eventually build a friendship that leads to more. But what do you do when you know there is an expiration date? Well you put it off and not think about it of course!

This is a beautiful story of heartbreak, surviving, loving, growing, and life! We follow Nicki through a tragedy and finding out just how strong she is. As I read I thought I knew what was going to happen but I was wrong. I got pretty emotional throughout the story and had a hard time finding a stopping point to take care of those in my life. The ONLY thing I was not completely satisfied with was the epilogue. I will NOT ruin it and I encourage and lovers of a emotional story with some baby makin (not literal) scenes then this is for YOU! I just like complete closure.

Rating: 4 stars

*** I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review ***

Cheers,

Erika

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Excerpt:

Damn. He really was cute. His hair was longer and a little scraggly, and his clothes weremore rumpled than Adam’s. If he didn’t have an English accent, he would have looked like a surfer boy. Plus he was nice. I wondered if Adam had said anything to him about me.Regardless, I thought I’d be nice back.

“Well, Adam and I have two classes together. You’re about to be taught economics by thesoccer coach. If you’re lucky, you might learn how to balance a checkbook. English is at the end of the day. You’ll hear about Puritans there.”

“The Puritans? Weren’t they Englishmen who came to America? They were oppressed in England because of their religion.”

“That’s right.” I held his gaze. He was definitely older and confident, and I was pretty sure that if Rachel saw me talking to him, she would be pissed if I didn’t flirt a little. I leaned against my locker and said, “Religious oppression. Sexual repression. That pretty much sums up the pilgrims.”

“Sexual repression?” Raising his eyebrows, David smirked. “The last class sounds interesting. Why were the pilgrims repressed when it came to shagging?”

“A strict moral code leading to scandalous affairs.”

“Really? I like the last part.”

I tried to keep my eyes from bugging out. I bet you do, I thought. Time to tone things down,so I said, “The affairs just lead to self-mutilation. Reverend Dimmesdale deals with his byburning a big letter A for adultery into his chest.” I looked over at Adam, who gave a nervouslaugh. I guess he didn’t like hearing about Dimmesdale again.

David turned his body so it was toward me, and he crossed his arms, settling into ourconversation. His voice got a little lower and kind of sexy. “That part doesn’t sound like muchfun to me. What do you think?”

Author Bio:

Even before she graduated from law school, Mary knew she wasn't cut out to be a real lawyer. Drawn to politics, she's spent her career as an organizer, lobbyist, and nonprofit executive. Nothing piques her interest more than a good political scandal or romance, and when she stumbled upon writing, she put the two together. A born Midwesterner, naturalized Texan, and transient resident of Washington, D.C., Mary now lives in Northern California with her two daughters and real lawyer husband.

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