Monday 19 August 2013

Blog Tour & Giveaway: Mary Whitney's "Beside Your Heart."

@WordyMary   @BookEnthusiast1
Blog Tour:  Mary Whitney's "Beside Your Heart."
(Giveaway at bottom of Post)

Amazon UK:    http://amzn.to/13sgCzX
Amazon.com:   http://amzn.to/18lDQLm

Synopsis:
Was he the one that 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 a coming of age. Was it just high school, or was it something more?

Blog Tour Review: Kirsty

I'm just going to start off my review with a little complaint and get it out the way. The blurb and the cover are very misleading IMO. From that information alone, going in to the book I would have thought that the book was about adults, in adult situations and a second chance at love. That wasn't the book at all. This is the story of the first time romance, what happened right at the beginning and the painful way that it ended. 95% of the story is set in a high school, with that aged people and is therefore very much a Young Adult book. If the second book in the series goes how I think (and hope) it will, then I'd say that blurb is for the whole series, not just the first book. 

“The bright side is the wonderful memories are always there waiting for you, 
right beside your heart.”

So, some have described this as a second chance romance, but I disagree. This is a story about a young couple in high school, starting up a relationship. Nicki is returning to school after a hellish summer. Suffering through overwhelming grief, the last thing she expects is to fall for the hot British guy at school. Adam is the guy every body wants, but the one only one girl has and it's not Nicki. 

The relationship between Adam and Nicki was SO sweet, I loved it. It was slow building and believable. They didn't just jump straight in to anything serious with each other, their interactions slowly started from a small "hi", to friendship, eventually ending up as a couple. They were really so perfect together and I loved watching them grow from strength to strength. Individually I liked both characters, especially Nikki. Going through all she had been through (and it was a lot like hell), she could have taken a turn for the worse but she hadn't and her maturity really shined through. Adam on the other hand... he had his moments. I really struggled with the events that unfolded at 80%. I just found it so out of character for him and definitely uneccesary.

Whilst I enjoyed this book, I really thought it was going to possibly be half about the past, and half the present with the pair of them rekindling their old love. I am hoping that this is the direction the second book will go, so for that alone I will definitely be continuing on with the series.
I rated "Beside your Heart" 4 Hearts

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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Goodreads Book Link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17909089-beside-your-heart 

Giveaway: I Ebook of Mary Whitney's "Beside your Heart."
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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