Title: Beside Your Heart
Author: Mary Whitney
Genre: New Adult Romance
Publication Date: June 17, 2013
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?
Excerpt:
“No
British literature. Isn’t this supposed to be an English class?”
Adam asked.
“Uh.”
My ancestors would’ve been proud of the jolt of American patriotism
that hit me. “There was a revolution two hundred years ago. We
write our own books now.”
He
leaned back in his seat with a smile. “I think I heard about that.”
“We
still share the same language.”
“Sometimes
I’m not too sure.”
“I
bet not.” I could imagine what he thought of a Texas accent.
He
picked up the list of books again. “What about
Catcher in the Rye?”
“I
read it a long time ago when I was, like, eleven.” I laughed a
little as I remembered how I’d first come to read it.
“Is
there something funny about that?”
“Yeah.
My father had suggested I read it then. The book is the classic
coming-of-age story. Clearly, he wasn’t really thinking about
whether or not it was appropriate for an eleven-year-old.”
“Really?
Why?”
“Well,
for one thing, the main character is a guy who swears a lot.”
“I
suppose I swear a lot.” He cracked a sly smile. “At least
compared to you Yankees.”
“Yankees?
You’re in the South.” I laughed.
“What
else is inappropriate about the book? Now I’m interested. It can’t
only be a few swear words.”
“No,
it’s not just that. It’s…” I hesitated for a moment as I
realized I was about to bring up the topic of sex with Adam Kincaid.
What the
hell, I
thought. I should be matter-of-fact about it. He had a girlfriend and
would never want anything with me. I could hide I thought he was hot,
so I shrugged. “Holden, the main character…he’s a little
sexually frustrated.”
His
eyes twinkled, and it felt as if my words hung in the air. I wanted
to squirm in my seat. ‘Sexually
frustrated’—like me checking out Adam Kincaid.
His
proper upbringing showed again as he sidestepped the issue, yet he
smirked. “That sounds like an adventurous book to be on an American
high school syllabus.”
“Like
I said—it’s considered an American classic.” I laughed. “I
guess some things are sacred.”
“But
of course.” The gleam appeared in his eye again, and he turned
toward me in his seat. “Teenage sexual frustration is sort of a
rite of passage, if you will.”
There
went the good-English-boy manners out the window. His tone, the look
in his eye, his body language—was he flirting with or taunting me?
I decided the former was impossible, and if the latter, I wasn’t
going to back down. With two parents who were lawyers, debate was a
family routine.
“A
rite of passage? More like a biological fact, isn’t it?” I asked,
casually clicking my pen. I raised a brow. “Especially for guys.”
“You’re
right about that,” he said with a grin.
His
eyes shifted downward, and I could feel him give me a once-over. I
wondered what he thought. I was no Meredith, but I had enough
self-confidence to know I wasn’t butt-ugly either—even with my
scars. I couldn’t tell, but he’d distracted me so much, I jumped
when I heard Mrs. Anderson ask, “Your name, dear?”
About the author:
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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