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A coming-of-age novel with a strong heroine, a sweet love story, and a suspenseful struggle between good and evil
Running from vile rumors and merciless ridicule, thirteen-year-old Nicole Beaumont flees her home in Parsons Valley, Georgia. In the farming community where she lived, almost any transgression could be tolerated, excused, or overlooked, any transgression, save one that smacked of sex, and, according to rumor, that was exactly what she had done while lying with Chris Miller on the bank of Parsons Pond. It was a lie, the worst part at any rate, but Chris̶ refused to deny the rumor. Chris, the boy who had been her best-friend-for-life, her soul mate, the one with whom she was supposed to spend her life, he allowed everyone to believe the rumor to be true.
Vowing to never trust another person as she had trusted Chris, Nicole leaves him behind and takes refuge at a boarding school in rural Pennsylvania.
Such vows can be difficult to keep, but Nicole perseveres.
Until she meets Richard. He seems different from the others. He accepts Nicole as she is. He keeps her secrets. When others doubt her, he stands in her defense. Nevertheless, even as they fall in love, the full story of what happened at Parsons Pond remains off-limits to him, as well as her memories of Chris, which tempt her, tugging her into the past, threatening to betray her.
Chris re-enters her life in a most unexpected way, and Nicole finds herself emmeshed in a deadly game that pits Chris, the boy she once loved, against Richard, the man who loves her, now, a game from which only one will emerge unscathed. Nicole faces an impossible decision. Which will she choose? Who will live?
House Beside the Riveris a romantic, true-to-life coming-of-age novel featuring a violent culture, a strong woman, and a sweet ending. One-click House Beside the River today!
