Before You

July 21, 2014
Hart debuts with a steamy romance about affirming love. Faith Watters, 18, returns for her senior year in Oviedo, Fla., after a year in rehab that no one knows about except for her family and best friend, Melissa. Ever since Faith was abandoned by her drug-addicted mother 10 years earlier, she has felt compelled to act the part of her pastor father's perfect daughter. Every aspect of Faith's life feels stifling, including her relationship with her bland boyfriend of four years that resembles an "arranged marriage." When she's assigned to be a "peer helper" to cocky new student Diego Alvarez, the physical attraction between them is immediate. Their inaccurate assumptions about one another and defensive personalities cause conflicts, yet as trust builds, Faith reveals her family history, and Diego confesses his involvement with a drug cartel. As Hart alternates between Faith and Diego's self-aware and expressive first-person narratives, readers will be invested in the couple's intense cross-cultural relationship as they persevere despite an onslaught of personal and societal pressures. Ages 14âup. Agent: Beth Miller, Writers House.

June 15, 2014
The daughter of a pastor and a young man on the run from a Cuban drug cartel get past their initial animosity to fall in love in this sexy romance.Prickly, wary 18-year-old Diego is disgusted with the beautiful and collected young woman assigned to escort him through his first day of school, assuming she is a snob. Faith, also 18, finds Diego, with multiple scars and tattoos, annoyingly cocky yet attractive: "He is a boy with eyes like hope, with scars that tell stories....I don't trust myself around him." She has erected a carefully crafted facade to disguise her fear of abandonment and a secret year in rehab, while Diego's past has left him ready to brutally fight when threatened. The pair tell their story in alternating, present-tense chapters. Their two families are well-drawn; Diego and his relatives speak in English with a sprinkling of Spanish, which contrasts with Faith's Anglo background. The plot moves slowly for the first two-thirds of the novel, then presents a series of shocks. Hart's writing in this debut conveys a lot of physical and emotional feeling but works a little too hard in places ("Under my fingertips her blood pulses fast, a one-way train on a track bound for collision").This riff on West Side Story is torrid and heartfelt if not at all subtle, with a sequel featuring Faith's best friend still to come. (Romance. 14-18)

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August 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Faith Watters plans to spend her senior year living up to everyone else's expectations. She'll keep the same boyfriend she's had for three years, wear the same conservative clothes, and maintain her social status as the popular queen bee at her high school. However, her facade is challenged while serving as a student ambassador for a Cuban transfer student, Diego Alvarez. Despite being an unlikely couple, Faith and Diego find themselves instantly drawn to each other. Their steamy attraction quickly, almost too conveniently, becomes a hidden relationship. Faith's father, a pastor at a local church, was almost ruined professionally and personally when Faith's mother abandoned them for a drug habit. The protagonist believes a relationship with a scarred, tattooed boy from another culture would not only be frowned upon by her friends, but also be completely unacceptable to her father and their congregation. As their pasts are revealed, the teens are drawn together by all that they have in common. It isn't until their relationship finally goes public that Diego's past threatens their safety. The story is told in the alternating, indistinguishable voices of Faith and Diego. The narrative has more than a few convenient plot elements as well as some potential flaws, including the boy's English skills originating from his summers in the U.S., despite the long-standing travel restrictions between the two countries. Indiscriminate readers might be willing to overlook these inconsistencies, but even die-hard romance fans may still find the teens' relationship overly cliched.-Lynn Rashid, Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville, MD

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2014
Grades 9-12 Sparks fly immediately between high-school senior Faith Watters and Diego Alvarez, a transfer student from Cuba she is assigned to show around school. Diego becomes convinced that Faith is exactly what her carefully arranged mask is designed to portray: a bland, snobby pastor's daughter who takes no chances. Faith, meanwhile, finds Diego's cocky attitude, along with his tattoos and scars, irritating and vaguely alarming. The physical attraction between them is undeniable, however, and in alternating chapters of this steamy romance, they slowly reveal themselves to each other. Faith has a secret past of substance abuse and a stint in rehab, stemming from her mother's abandonment, while he is on the run from the drug cartel he worked for in Cuba. Fast-paced action, plenty of heartfelt love scenes, and a series of shocking twists make this debut from Hart a surefire pick for fans of Simone Elkeles' Perfect Chemistry series. The planned sequel, featuring Faith's best friend, Melissa, should be eagerly awaited.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)