Rachel and Andy meet in hospital as eight-year-old kids - she's a regular patient with her heart defect, while he's come into the ER department alone with a broken arm. Several years later, as teenagers they are thrown into contact with one another again and the differences in their lives couldn't be more apparent. Rachel lives a comfortable college-bound existence in Florida with her parents, while Andy and his single mum scrape by in Philadelphia. Running is his passion and his way of escaping the feeling that he never fits in because he is biracial. I loved every second of this story. It again demonstrates what a masterful storyteller Weiner is, as we follow Rachel and Andy over three decades, seeing what brings them together and what drives them apart.
Who Do You Love, by Jennifer Weiner, is a story about first romance and lasting love. The summary says: "When the love you love is the one who got away... Rachel Blum and Andy Landis are just eight years old when they meet late one night in an ER waiting room. Born with a congenital heart defect, Rachel is a veteran of hospitals, and she's intrigued by the boy who shows up all alone with a broken arm. He tells her his name. She tells him a story. After Andy's taken back to a doctor and Rachel's sent back to her bed, they think they'll never see each other again. Rachel grows up wanting for nothing in a fancy Florida suburb, the popular and protected daughter of two doting parents. Andy grows up poor in Philadelphia with a single mum and a rare talent that will let him become one of the best runners of his generation. Over the next three decades, their paths cross in magical and ordinary ways. They make grand plans and dream big dreams as they grow together and apart in starts and stops. Through it all, Andy and Rachel never stop thinking about that night in the hospital waiting room all of those years ago, a chance encounter that changed the course of both of their lives." Who Do You Love is out in August 2015.