This book had me interested from the get-go. Instantly I felt intrigued by Aidan and his background and felt the need to know more. There is something very beautiful about the way it is written and I didn’t even mind the multiple perspectives.

Told in the first person from both Iona and Aidan, Guard Your Heart has a wonderfully emotive tone throughout that you cannot help but feel empathetic towards. The constant inner turmoil from both characters as plain to see and getting to wade through their feelings made for an interesting read.

This is a beautifully written book
It has a complex plot with lots of layers
The characters are so relatable and realistic
It made me want the best for the characters

This book drew me in instantly when I heard about this book! The book deals with some hard issues, including violence, cancer, domestic & grief.

This book instantly made me want to look into the history of Ireland and the Irish people in more detail. It was really interesting to see the two sides to the story. Both characters drew me in and worked so well together, a modern day Romeo & Juliet!

When you read the synopsis of this book, it initally seems like too much of an ambitious topic to target, but it's because of that that the book is so successful. Everything we think we know about The Troubles and everything we wish to know more of as well as deny, is respresented, wrapped up in a love story that you can't help but wish for a happy ending in.

Beautiful book for teens!
I think this would be a great addition to any school library or a lovely gift for a young friend or relative.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

Guard Your Heart is a modern day Romeo and Juliet story set in Ireland that shows the modern day impact of the troubles and how years of prejudice still runs rife in the country. In this story Aiden (a catholic) and Iona (a protestant) are thrown together when Aiden is attacked and Iona films it on her phone. She manages to stop the attack by threatening to go to the police with the evidence. Iona and Aiden's love story starts with this one act of selflessness.

Among this story of forbidden love, prejudice, and religion is a story of class difference. How a persons station in life is determined by so many different factors and the hopelessness that you feel can be overwhelming.

Overall, I really liked Guard Your Heart. At times, I did feel the pacing of the story was a bit slow but the final third of the novel had me reading as fast as I could and making me lose my breath. The sign of great writing in my opinion.

Guard Your Heart by Sue Divin is available now.

For more information regarding Sue Divin (@absolutelywrite) please visit www.suedivin.com.

For more information regarding Macmillan Children's Books (@MacmillanKidsUK) please visit www.panmacmillan.com.

Guard your Heart is a story that will pull on your heartstrings. Powerful and thought-provoking, you become emotionally invested in the characters and their individual struggles as they try to stay together and you can fully understand each of them and what they are each facing.

'Guard your Heart' by Sue Divin is a moving and intriguing exploration of modern day Ireland where community relationships are deeply scarred and shaped by the legacy of The Troubles. We follow Aiden, a Catholic with historic family connections to the IRA, and Iona, a Protestant whose family are in the business of policing, as they are brought together by a horrific violent attack. Aiden is targeted for being a Catholic, saved by Iona filming the event and shouting at the perpetrators. Despite this troubled start, the pair fall in love, breaking down religious and political barriers.

The beginning and end portion of this book are excellent. The description of the initial attack is horrible but throws us feet first into the action and the burgeoning young love. The consequences of this relationship snowball, leading to some explosive events at the novel's close, focusing primarily on Aiden's family history and his struggles against adversity. His evolution as a character is by far the most interesting part of this book, the way he deals with childhood trauma, grief for his mother and mission to make a better life for himself. His journey is worth 4 stars alone.

Unfortunately, the middle of the book is poorly paced, so the end is rushed in places. It is difficult to admit that Aiden and Iona's happy relationship in the book's centre portion is the most slow and dull. The consequences of their love bring this back to be a gripping read but the events could have been better plotted to keep the tension and intrigue high, without the lull at the book's core.

Overall, I hugely enjoyed this book. It is raw, real and rooted in true historical scars. Arrive for the promise of the 'Romeo and Juliet' style love and stay for Aiden's gripping character arc. 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'd fallen into a bit of a reading slump, but Guard Your Heart was just the book I needed to reinvigorate me.

Born on the day the Northern Ireland peace agreement was signed, Catholic Aidan and Protestant Iona meet in the summer of 2016, Derry. Despite the peace deal, though, there are still divides, and obstacles. Both the internal demons of Aidan, the problems they cause, and the external tensions and troubles of living in a volatile community are deftly handled. The book is beautifully written, and the scenery and atmosphere vivid.

Loved this. Fantastic debut.

Thoughtful story of 'star crossed' lovers set in modern Northern Ireland but in the context of the troubles and the legacies that this has left behind for the next generation. Important and powerful story well told,

*I was given an arc of Guard Your Heart in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Macmillan and Sue Divin*

CW: Alcoholism, substance abuse, scenes of violence (sometimes including guns), sexual assault, death of a parent, PTSD

Born on the same day, the Nothern Ireland peace deal, Aidan and Iona are complete opposites. He’s a republican catholic, she’s a British protestant.

At a post-exam party, Aidan is wandering across the peace bridge, into the protestant side of Ireland and is attacked. Witness to the attack Iona ends up with Aidan’s phone and decides to contact him so he can get it back.

Meeting in a neutral territory both can help but a strange intrigue with the other and their friendship slowly starts to grow. With obvious differences and secrets hidden about their families, Iona and Aidan despite it all want to be together.

This book had me interested from the get-go. Instantly I felt intrigued by Aidan and his background and felt the need to know more. There is something very beautiful about the way it is written and I didn’t even mind the multiple perspectives.

Told in the first person from both Iona and Aidan, Guard Your Heart has a wonderfully emotive tone throughout that you cannot help but feel empathetic towards. The constant inner turmoil from both characters as plain to see and getting to wade through their feelings made for an interesting read.

I don’t really know too much about the Nothern Irish peace deal so those parts were very informative and I find that I now have a better understanding. These parts made the story all the more intense and heartwrenching. Sue Divin did a great job of using Iona and Aidan’s differences to create that all-important angst in these types of books.

Honestly, I was expecting this to be a light YA read and if you looking for that type of book then I suggest you look somewhere else. I have included content warnings at the top of this review so please do check them out.

Guard Your Heart tackled a lot of real serious issues and I think that Sue Divin did well to do so in a way that is not harmful. There is a lot of talk about drug use and alcoholism in this book and in no way are they glorified. Looking at the real consequences of such issues and showing that you can overcome them and be better for it, this book has one of the best representations of these issues that I have seen in a while.

Romance is obvious a large part of this story, however, it is not sappy or cliche. Depicting a teen relationship in a book and making it come across as realistic is no easy feat. Often you find the romance in YA to be so over the top and cliche, but there is none of that here.
The relationship between Aidan and Iona is raw and real. They are aware of the consequences and do not play them down. I actually kept forgetting that they are only eighteen and not many years older. This was a depiction of a mature teen relationship and it was done extremely well.

The reason why I have only given this 4 stars is because the pacing was not always great. It didn’t necessarily start out slow as the first few chapters are pretty heavy, however, the events leading tot eh books end felt quite rushed. The middle part slowed down dramatically and I believe that some smaller parts could have been removed to make this book flow a little better.

However, with that being said Guard Your Heart is compelling and emotive and if you are looking for a more serious read then you should definitely check it out. Also although this is a YA read it holds an impressive maturity that will allow enjoyment from older readers.

This wasn't the light-hearted YA romance I was expecting before starting this but I still really enjoyed it with a great mix of raw and emotional scenes based around The Troubles in Ireland, with cute and funny romantic points between Iona and Aidan. I knew next to nothing about anything to do with Northern Ireland before reading this but found it easy to read with no prior knowledge while giving me an insight into how it affects people to this day.

The characters are fleshed out and relatable and almost all have realistic character development which I loved to see instead of everyone else being useless side characters as often happens in YA novels. I even felt sympathy for those such as Sean who is involved with the new IRA because of the great writing of Aidan's point of view. I always enjoy getting multiple character's viewpoints and think it worked especially well in this Romeo and Juliet style story.

It has a satisfying ending that seems to fit the characters and isn't rushed. I will definitely be looking out for more from this author in the future.

A beautifully written story!

What really drew me to Guard Your Heart was its synopsis and the topics and moments in history that I reckoned it would deal with. I, as someone who is not Irish, has not had many topics discussed in this book brought up with me, so I was interested in seeing what I would learn from this book. It is very interesting and insightful, but I almost think that too much was brought up in such a short book this is. I was quite happy to have read a little more if it meant that the topics weren't rushed in the way that they were in this book. Clearly the author has a lot to say.

The writing for a debut book is very good, and I would be interested in reading something else from this author should they write something else in the future. However, the narrative voices did sound the same which is something I find in a lot of dual or multi-perspective books by debut authors. I must admit that this made me start to switch off from really connecting the characters, who did feel as though they could be real people most of the time. In my opinion, for someone who doesn't know much about Northern Ireland's history, it feels like a good place to start.

Overall, I did like this book and what it was trying to say and do, but I didn't love it unfortunately.

This is a story told in the first person by 2 main characters, Aidan, an Irish Catholic and Iona, a British Protestant, with each chapter given over to 1 character's perspective at a time. I often find this hopping about of narrative distracting, but I didn't find it took away from my enjoyment of this story at all.

Aidan is severely beaten by a group of Protestants, with Iona and one of her brothers looking on, who actually break up the fight and save Aidan's life. Over the course of the novel, Iona and Aidan discover that despite their religious differences, they form a close friendship and become boyfriend and girlfriend. Another of Aidan's brothers, along with his father, have ties to the Police, which means their relationship carries huge risks and much of the book is taken up with how they keep it secret from friends and family.

I really enjoyed the book and feel that as I grew up during the 'troubles' I understand the push/pull factors both characters experience. I can imagine that todays teens/young adults may not follow how potentially dangerous and life threatening their situation is depicted but hope that either Googling or - horrors! - speaking to family or teachers, they will want to find out more about this time. Fab!

I have always been a huge fan of Joan Lingard's Kevin and Sadie series, a brilliant evocation of sectarianism in Northern Ireland and how it affected teenagers and their relationships across the divide. But those books were written in the 1970s, in the midst of the Troubles.  A contemporary outlook on Northern Ireland sectarian history and how it affects today's young people was therefore long overdue on the YA market. "Guard Your Heart" offers a similar star crossed lovers narrative - Aidan is a Catholic, Iona a Protestant - but well beyond that it explores the complexity of navigating life as a young person born in present day Northern Ireland and how children born after the Troubles are constantly pulled between their yearning to move on from the old conflict, to continue to seek peace, and the cultural heritage of their communities where lines between cultural and political heritage are sometimes blurred. I loved and rooted for Aidan and Iona, but for me, the character that really shone was Andy; he, of all the characters, destroyed potential readers' misconceptions the most. 
Northern Ireland's complex history and cultural heritage is often misunderstood in mainland UK, mainly because of the lack of coverage in schools and the way the media has traditionally covered its news. The narrative covers many aspects of this, including Brexit, which has huge ramifications for the people of Northern Ireland, but one of the many strengths of this book is that it weaves this into a tale without ever being didactic or dull. The issue of being religious is also dealt with sensitively and it is actually quite nice to read a young person practicing their faith in a positive light. "Guard Your Heart" is a brilliant exploration about love, community and creating one's own path, even in the most challenging circumstances.

This book twisted that timeless Romeo and Juliet story into something stunning and modern. Going into this book, I had limited knowledge on the troubles in Ireland, despite my Irish family heritage. In fact, all I knew was that the IRA bombed Harrods and what I learnt from Derry Girls. Having read this, I’m desperate to learn more. I had absolutely no idea that your side in the troubles and your religion were the foundations of families and lifestyles to this day, had no idea about any of it really.

This book was immersive. I was absorbed by it. In all honesty, I might not have a great deal to say – I had my head so deeply buried in the book that I forgot to make notes as to what I thought, mental or otherwise, which I feel is more of a compliment than any good review could be. I simply was so unexpectedly engrossed in the lives of these two characters that I didn’t care to jot down any thoughts or feelings; I was experiencing them.

The first couple of chapters, I confess, I wasn’t immediately drawn in. But I would never give up so soon, and I cannot express my relief that I kept going with an open mind. As soon as it took off, I was obsessed. Yes, there was the occasional lapse in understanding where a quintessentially Irish phrase was used that I’d never heard before, but they contributed to the characterisation and I would hate if that lapse of understanding was taken in a negative light. Quite frankly, it made it all the more realistic… I don’t understand what my Irish relatives are saying half the time!

This was a story of love first, a story of hate second. Love between the two central characters, but hatred between their families, religions, friends, morals. The characters had all these dimensions and layers, that were not to be taken at face value. And I mean all of the characters. Where most authors would introduce a character for the sake of moving the lovers’ story along, each friend and relative had their own stories along the way. Yes, at first they have their prejudices, and obviously the main story was Aidan and Iona, but I adore how the characters that tend to be ignored in a romance got their own developments, be it Paddy, Sean, Andy or Mr Scott. It showed that regardless of your prejudices and your background, you have a choice about the person you are. One of my favourite scenes in the book was towards the end, when many characters came together with a common goal. Characters who wouldn’t dream of being sat around the table together at the start, doing so at the end, laying their tensions and judgements aside. Apologising.

I also have to commend Divin’s way of dealing with drugs, alcohol, sex and other hard-hitting subject matters… It felt realistic. I won’t delve into it too much for fear of accidental spoilers – it was handled maturely, but so that people of my age could relate to it. She didn’t shy away from a conversation about virginity, or use of substances to cope, to name a few tough topics covered. I just think it was managed really well and I needed to make a point of it.

Basically, that was a really longwinded way of saying I absolutely loved it. I loved it. And I really hope that I can find more books like it in the future.

This book was beautifully written. I picked it up after work to wind down and loved how easy and quick it was to read. It was set in Ireland which isn't a usual setting for books so it was nice to see the country being represented and the characters were beautifully written with development throughout the book. I enjoyed reading about how they fought against prejudices and expectations from family.
It was a lovely book to read and thank you for letting me read the earc

Aidan and Iona, now eighteen, were both born on the day of the Northern Ireland peace deal. Aidan is Catholic, Irish, and Republican. With his ex-political prisoner father gone and his mother dead, Aidan’s hope is pinned on exam results earning him a one-way ticket out of Derry. To anywhere.

The story is so heartwarming, that despite the story being aimed at YA, I, as a 24-year-old thoroughly enjoyed it! The story has scenes that make you laugh out loud and scenes that are so raw and haunting you could cry. The story keeps hooked, makes you feel compassionate, and makes you smile.

The storyline is the main point but the relationships that are detailed throughout are perfect to read. The cover of the book is perfect, colourful, and eyecatching and would make me pick it up from a bookshelf.

I've really loved reading this book. I have Irish heritage and the setting of this book was one of the reasons I was drawn to it. I love how the dialogue and thoughts are written with an Irish dialect and I love learning about the politics and the new IRA.

I found this book really interesting as I am fascinated by the divide between not only Northern Ireland the Republic of Ireland but the divide within Derry itself and the Catholic versus Protestant dynamic. I really enjoyed how this book mirrors some of the themes of Romeo and Juliet, most specifically the star crossed lovers, from different sides of a 'war'. Aidan's family dynamic was really interesting to read in comparison to Iona's own family, one having a secure family unit and the other a broken support system.

I found that the grief of Aidan was portrayed really well as Divin references to past choices regarding drugs and alcohol and that these were used as coping mechanisms. I really appreciated how Divin portrayed Aidan's thoughts and emotions because usually men/male characters are opposed to expressing such things and there lies an issue with sexism and how men are supposed to appear tough and unemotive. I really liked Aidan's character and how he struggled a lot with internal conflict, he was a really likeable character and it was great to see his development and growth throughout the novel.

Iona's character was easy to engage with, she was an easy going girl who managed not to fit into the 'not like other girls' trope although she was unlike girls Aidan was used to. This was refreshing as it is an overplayed trope that I struggle to engage with. I appreciated how she refused to let her brother's tell her what to do and that she displayed feministic attributes in regards to doing what she wanted to do as long as it was beneficial to herself. She also had a really strong moral compass which is nice to see as she was unafraid to do the right thing despite the consequences.

I found it really interesting when it came to the talk regarding sex between a Catholic and a Christian/Protestant, this is because the usual assumptions are dismissed and the Catholic characters are in fact sexually active before marriage. Both characters are faced with internal debates regarding the other's religion, Aidan repeatedly says he has never talked to/met/hung out with a protestant which highlights his upbringing and how shielded his family were due to his father.

Divin engages with the technique of Chekhov's Gun, towards the end of the novel, as a gun is introduced at the start of a chapter and we can only assume it is to be used at some point. This chapter was particularly well written as there was an perfect build up of tension as you are waiting for the gun to come into action.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and how it referenced past and (present for 2016) politics, talking about the Easter Uprising, The Troubles, the IRA and Brexit. It was a really well written narrative and I really enjoyed the relationships and characters that were introduced.

This book was a beautiful love story following Aidan and Iona, two 18 year olds in the aftermath of the Troubles. The two characters were each well developed and their relationship was lovely to see grow.
Seeing Aidan in particular grow and discover who he is outside of everyone's assumptions about him was great to read about and was written very well.
As well as Aidan and Iona, I also enjoyed reading about how the Troubles impacted the other characters, particularly their brothers, and I liked seeing the two contrasting sides portrayed and how the aftermath is still affected everyone now.