SOLVED. YA, love story, three different couples over the decades and how they relate [s]

[Lizzy]

I read this in 9th grade, in 1997. I assume it was a fairly new book at the time.

I think the cover was light blue with one or two silver rings embossed on the cover.

The story was three separate love stories over several decades and I think they all tied into one another with a silver ring... and/or they could have been related to one another, like the daughter of the first couple or something like that. The stories were focused on the female in each couple.

The only parts I really remember are that one girl was kind of a socialite and her dad didn't want her with this guy because he was kind of a James Dean type character. I remember that he had half-drank beer bottles rolling around in the back seat of his car. He save them for her so that she could rinse her hair in flat beer so that it would be shiny.

[Miranda]

Is it The Sherwood Ring? It fits the description but the bit about the flat beer doesn't sound familiar so maybe not.

[Lizzy]

No, this was set in the 1950's or so.

[Lorna]

I think you mean "I Stay Near You: 1 Story in 3" by M.E. Kerr. First story is during WWII, second is in the early 1960s, and the third in the 1980s. FTR, with the first couple, it was the guy who was Old Money, and his parents disapproved of the girl because her family was way down on the food chain. The beer bottle thing is as you described, though. And it never occurred to me until just now that it's not upper-crust to drive around with a car full of half-empty beer bottles!

[Lizzy]

Oh my gosh! I think that's it. Amazing! Thank you!

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Liz do you want to wait until you can find a copy of the book to make sure that it's yours, or do you want to go ahead and declare this Solved?

[Lizzy]

I have a copy on the way. I'll let you know if it's the one.

[Rainbowheart]

I Stay Near You for the trackable link.