Where you should've been (Promise me ~ The College years)

Grief changes everything—and for Amy, it shatters the life she thought she understood.

Reeling from the loss of the most important person in her world, Amy enters college carrying heartbreak, family pressure, and the lingering pull of a toxic on-again, off-again relationship she can’t seem to escape. Desperate to keep the peace at home and live up to impossible expectations, she makes a risky choice: she asks Theo—her ex-boyfriend’s best friend and the one person who sees through her every wall—to pretend to be her boyfriend.

Theo was never supposed to mean anything. He was just a distraction. A solution.

But as lines blur and old feelings resurface, Amy is forced to confront buried truths, painful family secrets, and the fear of being left behind once again. With everything she’s worked so hard to protect at stake, she must decide whether to cling to what’s familiar—or risk her heart for a love that has been waiting for her all along.

A tender, emotional story about loss, healing, and learning the difference between loving someone and being in love, this novel explores the courage it takes to let go, the heartbreak of choosing, and the rare beauty of being loved without conditions.

This is book two in the Promise me ~ The College Years series. It is a standalone and you don't have to read book one in order to read it.

Tropes to Love:
Frenemies to lovers
Childhood friends
Fake dating
Found family
Ex-boyfriend's best friend
Sports romance
College romance
Grief and healing
Spice
Slow burn