First published 2020
For two years, the narrator has kept a secret from Sydney: he is in love with her. The first time he felt it, he froze. The moment passed, and instead of telling her how he felt, he let her become his best friend. That was not nothing. Sydney is the best person in his life, and he has spent two years protecting that by staying quiet and burying everything else. Then summer arrives. The two of them end up at the lake together, and something shifts. The closeness, the heat, the bikinis, the long easy days that feel like they mean something more than friendship. He starts thinking about what he gave up the first time. He starts thinking about taking a real shot. The central tension here is one most people know from the inside: the fear of losing a friendship by asking for something more. Rebecca Jenshak builds that tension slowly and honestly, letting readers feel exactly how much is at stake before anything gets resolved. This is a second-chance romance about the courage it takes to stop passing on the things that matter most.
Genres: fiction, romance, contemporary, contemporary-romance
Vibes: bittersweet, emotional, intimate, introspective, tender
Tropes: friends-to-lovers, pining, second-chance-romance, slow-burn
Setting: lake
286 pages · Paperback · Rebecca Jenshak