The Way We Almost Were ✓

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w i l l  s t a r t  p o s t i n g  b y  t h e
1 s t  w e e k  o f  N o v e m b e r  2 0 1 8

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B L U R B

They say that there are two kinds of people—those who believe and those who don’t.

But it’s the third kind that you’ve got to look out for. The kind that once believed and eventually fell out of it. They’re the ones whose lives have been tossed over by a hurricane, whose souls have been broken down and darkened because they were pushed far beyond their limits.

Meet Nick—or better yet, don’t meet him. With a fortress built around him that has thorns sticking out from every turn, he’s as pessimistic as one can get. And then there’s Bree. Athletic, selfless, down to earth, and carries a heart so big you’d wonder how it fits into that petite frame of hers.

This is not a story about a bad boy who happens to have a heart of gold, or a nerdy girl who falls in love for the first time, or a villainous and manipulative cheerleader trying to get between them.

This is a story about a boy who’s been forced to grow up far too quickly, a boy who escaped from a life that wasn’t done trying to claim him back, a boy so stuck in his past he doesn’t know how to look forward anymore.

This is a story about a girl who believes, a girl who sees the best in everyone, a girl who put every Tom, Dick and Harry before herself—a quality that Nick knows would be Bree’s downfall.

It’s about finding hope, regaining faith, taking a risk in letting oneself be happy, building bridges, daring to love, daring to let someone else love you back, discovering who and what family is, and above all, finding the courage to look forward and build a future.

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On probation for something that no one in this town knows he did, all Nick wants is to get by as fast as he can and as quietly as he can while making sure his probation officer delivers a clean report about him once he’s done.

Bree has a pretty much normal life but she needs to choose whether a burden in the form of a boy whose eyes remind her of melted chocolate is worth the while, when all it seems to create is nothing but havoc.

It won’t be a smooth road—there’ll be ups and downs and bumps and rocky paths, but a wise man once said that to believe a broken person can’t be fixed is like saying that sunlight can’t shine through a broken window.

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BEFORE YOU START
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➴ i wrote this story in 2015 and then sort of rewrote it during early 2016. i could toss the whole thing away and rewrite it from scratch since my writing has improved a hell lot, but have decided not to do so because this has sentimental value -- and it kind of reflects on how much I've grown in both my personality and my writing. so I want it to remain as it was originally written; like a memento of an old version of me.

➴ that being said, please don't set up high expectations because you're a reader who has followed me here from my other book Through Your Eyes. My writing style was a lot different in 2015/2016 and i don't want to feel like i'm setting you up for disappointment.

➴ my characters are not me, their beliefs are not mine. they have flawed perspectives. that being said, when it comes to me as a writer, i'm more mature now than i was back then, and my perspective of this world has also grown a lot since then. so if you see certain dialogues/metaphors/narratives that seem to be of a slightly offensive nature, please keep in mind that you criticising a past version of me is fruitless and only puts you in a negative light.

➴ our male protagonist is kind of an asshole, so there's that. and our female protagonist is not much of a girl who digs deep into her emotions and pretty much dwells on the surface of everything. but i doubt a book that starts off with whole, already fleshed-out characters is worth reading. the fun of the journey lies in all the character development tbh.

➴ this was originally set in a highschool background, but i'm beginning to wonder if the storyline is a little more mature and should better fit a college theme instead. so feel free to let me know here if you have a preference or if it doesn't matter which background suits the storyline best. (its just that TYE was written as realistically as possible, that i now worry my readers would expect this book to be the same. even i tend to forget this is just fiction, and then stress unnecessarily).

➴ i honestly feel like the blurb doesn't really give a proper idea of the story, but this is one book where I've struggled endlessly with writing a blurb or synopsis. i can't seem to write a proper one without giving too much info away. so i hope the one given at the start suffices :)

➴ i will begin posting it somewhere during the first week of November, by when i'd have finalised on whether it'll be highschool/college and past-tense/present-tense and 1stPOV/3rdPOV. (Sigh, decisions.)

➴ i've already got few chapters written but never really finished the book, so my writing style towards the end of this story would be more like my current style since they'll consist of chapters written now.

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thank you to those who replied to the post on my message board and told me to go ahead with posting this story

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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © LADYLITERAL

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COMING
NOVEMBER 2018