The Way We Used to Be by Amarie Wheeler [SIGNED PREORDER]

*BOOK RELEASE DATE: 8/15/2026

*ESTIMATED SHIPPING DATE: Late August2026

This book will come with a signed bookplate, a SFW character art print, and a bookmark!

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This is a PREORDER ITEM. If you are also ordering any Ready to Ship or Made to Order items, PLEASE ORDER THOSE SEPARATELY. We are unable to ship partial orders, so if everything is ordered together, everything will ship when the preorder book is ready to be shipped.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL RECEIVE A BOOK BY ITS RELEASE DATE. By purchasing a preorder, you are simply guaranteeing that you will receive a signed copy/signed book plate, along with any listed incentives. Not that it will arrive by the release date.

Please make sure you purchase with an actively used email, so that you are able to receive Preorder Updates.

Please make sure you purchase with an actively used email, so that you are able to receive Preorder Updates.

Books will ship on or near their release date.

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GENRE(S): Contemporary; Rom-Com

After walking away from her soul-sucking corporate job, Amara Singleton is finally chasing the dream she’s held since childhood—opening a boutique dedicated to her own plus-size clothing designs.

There’s just one problem.

The only storefront she can afford is falling apart and is in desperate need of renovations.

When she unfortunately runs into Theo Sinclair, her childhood best friend—and first love—who disappeared from her life without a trace eight years ago, he makes her an offer she can’t afford to refuse. He’ll renovate the boutique for free… if she gives their friendship another chance.

Working side by side forces them back into the easy rhythm they once shared, and the more time Amara spends with Theo, the harder it becomes to ignore the feelings she never truly left behind.

She finds out Theo’s been carrying a life-altering secret for eight years—one that could destroy the fragile second chance they’re building. Now Amara must decide if some wounds are too deep to heal…or if love is worth the risk of breaking her heart all over again.

TROPES

• Childhood friends to lovers
• She fell first, he fell harder
• Slow burn
• Mutual pining
• Forced proximity
• BIPOC romance
• Mental health rep
• Neurodivergent rep
• Plus-sized FMC