Timber Creek Academy

Life can change on a dime.

Childhood tragedy left Koa Burgard with many scars. Reclusive and still healing, he is sent to summer camp, where the other kids tease and bully. All except the outgoing, popular boy from his cabin. A boy who dreams about being a hockey star. A tentative friendship forms. Every summer, they reconnect for adventure. Every winter, they write letters back and forth.

Promises are made, and promises are shattered.

Thirty years later, the sudden death of his parents brings Jersey Reid home. Rotten things keep happening. His life has been full of torment and pain, and he can’t remember a time when he was happy.

Will it ever stop?

Cleaning out his deceased parents’ house, he uncovers his and Koa’s pen pal letters. Can Jersey recapture the happiness and innocence of youth by reconnecting with the strange, quirky boy he befriended at camp so long ago? Or will the mistakes he made before be a barrier?

Although Koa is now a respectable English teacher at an elite boarding school, Jersey quickly learns that the boy with dark secrets from camp is more troubled than ever.

Koa has given up on happiness. His views on life are bleak and disturbing, and he’s learned it’s better to be alone in an unforgiving world.

Jersey’s return offsets Koa’s balance and brings the past back into focus. A past he’s spent a lifetime trying to forget.

But Jersey was his savior once. He was kind when no one else was. Jersey made him feel safe in an unsafe world.

Until he broke a promise.

And promises are supposed to be for forever.

** Promises of Forever is an angsty MM romance with the following themes. Second chance love, hurt / comfort, jock and nerd dynamic, opposites attract, mental health. **