Promise Me Not

Boys of Avix, Book 2

By: Meagan Brandy

Narrated by: Erin Mallon, Chase Brown

She lost her first love.

I'd give it all to be her second ...

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had one dream.

Go to college with my best friends, earn a starting position on a division one team, and hear my name announced to the world come draft day.

The path was clear, and things were falling in place perfectly.

Until she showed up.

I never meant to fall for my friend’s little sister and by the time I realized I had, it was too late.

I am a man in love with a girl … who is in love with someone else.

But I can’t compete with a ghost, and her heart was buried along side the boy she gave it to. The father of her unborn son.

Instead of fighting for something she’s unable to give, I do my best to be her friend. But then her little man comes along and changes everything.

She says I should walk away, focus on my love for football, but I can’t because what she doesn’t understand is I have a new dream now.

One that begins and ends with them.

Promise Me Not is the second interconnected stand-alone in the universe of Say You Swear.

©2024 Meagan Brandy (P)2024 Audible, Inc.

I absolutely loved this book

Such a great book, I haven’t read a book by her that I haven’t loved.

Love the Avix U Series

Mason's POV was wonderful, to understand who he is and what is important to him. On multiple occasions while reading, he made my heart melt and I absolutely adore him. Payton's character has been through so much in such a short period of time. She is faced with navigating grief and heartbreak, becoming a new mother and supporting her son, all while experiencing the conflicting emotions of love after loss. I admired her strength to try to figure out how to move forward on her own as a young woman and in a world full of uncertainty. They both struggle to communicate with each other and parts of the story are devastating. But some parts are beautiful; the relief that love always has a way of healing and when times are tough, better days are coming. As always with Meagan Brandy's books, I didn't want the book to end and I hope we see more of them in future books.

5 Heartbreakingly Beautiful Stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book. THIS BOOK. Holy Hannah, be prepared to feel it all. Meagan did such an amazing job developing a back story, unraveling a very emotional and in depth storyline and providing amazing character development. You really get to know and love them all. The audio narration was excellent, loved both narrators. Told in Dual POV.

I love the first book and how close & meshed this group of family and friends are. It makes you want to be part of their circle. She gives you the opportunity to know and love the side characters as well as the main. I fell in love with our loyal protector Mason in Say You Swear and fell head over heels in this book.

I adored Mason & Payton’s story. And cried through almost all of it. It’s filled with a lot of loss and angst. And Meagan will rip your heart out and then carefully put you back together again and stitch you up, at the end. But that scar - that beautiful scar which is this book will stay with you forever. Their journey is not as easy one, but so well worth it.

And Chase, well I thought it was going to be impossible for me to like him again. Even throughout most of this book. But he does redeem. I can’t wait for more of this gang. This book really hits the friends to lovers, found family, possessive/protective hero, love after loss and slow burn tropes. Highly recommend.

Ehh

I did not care for this book. Compared to the first one this one I struggled to finish.

Expectations were too high.

I think my expectations might have been set a little too high. I absolutely loved it say you swear and I think that is a hard book to come off of. I got the audiobook because it was on sale. I don’t think this is one You really should listen to on audio. The female narrator I would probably like in some other setting, but for this character who is at most 19, the female narrator sounds like an older woman. The voice just doesn’t match the character. As for the male narrator, I felt his pacing was weird, and you could audibly hear him, swallowing and mouth breathing throughout, and it really distracted from the storyline. Also, with the dual timeline, it was very difficult to keep track of which timeline you were in while you were listening to it. At least with the book you could take a quick peek to remind yourself which timeline you’re in. Say you swear, was a spin off of the fumbled heart series and if you have not read that then all of the characters from the fumbled heart series coming in is confusing. As for the book, keep your expectations low and you might be pleasantly surprised as for the audio, I don’t recommend it.

Promise me not

I have mix feelings about this book. I like it and it’s a great job in the emotional roller coaster with. But not has hard like Say you swear, Noah and Ari’s story. I do love the found family these young characters are surrounded by. That they have their support by them. I am glad to see new narrators names being added to the mix. Not that I don’t mind hearing the ones I am familiar with, it’s just great to hear others representing their ideas of how the character would sound like. Anyways, I adore this author and would highly recommend this series so far.

A wonderful example of living through grief

• Single mom
• Two timelines
• Young mom
• He falls first
• Second chance
• Love after loss

“The petals, they close at night, only to open again the next day. It’s like coming out of darkness and finding the light again.”

Oh, this book! Meagan knows how to write loyal and patient men! That was clear after Noah, but then we get Mason's story! And my gosh. This sweet man! This story was a rocky ride, much like Say You Swear. But in a whole different way! I couldn't put this book down. I was hooked. 
 
Payton's story was heartbreaking. And so many reviews bash the way Meagan handled their story. But this girl lost her boyfriend, the father of her unborn child, at 17! Through this book, she's just barely an adult! She's so used to people letting her down or being taken away from her. As a woman who was a young mom, I can easily see how you can get caught up in the fear of stepping into the unknown while buried in grief. Personally, I think Meagan nailed this story! Giving us the true feelings we go through when we have lost someone and struggle with letting go! Grief doesn't always make us think straight. And certainly not at 18! We do things we wouldn't normally do, like push people away to protect ourselves from losing more parts of ourselves. Especially when we have another life to think about like Payton did with her son! 

"She is the girl of my dreams. Please let me become the man of hers."
 
With all that being said... Mason was a freaken saint. His character development in Say You Swear had me so eager to pick up this book! And Meagan didn't disappoint. Mason rode out all Payton's lows with her. Even when she pushed him away, he stuck by her side like a loyal pit bull! I adored his character in Say You Swear, but now getting to know his character and his love for Payton and her sweet son, I freaken LOVE his character. 

“Have you not figured it out yet, Pretty Little?” Mason presses his forehead to mine. “I would do anything for you.”
 
Meagan found balance in both their characters, and I personally think they fit together so well! This book was beautifully written. Through all the heartache and all the angst, I fell so in love with both these characters and her hearts! I will gladly let Meagan guide me through an emotional roller coaster if she keeps ending on these amazing HEAs!

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW
Dual Narration
Narrated by Erin Mallon and Chase Brown

These two were PERFECT for Mason and Payton. Erin always does such an incredible job with the emotional books. And her as Payton was flawlessly done. She brought out all the turmoil and heartache that Payton went through perfectly. And Chase as Mason! YES PLEASE! Chase's voice is exactly what I pictured Mason sounding like. And he did such an incredible job on his performance as Mason at times I felt like I was watching a movie! Especially when he interacted with Payton's son! I loved it!

Woe is Me 😒

I LOVED Say You Swear! Noah Riley is the perfect man. But this book was VERY frustrating! If you like miscommunication, secrets, and a martyr, this is the book for you! I hated the FMC. There’s 38 chapters in this book and it took her till ch 36 to realize she was an idiot. The martyr situation was exhausting- I loathe when people do the “woe is me, it’s better for you if we’re not together” bs! Tell them your baggage and let THEM decide if they want to deal with it. If they love you, it’s likely they’ll gladly carry that with for you. I don’t enjoy this trope at all, I love angst- again I loved SYS. But I can’t do 95% of the book where she plays victim. It’s just annoying and redundant!!!!!
*Chase was a good guy in this book. I hated him in SYS, but you get to see his good side here. I’m looking forward to his book as long as it’s not miscommunication or martyr trope. I hated how Peyton used him as a crutch and cause issues between him and Mason. I don’t blame Chase at all, he didn’t even know what was going on. I blame her!

Mason

This book is perfection! Casting was perfection and I loved every second. Mason and Payton’s story is one made of misery. Connecting with someone new after a great loss is difficult but when you love as deeply as Mason does, there’s no running away.

The timeline made for a choppy read

I went into this book with excitement, but the story’s format just didn’t work for me. The back-and-forth between the past and present felt more distracting than engaging, especially since the “past” was only about a year ago. That timeline jump made things a bit confusing to follow, particularly in audiobook form.

And let’s talk about the nickname “Pretty Little”—if I never hear Mason say it again, it’ll be too soon! It was so overused, that I cringed every time it popped up.

While it had its moments, it was just an okay read.