Before the Lavender Blooms (Shared Skies Series 2)

Lavender blooms are seasonal.

It doesn't bloom immediately after planting it; it takes time, patience, and the right conditions. Enduring cold nights, harsh weather, and the passing of time before it finally reveals its beauty.

Just like some love stories.

Denize Jane Alvarez was born into a world of privilege, power, and expectations. As the daughter of the influential Alvarez family, she had everything people dreamed of having, except the freedom to live the life she wanted.

Xian Riley Velasquez, a boy by the river, who was there to remind her that she deserved kindness, protection, and love. He faced and embraced Denize when the world turns its back on her.

With a simple promise made beside a lavender plant, two children believed that some things would always find their way back.

But seasons change.

The warmth of summer can turn into the coldest harsh storm. Flowers can wither. Promises can be tested. And even the strongest plant can be taken away by the storm.

Years later, Denize and Xian find themselves standing in the same chapter of each other's lives once again.

But they are no longer the children who made a promise by the river.

Denize has grown into a woman shaped by battles she never asked for. Xian is the person who waited through his own seasons of pain, carrying the memory of the girl he promised to return to.

Now, they must face the question they avoided for years:

After everything they endured, can something that once bloomed find its way back again?

Because maybe some loves are like lavender...

They are not meant to bloom in every season.

But when the time is right, even after the longest storm, they bloom beautifully again.