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The Space Between Us: Just Friends?
If you’ve already downloaded this book, please make sure it’s updated to newest version. I accidentally uploaded an version that should of never saw daylight while working with verbs lol—oops. Sorry about that bestie🤍
Now let me tell you why you’re going to stay up too late reading this.
Some love stories don’t start with fireworks.
They start with silence.
With stolen looks in crowded hallways.
With names whispered but never claimed.
With a feeling that sits in your chest and refuses to leave.
Harper Lane has mastered the art of being invisible. Oversized hoodies. Sketchbooks full of feelings she never says out loud. She’s the girl people overlook—until they need something. And she’s learned that wanting more only ever leads to disappointment.
Jaxon Brooks is everything Harper avoids. The golden boy. The quarterback. The guy everyone knows, everyone wants… and everyone thinks they understand.
Except they don’t.
Because while the world sees him one way, Jaxon has always seen her.
What follows is a slow-burning, secret connection that never quite fits into daylight. Late-night messages. Hidden moments. Words that feel too big to say out loud—until one night, they finally are.
And once they are… nothing is the same.
The Space Between Us is about loving someone when you’re not supposed to. About being chosen in private but denied in public. About the ache of being almost everything—and never enough.
It’s about boundaries, heartbreak, first love, and the terrifying courage it takes to finally stop being invisible… even if it means losing the person who saw you first.
This story will hurt.
It will linger.
And it will feel uncomfortably real.
If you’ve ever been the secret.
If you’ve ever loved quietly.
If you’ve ever wondered what it would cost to choose yourself—
Welcome.
You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.
Now let me tell you why you’re going to stay up too late reading this.
Some love stories don’t start with fireworks.
They start with silence.
With stolen looks in crowded hallways.
With names whispered but never claimed.
With a feeling that sits in your chest and refuses to leave.
Harper Lane has mastered the art of being invisible. Oversized hoodies. Sketchbooks full of feelings she never says out loud. She’s the girl people overlook—until they need something. And she’s learned that wanting more only ever leads to disappointment.
Jaxon Brooks is everything Harper avoids. The golden boy. The quarterback. The guy everyone knows, everyone wants… and everyone thinks they understand.
Except they don’t.
Because while the world sees him one way, Jaxon has always seen her.
What follows is a slow-burning, secret connection that never quite fits into daylight. Late-night messages. Hidden moments. Words that feel too big to say out loud—until one night, they finally are.
And once they are… nothing is the same.
The Space Between Us is about loving someone when you’re not supposed to. About being chosen in private but denied in public. About the ache of being almost everything—and never enough.
It’s about boundaries, heartbreak, first love, and the terrifying courage it takes to finally stop being invisible… even if it means losing the person who saw you first.
This story will hurt.
It will linger.
And it will feel uncomfortably real.
If you’ve ever been the secret.
If you’ve ever loved quietly.
If you’ve ever wondered what it would cost to choose yourself—
Welcome.
You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.
544 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 24, 2025
10 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
S.J. Lane
4 books2 followersS.J. Lane is a storyteller rooted in the quiet strength of Mississippi, raised in a small farming town where life moves to the hum of tractors, porch swings, and the kind of values that never go out of style. Ageless in spirit, she’s a woman of many hats—but the ones she wears with the most pride are wife, mother, leader, and writer.
With twelve years of marriage built on faith, resilience, and a whole lot of laughter, Lane is also the proud mother of four beautiful children who fill her world with meaning and chaos in equal measure. Her family remains the heartbeat of everything she does, grounding her as she navigates the many roles she’s grown into.
Professionally, she has carved out a powerful path in the world of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), serving as a Sr. Operations Leader where she manages high-performance contact center teams with vision, precision, and heart. In a space where metrics matter and people matter more, Lane leads with a balance of grace and grit. She is the calm in the storm, the voice that steadies, the mind that strategizes. Her work is a testament to her ability to build, nurture, and deliver—whether it’s through process, people, or performance.
But beneath the structure of KPIs and coaching sessions, there lives a creative force that refuses to be silenced. Writing has always been her secret sanctuary—a sacred place where expectations fall away and stories rise in their place. For Lane, writing is more than passion. It’s escape. It's expression. It’s the place she goes to remember who she is, separate from titles and timelines.
Her stories echo with emotional truth, capturing the raw, often messy beauty of real life. She writes for the women who’ve been overlooked, for the girls who dream with open eyes, and for every soul who’s ever felt like they had too much heart and nowhere to put it. Her work blends romance and resilience, Southern charm and modern depth, with characters that speak in the voice of lived experience.
When she’s not balancing the art of operational excellence or getting lost in her fictional worlds, you can find her soaking up the quiet moments—coffee in hand, journal nearby, watching her kids turn everyday life into something extraordinary.
S.J. Lane invites you to step into her stories—stories born from love, loss, and everything in between. And if you listen closely, you just might hear the steady heartbeat of a woman who’s lived it all—and found a way to write it beautiful.
With twelve years of marriage built on faith, resilience, and a whole lot of laughter, Lane is also the proud mother of four beautiful children who fill her world with meaning and chaos in equal measure. Her family remains the heartbeat of everything she does, grounding her as she navigates the many roles she’s grown into.
Professionally, she has carved out a powerful path in the world of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), serving as a Sr. Operations Leader where she manages high-performance contact center teams with vision, precision, and heart. In a space where metrics matter and people matter more, Lane leads with a balance of grace and grit. She is the calm in the storm, the voice that steadies, the mind that strategizes. Her work is a testament to her ability to build, nurture, and deliver—whether it’s through process, people, or performance.
But beneath the structure of KPIs and coaching sessions, there lives a creative force that refuses to be silenced. Writing has always been her secret sanctuary—a sacred place where expectations fall away and stories rise in their place. For Lane, writing is more than passion. It’s escape. It's expression. It’s the place she goes to remember who she is, separate from titles and timelines.
Her stories echo with emotional truth, capturing the raw, often messy beauty of real life. She writes for the women who’ve been overlooked, for the girls who dream with open eyes, and for every soul who’s ever felt like they had too much heart and nowhere to put it. Her work blends romance and resilience, Southern charm and modern depth, with characters that speak in the voice of lived experience.
When she’s not balancing the art of operational excellence or getting lost in her fictional worlds, you can find her soaking up the quiet moments—coffee in hand, journal nearby, watching her kids turn everyday life into something extraordinary.
S.J. Lane invites you to step into her stories—stories born from love, loss, and everything in between. And if you listen closely, you just might hear the steady heartbeat of a woman who’s lived it all—and found a way to write it beautiful.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 28, 2025
I picked up The Space Between Us thinking it would be a cute high school romance. What I got was something so much deeper. This story hit every nerve—first love, heartbreak, secrets, identity, and that feeling of being someone’s almost. I wasn’t ready.
Harper Lane felt like someone I knew. Maybe even like someone I was. She’s smart, sarcastic, a little guarded, and way too used to being invisible. And then there’s Jaxon Brooks—popular, complicated, way too charming for his own good. Their connection is undeniable. You feel it in the hallway glances, the silence between messages, the moments that say too much without saying anything at all.
What really got me was how real it all felt. The emotions weren’t sugarcoated. The pain wasn’t dressed up. There were scenes where I literally had to set the book down because it hit too close to home. And yeah... I may have cried. More than once, actually.
This isn’t just a love story—it’s about self-worth, timing, and figuring out who you are when no one else really sees you. It’s messy. It’s raw. And it’s exactly what being a teenager feels like when love shows up where it shouldn’t, but you can’t turn away from it.
Harper Lane felt like someone I knew. Maybe even like someone I was. She’s smart, sarcastic, a little guarded, and way too used to being invisible. And then there’s Jaxon Brooks—popular, complicated, way too charming for his own good. Their connection is undeniable. You feel it in the hallway glances, the silence between messages, the moments that say too much without saying anything at all.
What really got me was how real it all felt. The emotions weren’t sugarcoated. The pain wasn’t dressed up. There were scenes where I literally had to set the book down because it hit too close to home. And yeah... I may have cried. More than once, actually.
This isn’t just a love story—it’s about self-worth, timing, and figuring out who you are when no one else really sees you. It’s messy. It’s raw. And it’s exactly what being a teenager feels like when love shows up where it shouldn’t, but you can’t turn away from it.
July 28, 2025
The Space Between Us took me by surprise. I thought I was getting a typical teen romance, but what I got was something way more layered. Harper and Jaxon’s story is messy, intense, and full of those quiet, in-between moments that say everything.
Their connection felt authentic—like two people trying to figure out who they are while pretending not to fall apart. The writing is sharp, the dialogue is natural, and the tension? Off the charts.
And that ending? Let’s just say... it may have wrecked me. UGH
Highly recommend if you like your romance with a side of heartbreak and truth.
Their connection felt authentic—like two people trying to figure out who they are while pretending not to fall apart. The writing is sharp, the dialogue is natural, and the tension? Off the charts.
And that ending? Let’s just say... it may have wrecked me. UGH
Highly recommend if you like your romance with a side of heartbreak and truth.
August 7, 2025
I couldn’t put this book down. Harper is such a relatable protagonist—smart, introverted, and hiding in plain sight. The way her world collides with Jaxon’s is both tender and powerful. This story shows how being seen by the right person can change everything.
August 7, 2025
This book perfectly captures the highs and heartbreaks of high school. The emotional depth surprised me in the best way. Harper’s inner world is beautifully crafted, and Jaxon is more than just the charming athlete. Their connection is real, raw, and unforgettable.
August 8, 2025
A stunning portrayal of introversion, self-worth, and unexpected connection. The writing is intimate and lyrical, and the chemistry between the leads is undeniable. This book proves that being quiet doesn’t mean you don’t have a voice, or a story worth telling.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews