Why You Should Have Chosen Me is a book-in-progress told from 4 POVs- Nico, Sofi, Lily and Levi.
Nico Lopez, Sofia Rossi, Lily Grisha, and Levi Gabrielsen had nothing in common, and they barely knew each other.At least until Heather Grisha killed Jason Gabrielsen.Now, Nico can’t stop thinking about what could have been, Sofi wants more than anything to turn back time, Lily wishes she could stop loving her sister but doesn’t know how, and Levi’s anxiety has become even worse after finding his older brother’s body. Suddenly, the four have something in common- August seventeenth, and what happened. And as Nico digs deeper into Jason’s life outside of him, Sofi rediscovers old relationships, Lily finds love, and Levi crosses paths with long-absent family, they will need each other to find light- and find hope.
This page lists tropes for the prequel, Unrequited Always, as well.
TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions rape/rapists.
This work provides examples of:
- A Friend in Need: Nico. Constantly. Highlights include: when he attacked Jason's violent ex-boyfriend Derek, the entire week he brought lemon donuts to Jason's house, and when he wrote up an answer key for a math test so Jason wouldn't fail.
- All Love Is Unrequited: In Unrequited Always, Sofi's love for Heather, Nico's love for Jason, and Luke's love for Nico are all completely unrequited.
- Babies Ever After: Levi accidentally gets Lily pregnant. By the end of the book, Lily has given birth to twins Liana Jane and Wesley Jason Gabrielsen.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Lyddie and Sofi have this.
- Beta Couple: Cassi and Talia, a lesbian couple who are friends with Nico, are this to Nico and Luke, Sofi and Lyddie, and Lily and Levi.
- Bickering Couple, Peaceful Couple: Sofi and Lyddie fight constantly, even though they love each other. Meanwhile, Nico and Luke are supportive and sweet, and they only argue once during the entire book. Lily and Levi are somewhere near the middle.
- Big Brother Instinct:
- Jason for Levi- he wants to protect and help Levi as much as he possibly can. Nico as well, even though he and Levi are not related.
- Mindy for Nico.
- Cast Full of Gay: Out of the entire cast, the only confirmed straight characters are the parents, Mindy, Madalyn, Lily and Levi. On the other hand, Nico, Sofi, Cassi, Talia, Luke, Jason, Lyddie and Karli are all confirmed to be gay/bi/pan, and even Heather is implied to perhaps be an Armored Closet Gay.
- Cannot Talk to Women: The first few times Levi talks to Lily, he is absolutely awful at it.
- Childhood Friends: Levi and Sofi. However, they grew apart in high school and weren't friends again until Heather went to jail.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Averted. A boy and a girl who were friends as kids have to fall in love! Right? Right...Nope. Sofi is a lesbian, and Levi has Lily.
- Closet Gay: Played straight with Lyddie. Downplayed with Sofi- her family knows she's a lesbian, but nobody at her school does.
- Closet Key: Jason for Nico, however, short of Jason kissing Nico once to test it out, there was nothing romantic between them.
- Commonality Connection: The Look At Us squad have this- all four POV characters, the goth kids, Cassi, and Talia were all affected by the events of August seventeenth, either because they know Heather or because they know Jason.
- Converse with the Unconscious: Luke to Nico.
-LUKE: Nico, I don't think you understand how much I goddamn love you. I know I'll always be second to Jason, but you can't leave me for him. Not now. Just...please keep fighting. For me and Sofi and Levi and Cassi and Talia. I miss you.
- Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship: Sofi the loser and Heather the cool kid.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Levi and Jason- they grew up being physically abused by their father.
- Devoted to You: Nico to Jason. Played for drama- when Jason dies, Nico has to learn who he is without him.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Averted. Heather's rape of Jason is treated like the big deal it is. Also happens in-universe- Nico mentions to Sofi that it will be hard to get Heather convicted on the rape charge because of this.
- Empty Nest: Discussed- In the epilogue, where everyone is at college, Mrs. Gabrielsen tells Levi that she's glad she had Stephanie, otherwise she would have been like those "empty nester parents in movies who treat their plants like babies."
- Dysfunctional Family: The Grishas- Mr. Grisha is barely around, Mrs. Grisha is a hateful, verbally abusive jerk, Daisy has been excommunicated for believing different things from her parents, Heather has become just like her mother, and Lily hates her entire family.
- Fatal Attractor: A realistic variant- Jason always seems to fall in love with the cruelest, most unstable people he meets.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Heather.
- Homophobic Hate Crime:
- Heather's murder of Jason, given that she killed him for being bi.
- In addition, Mr. Grisha's attack and attempted murder of Nico when he sees him kissing Luke.
- I Am Not My Father: Daisy did this, which got her excommunicated and cut off. Lily is also trying to do it because after getting to know Levi, she doesn't want to be the kind of person who would have killed Jason if she was in that position.
- I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: Luke's reaction when Nico confesses his love.
- I Have No Son!: What the Grisha parents did to Daisy.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Nico when Jason was with Romi, who he described as "the only good one".
- Kissing In A Tree: Stephanie whenever she sees Levi and Lily together.
- Knows a Guy Who Knows a Guy: Cassi: "Well, Talia told me that Sofia told her that Angela told her that Naomi told her that Lily told her that Heather murdered Jason, if you didn't hear."
- Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Jason's had a succession of exes, and besides Romi, they were all unbelievably crappy.
- Love Dodecahedron: Sofi likes Heather, Heather likes Jason (at least before she found out he wasn't straight), and he likes Heather, Nico likes Jason, Luke likes Nico, and Madalyn is implied to have a crush on Luke.
- Murderers Are Rapists: A week before Heather killed Jason, she raped him.
- Oblivious to Love: Everyone knows that Nico likes Jason. That is, except Jason.
- Opposites Attract: Annoying, loud, insensitive, peppy Cassi dates gentle, quiet, moody Talia.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Downplayed with Mrs. Gabrielsen- she outlived one of her children, Jason, but Levi and Stephanie are still alive and well and will likely outlive her. Played straight with Sofi's neighbor, Rose Robinson, who had 4 children and lost all four.
- Platonic Kissing: Sofi and Nico do this at times.
- Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: An exaggerated example- Heather. While she and Jason were dating, she got all hung up on "fixing" his sexuality, then raped him, then he broke up with her (as he should have) and she murders him.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Nico is a Type 1 sensitive guy, Jason is a Type 2 manly man. Played with as Nico has romantic feelings for Jason.
- Shipper on Deck:
- Sofi for Nico and Jason, mainly because if Nico and Jason get together she has a better chance with Heather. Similarly, Nico for Sofi and Heather before he knows that Heather is completely unstable.
- Levi for Nico and Jason. He's seen Jason go through enough crappy relationships to want him to get into a decent one.
- Ironically, Jason for Nico and Luke. Jason was the only one who Luke told about his crush on Nico, and Jason supported it one hundred percent.
- Shipper with an Agenda: Sofi and Nico for each other's relationships with Heather and Jason, respectively. Sofi only wants Nico to get with Jason so she can have Heather, and vice versa.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Nico in Unrequited Always, and for his entire teenage life until Luke comes along.
- Trans Equals Gay: Talia, a trans girl, is in love with another girl.
- Turn Out Like His Father: Heather became just like Mrs. Grisha.
- The Twink: Luke.
- Unbroken Vigil: When Nico is in a coma in the hospital, Luke almost never leaves his side. Downplayed- Luke isn't family, so he gets kicked out at 5pm every day.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Lily for Levi. If anyone ever does anything to hurt him, she will deck them, as evidenced when Oliver was picking on him.
- White Sheep: Daisy for the Grisha family.
