Tell Me Softly (2020), originally self-published in 2020, is a young adult romance novel by Argentinian author Mercedes Ron. It is the first installment in the Tell Me trilogy, which also includes Tell Me in Secret and Tell Me with Kisses. The story follows high school senior Kamila “Kami” Hamilton, whose carefully controlled life in the small town of Carsville is upended when her childhood best friends, brothers Taylor and Thiago Di Bianco, return after an eight-year absence. Their reappearance forces Kami to confront a shared family scandal that tore them apart and navigate a tense love triangle with the two brothers, whose relationships with her are shaped by childhood loyalty, unresolved blame, and long-hidden secrets.

Mercedes Ron first gained a massive following on the digital storytelling platform Wattpad before becoming a bestselling author. Her Culpables series, including My Fault, Your Fault, and Our Fault, has been translated into more than 10 languages and adapted by Prime Video, while Tell Me Softly belongs to her Dímelo series, which centers on youth romance and family secrets. Tell Me Softly uses popular genre conventions, including an enemies-to-lovers romance between Kami and the brooding Thiago, whose animosity is rooted in past resentment. The novel explores themes such as The Past’s Hold on the Present, The Pressure to Maintain a Facade of Perfection, and The Problems With Assigning Blame for a Tragedy.

This guide refers to the 2025 Bloom Books edition.

Content Warning: The source text and guide feature depictions of physical abuse, emotional abuse, addiction, mental illness, substance use, sexual content, cursing, death, and child death.

Plot Summary

The novel opens with a prologue set eight years before the main story. Ten-year-old Kami Hamilton sneaks out at midnight with her neighbors and best friends, the Di Bianco brothers: Taylor, her same age, and Thiago, two years older. The three enter Mr. Robin’s house through a broken window to steal chocolate. Inside, Thiago demands a kiss from Kami before he will lift her to the window to escape. She agrees, and the brief kiss becomes her first. They flee hand in hand, celebrating their haul. Kami notes this was her first kiss and the final adventure the three shared before their friendship ended.

Eight years later, Kami is nearly 18 and beginning her senior year in the small town of Carsville. She lives behind a carefully maintained facade of perfection, shaped by her appearance-obsessed mother, Anne Hamilton, whom Kami views as cold and image-conscious. Her father, Roger, is a lawyer who manages the mayor’s fortune and money for other wealthy clients but is rarely home. Kami glances at a small triangular scar on her wrist, a remnant of a childhood branding pact she made with the brothers, and the sight still causes her pain. She reflects on her two-year relationship with Danny Walker, the mayor’s son, remembering that after they had sex for the first time, she cried because she was thinking about someone else. She knows she needs to end things. While driving her six-year-old brother, Cameron, to school, she spots a moving truck at the Di Bianco house next door and realizes that at least one of the brothers has returned.

At school, Kami’s reunions with both brothers are painful. Taylor greets Kami with cold brevity and walks away, and when she collides with Thiago in a hallway, he cuts off her attempt to talk and tells her to let go when she grabs his arm. Thiago has taken a job as assistant basketball coach and detention supervisor, hired as a favor to his mother by the principal, who sets strict rules: no drugs or drinking, no relationships with students, and no helping students break rules.

Thiago’s perspective reveals the source of his hostility. He blames Kami for telling her father about an affair between his father, Travis, and Anne Hamilton, which he believes triggered a chain reaction that destroyed his family. After the affair was exposed, his parents divorced, his father abandoned them, his mother, Katia, experienced depression and entered an abusive relationship, and Thiago was arrested for assaulting her abusive boyfriend, landing him on probation. The family returned to Carsville because they could not afford housing near Washington, DC, and Thiago’s probation requires distance from the abuser.

Tensions escalate rapidly. When Cameron wanders next door, Thiago brings him home and confronts Kami, striking the doorframe near her head and accusing her of living a fairytale while his family suffered. Taylor intervenes and shows Kami his matching triangular scar, silently acknowledging what they all lost. Days later, Kami breaks up with Danny before an exhibition basketball game. Danny becomes verbally abusive, calling her a “sanctimonious little bitch” and locking the car doors until Taylor knocks on the window (38). During the game, when a player crudely implies Danny told the locker room about her sex life, Thiago intervenes, warning the player to stop.

At an after-party, Kami and Taylor reconcile over a game of pool. She wins and asks, as her prize, for his forgiveness. Taylor tells her it was never her fault and embraces her. Thiago watches from across the room, jealous. At home, Taylor confronts Thiago, insisting their father was to blame, not a 10-year-old girl, and reveals he used to hear Thiago crying Kami’s name in his sleep. Danny’s aggression later escalates when he ambushes Kami in a parking lot, pinning her against her car and bruising her wrist. Taylor and Julian, the half-brother of Kami’s friend Kate and a new student, pull Danny off, and the resulting brawl lands Kami, Taylor, and Julian in after-school detention.

The love triangle intensifies. Julian confides to Kami that he is gay and observes that both Di Bianco brothers seem fixated on her. Taylor invites Kami to work on a biology project at his house, where their conversation turns sexually charged, and they nearly kiss before Katia interrupts. Thiago arrives as Kami leaves and is angry. Katia tells Thiago she always knew one of her sons would end up drawn to Kami, and Thiago makes clear that he cannot accept Taylor’s interest in Kami because he still blames her for an unexplained death.

Roger reveals that the Hamilton family is close to bankruptcy because his company is in trouble and Carrowell appears to have embezzled money. During detention, Thiago corners Kami against a wall and warns her to stay away from Taylor. When the library lights go out, their argument turns into a charged physical moment before Thiago tells her to leave. Kami drives home shaken, aware that she is drawn to Taylor and Thiago in different ways. The rift between the brothers deepens when Taylor kisses Kami during a film screening in class, and they are caught, nearly facing expulsion.

During an away cheerleading competition, a hungover teammate turns away to vomit instead of catching Kami, who crashes headfirst onto the gym floor. In her delirium, she murmurs to Thiago, “I dreamed you were kissing me” (199), words Taylor also hears. Kami quits the squad and goes to Taylor for comfort, but when they become physically close, she realizes she is imagining Thiago the entire time.

As the anniversary of Lucy’s death approaches, interlocking flashbacks reveal the full story. At age 10, Kami and Thiago witnessed Anne and Travis having sex in the woods. Thiago made Kami promise never to tell. Weeks later, frightened by her parents’ talk of divorce and her mother’s threats to take full custody, Kami told her father what she had seen. Roger confronted Travis at the birthday party of Lucy Di Bianco, the brothers’ four-year-old sister. A violent fight erupted, and police were called. Katia loaded her three children into the car and sped away. She hit a deer on a bridge at 90 miles per hour, and the car plunged into a lake. Twelve-year-old Thiago smashed the window with a tire iron, pulled his unconscious mother to safety, and dove back for his siblings. Taylor was trying to free Lucy, whose seat belt was jammed. Thiago pulled Taylor to safety but could not hold his breath long enough to free Lucy himself. Katia and Thiago eventually freed Lucy and brought her to shore, but bystanders and paramedics could not revive her. Lucy drowned on the day of her fourth birthday, still wearing her Cinderella costume. At the funeral, Thiago blamed Kami for Lucy’s death.

On the anniversary, Thiago finds Kami riding her bicycle in a rainstorm near the bridge and brings her into his car. He admits he should never have blamed her, confessing that he targeted Kami for eight years because it was easier than blaming himself for failing to save Lucy. Kami urges him to forgive himself and live fully, for Lucy’s sake. When Thiago asks whether she ever liked him more than Taylor, Kami confesses, “It was always you, Thiago. It always was, it is, and it always will be” (243). He kisses her passionately, and the encounter escalates physically before Kami whispers Taylor’s name, breaking the spell. They acknowledge they cannot be together: He is staff at her school, their families’ history is too painful, and her mother would destroy them. Thiago drives Kami home, where he asks about Cameron’s paternity and learns that Roger is Cameron’s father.

In the aftermath, the Di Bianco family begins to heal. After Thiago returns home, he and Taylor find Katia in Lucy’s perfectly preserved bedroom, where her toys and tea set have remained untouched for eight years. Thiago gently reminds her of her promise to start over, and she agrees to donate Lucy’s belongings. In the epilogue, the family packs up Lucy’s room the following week. Taylor quietly keeps one memento: a small porcelain cup Lucy had painted his name on. The family visits Lucy’s grave, and Thiago places a lollipop on the headstone. Watching Kami walk next door to see Taylor, Thiago silently considers asking her to wait for him but decides not to interfere with Taylor and Kami’s relationship. He drives away, leaving the love triangle unresolved as the Di Bianco family takes its first steps toward moving forward.