“I did want you. I do want you. I’ve always wanted you.”

I adore a childhood friends-to-lovers / second chance romance, so there was no question that I was going to love Every Summer After. It also made me feel nostalgic, so this was a win-win-win for me!

It’s hard not to fall in love with Sam & Percy from the get-go. My favorite thing about Percy was her love of horror movies and her desire to become a writer, and my favorite thing about Sam was how sweet and supportive he always was.

There’s definitely some not so great things here - like miscommunication and cheating, which aren’t my favorite. But, I was sold for 90% of this book. I smiled and giggled and felt butterflies in those young, innocent moments between Sam & Percy.

I think the tough part for me is having read Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren 4 years ago and really enjoying that one. It was one of the first romances I’ve read, and I still love those characters to this day. So, I did kind of feel like I was reading another version of the same story. 

That aside, I did love this book. I think I’m going to rate it 4.5 stars. That feels true to my feelings. It’s also the same rating I gave Love and Other Words… so I’m gonna do the one thing everyone says not to do. I’m reading this books back to back. I’m gonna re-read one of my favorite romances. Let’s do the thing. 😏

I love this book. I don’t always love second-chance romance but this was perfect. I loved that it flitted back and forth between them getting together and the present. The depiction of grief and pain and love between these two, past and present was so well written; and the forgiveness that had to happen. 

Surprised by the ending! I like that it's a romance but also feels like real life? 

Title: Every Summer After
Author: Carley Fortune
Genre: Romance
Rating: 4.75
Pub Date: May 10, 2022

T H R E E • W O R D S

Nostalgic • Messy • Tender

📖 S Y N O P S I S

They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Instead of spending summers in cottage country, on the glittering lakeshore of her childhood, she stays in a stylish apartment in Toronto, keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart.

Until Percy receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek—the man she never thought she’d have to live without.

For six summers during their youth, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm nights working in his family’s restaurant, Percy and Sam had been inseparable. And when Percy returns to the lake, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. But until she can confront the decisions she made, they’ll never know whether their love is bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Carley Fortune's debut novel Every Summer After was all over Bookstagram, and one of the summer's hottest recommendations. It was hard to avoid the hype and spoilers, yet I knew I wanted to save it for my disconnected time away at the cottage, which just felt like the perfect place to read it.

Told over six summers in the past and one weekend in the present, this coming-of-age, friends to lovers, second chance romance is tender and passionate. The alternating timelines allows for a slow burn, messy and realistic relationship. The characters are deeply flawed. They make mistakes. They weren't brought to life. Given Sam and Percy are teenagers when they first meet, it does read young - the angst and longing are certainly real.

It was the setting that truly made this a winner for me. I absolutely loved the idyllic cottage country setting. And as I mentioned above, I saved reading this until I was able to read it on a dock in Ontario's cottage country. Sometimes there is just a time and a place for certain books and this was it for me with this one. I might have even treated myself to some Kawartha ice cream to enhance the experience. Doing all of this really made the vibe of the story come to life. I loved all of the little sprinkles of Canadian cottage country.

Somewhat surprisingly, this second-chance romance worked on so many levels for me. What I really loved was the theme of finding the person that gets you unlike anyone else, the one that makes you feel seen and safe. It was the perfect example of the choices that change the entire trajectory of our lives. Every Summer After introduces a fresh, new voice into the Canadian romance realm, and I will be eagerly awaiting the release of her next novel Meet Me At the Lake next year.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers looking for a summer read
• second chance romance trope lovers
• K.A. Tucker fans

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Betrayals don't cancel each other out. They just hurt more."

"And not for the first time it feels like someone stole the whole script to my life story and wrote it all wrong."

"I can only keep trying to breathe." 

Any book that makes me stay up until 1 am because I just have to finish it is an automatic 5 to me. I got invested in this love story and these characters immediately. I loved them as teenagers and then trying to find their ways back to each other. It felt real and it felt hopeful. At times I was like, “ this would all be solved with one long conversation. “ but then again, they were kids for at least most of the book. I think it’s definitely worth the read but be forewarned: it’s totally addictive and you can’t put it down. 

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Persephone “Percy” Fraser and Sam Florek spend almost every summer of their teens together as best friends (and briefly more) before a series of events tear them apart. Twelve years later, Percy is back in town—but can time really heal all wounds and put back together something she has long believed is permanently broken?

I’m 90% sure I was the last person left who hadn’t read this one (shoutout to my book club for getting me to finally dive in!) and I’ve heard such good things from so many people, so I went in with pretty high expectations. There was definitely a lot to love about this book—the setting is atmospheric and nostalgic (wish I could head off to a lakeside vacation right now, thanks) and the writing is beautiful and engaging.

That said, I ultimately had a bunch of problems with the ending of this book (and the choices of one of the characters—but probably *not* the one you think, if you’ve read this!) that kept me from rounding up to the full 4 or even 4.5 stars I initially anticipated. I also saw the twist coming from the first chapter, and while that’s usually fine with me for a romance novel, I eventually found myself wishing for a bit more from the plot.

Still, is a really cute and fun summer and/or vacation read, and I know a *lot* of people have loved it, so give it a try if it sounds good to you! And, since I doubt this is the last we’ve heard from Carley Fortune—I’ll still definitely give a try to whatever she writes next.

Recommended, especially if you like: friends-to-lovers; second chance romance; nostalgic dual timeline settings.

CW: Death of parent; grief; panic attacks/anxiety; some mentions of childhood bullying.

Every Summer After is told from the POV of Percy, the female main character, and alternates between present day in Toronto and the past summers spent in Barry’s Bay. 

It’s a summer-themed romance that allows you to revisit the magical feeling you got as a kid when you made a new friend on vacation or holiday, the excitement of a first crush, and the crushing heartbreak many of us have experience for various reasons. 

This would’ve been a five star book for me, but I had an issue with the main conflict between our 2 MCs (which I’ll detail below behind a spoiler tag). 

When I finished this book, I was left thinking about the fact that love is about choices, and sometimes about timing too. It’s about being imperfect and finding someone who loves and accepts your imperfections. Someone who fits perfectly with you. It also had me thinking about betrayal, guilt, and what I personally could or could not forgive. And above all, it left me with the warm embrace of nostalgia.