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kelly_e's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
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."
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."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Terminal illness, Abandonment, Sexual content, and Cancer
Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Bullying, and Vomit
maddie7217's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness
Moderate: Terminal illness, Death of parent, Cancer, Infidelity, and Alcoholism
cepbreed's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I fell in love with this book. My most favorite feeling is receiving a book from a person that I love and my best friend loaned me Every Summer After in all of its water damaged glory. I spent the first half of the book beach side and the second curled up in bed, and each setting was perfect. I fell in love with Sam alongside Percy and I felt her everything, her pain, happiness, frustration and confusion, to my core. She's a mess and I relate to her HEAVILY. Flawed protagonists, specifically ones that begin all innocent before their mistakes are revealed, are my favorite. By the climax I need to want to scream in their face and this accomplished exactly that. It's honestly kind of therapeutic, I see myself in Percy and therefore being angry at her is cathartic. I am angry at myself all the time, but having a vessel with similar yet different experiences is way more fun.
I was really shocked when she became friends with Delilah again, though girls friendships do kind of work that way. I was shocked further by how much I came to love her character, her genuine advice and well timed quips. The final shock was the fact that they never rekindled their friendship in the book, I'd like to think they do after the ending. Percy was hurt, but that is never an excuse to treat someone who had done nothing wrong that poorly.
Songs:
I was really shocked when she became friends with Delilah again, though girls friendships do kind of work that way. I was shocked further by how much I came to love her character, her genuine advice and well timed quips. The final shock was the fact that they never rekindled their friendship in the book, I'd like to think they do after the ending. Percy was hurt, but that is never an excuse to treat someone who had done nothing wrong that poorly.
Songs:
- august - Taylor Swift
- 21 - Gracie Abrams
- WYD Now? - Sadie Jean
- seven - Taylor Swift
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Sexual content
Moderate: Infidelity, Alcohol, and Grief
Minor: Medical content
thatswhatshanread's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wow. I think this is quite possibly the romance of the summer! Carley Fortune, you’ve got another auto-buy fan in me.
This book is so inherently sweet, like sipping your favorite cold drink in the sun with the lake water at your toes. Or whatever kind of water you prefer—ocean, fresh spring, pool, bath.
In whatever case, this story is laced with summer. Appropriate, considering its title, but not in a cheesy way that feels overdone. Yes, it does have a similar plot to the beloved Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren, and in ways also reminiscent of The Summer I Turned Pretty series, but it very much has its own heart and own set of standout characters. Percy and Sam quickly became one of my favorite fictional friendships, of course blossoming into more. If you’re still unsure if you like the friends-to-lovers trope, I think this novel could be the one to change your mind.
Dual timelines, set over ten years apart. Unresolved past drama and trauma. Pining young lovers, complicated friendships, adult conversations sprinkled between cute and awkward flirtations and annoyances. Deeply romantic moments and unmistakable chemistry. Parts that make you melt, parts that make you wanna yell, parts that make you cry. Parts that make you grin like an idiot because you’re alone in your room reading this incredibly personal summer love story and it’s just fiction, it’s not real!!!
Except it feels real. Even as I was yelling at the pages toward the end, desperate for the truth—I loved every second of reading it.
This book is so inherently sweet, like sipping your favorite cold drink in the sun with the lake water at your toes. Or whatever kind of water you prefer—ocean, fresh spring, pool, bath.
In whatever case, this story is laced with summer. Appropriate, considering its title, but not in a cheesy way that feels overdone. Yes, it does have a similar plot to the beloved Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren, and in ways also reminiscent of The Summer I Turned Pretty series, but it very much has its own heart and own set of standout characters. Percy and Sam quickly became one of my favorite fictional friendships, of course blossoming into more. If you’re still unsure if you like the friends-to-lovers trope, I think this novel could be the one to change your mind.
Dual timelines, set over ten years apart. Unresolved past drama and trauma. Pining young lovers, complicated friendships, adult conversations sprinkled between cute and awkward flirtations and annoyances. Deeply romantic moments and unmistakable chemistry. Parts that make you melt, parts that make you wanna yell, parts that make you cry. Parts that make you grin like an idiot because you’re alone in your room reading this incredibly personal summer love story and it’s just fiction, it’s not real!!!
Except it feels real. Even as I was yelling at the pages toward the end, desperate for the truth—I loved every second of reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Cursing, Death, Grief, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Cancer, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Drug use, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Vomit
Minor: Body shaming and Emotional abuse
kerrygetsliterary's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit
Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
lit_with_lauren's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Terminal illness and Death of parent
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