You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
medium-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
When in Chicago, the lake you see is NOT Lake Erie.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Samantha has the perfect life, until she doesn’t. Samantha and her husband Will have finally become empty nesters after becoming teen parents and it’s time to prioritize them. The only problem? Will wants to prioritize other people and expresses a desire for an open marriage. Unable to face an open marriage, Samantha proposes a trial separation.
The one thing I can’t stand in books is when the main characters cheat, but when someone asks for an open marriage that definitely changes things. I love that during the separation, Samantha started to realize the parts of herself that she had given up and the parts of herself she wanted to reclaim. While there is a love story, the parts of the story I loved the most were the parts where Samantha and Logan were forced to face uncomfortable truths and decide what they really want out of life.
Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this book for review. All thoughts and feelings are my own.
The one thing I can’t stand in books is when the main characters cheat, but when someone asks for an open marriage that definitely changes things. I love that during the separation, Samantha started to realize the parts of herself that she had given up and the parts of herself she wanted to reclaim. While there is a love story, the parts of the story I loved the most were the parts where Samantha and Logan were forced to face uncomfortable truths and decide what they really want out of life.
Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this book for review. All thoughts and feelings are my own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent
What happens when the life you built starts to unravel with one sentence? Samantha Parker thought she had it all—until her husband asks for an open marriage. Cue a summer of solitude, soul-searching, and an unexpected cross-country journey with Logan, her husband’s best friend and a classic-car restorer with a broody charm and a knack for challenging her comfort zone.
Maisey Yates delivers a deeply emotional, slow-burn romance that’s as much about falling in love with yourself as it is about finding connection in unexpected places. With breathtaking backdrops, simmering tension, and raw introspection, Cruel Summer explores what it means to choose yourself when the roadmap of your life goes up in flames.
💬 Favorite vibe: “You feel like summer” energy wrapped in second-chance romance and self-discovery.
🔥 Spice level: A gentle sizzle that builds with trust and vulnerability.
📚 Perfect for fans of: Road trip romances, emotional depth, and messy, real love stories.
Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin Audio, and Maisey Yates for the ALC of Cruel Summer.
#CruelSummer #MaiseyYates #BookReview #SummerReads #RoadTripRomance #WomensFiction #HarlequinAudio #NetGalley
Maisey Yates delivers a deeply emotional, slow-burn romance that’s as much about falling in love with yourself as it is about finding connection in unexpected places. With breathtaking backdrops, simmering tension, and raw introspection, Cruel Summer explores what it means to choose yourself when the roadmap of your life goes up in flames.
💬 Favorite vibe: “You feel like summer” energy wrapped in second-chance romance and self-discovery.
🔥 Spice level: A gentle sizzle that builds with trust and vulnerability.
📚 Perfect for fans of: Road trip romances, emotional depth, and messy, real love stories.
Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin Audio, and Maisey Yates for the ALC of Cruel Summer.
#CruelSummer #MaiseyYates #BookReview #SummerReads #RoadTripRomance #WomensFiction #HarlequinAudio #NetGalley
⭐ (Story) 5
⭐ (Narrator) 5
🌶️ 1.5
🥵 Spicy Chapters: 22, 23, 27
📚 Tropes/Themes: road trip, love triangle-ish, flashbacks, it's always been you, friends to lovers, finding yourself
👀 Single POV 3rd person
🎙️ Single narration ( Nancy Peterson)
⏰ Approx 10 hours
💔 Triggers: mentions of parental death, terminal illness, cheating-ish
🛍️ Available: Now
💬 God I freaking love Maisey Yates' writing. 😩This book was phenomenal, and I went feral for it. This sucked me in right away with the emotions around her husband's request for an open marriage, I think probably because I'm of a similar age as the MCS. It's not that I've experienced this, just that I have been married a long time and I feel like I would have a very similar reaction to what Sam had.
"Because they made their marriage such a safe place it couldn't support anything difficult" 🥺
There is so much emotion packed into this story, from the initial separation from her husband, to the long talks, experiences on their road trip, and just Sam and her journey of taking stock of her life and finding herself as a 40 yo empty nester. It's definitely more chick lit than romance and I 👏🏼 am 👏🏼 here👏🏼 for 👏🏼 it👏🏼
I will say, for me it was a little bit of a weird headspace to be in because I'm the same age as the MC's (which please, authors, I'm begging you there needs to be more books about 40+ yos), and to consider the life I've lived, my marriage and the choices I've made as well as to get kind of an up close and personal /raw view of someone else's (admittedly fictional) life. To consider the choices that they made, what they lived through. I'm sure people would enjoy this story on a surface level, but it was kind of introspective for me as well.
I also think the narrator did a fantastic job. She really helped bring to life the emotions that Sam was going through. I also didn't hate the voices she used for Logan and Will 😂🤪
⭐ (Narrator) 5
🌶️ 1.5
🥵 Spicy Chapters: 22, 23, 27
📚 Tropes/Themes: road trip, love triangle-ish, flashbacks, it's always been you, friends to lovers, finding yourself
👀 Single POV 3rd person
🎙️ Single narration ( Nancy Peterson)
⏰ Approx 10 hours
💔 Triggers: mentions of parental death, terminal illness, cheating-ish
🛍️ Available: Now
💬 God I freaking love Maisey Yates' writing. 😩This book was phenomenal, and I went feral for it. This sucked me in right away with the emotions around her husband's request for an open marriage, I think probably because I'm of a similar age as the MCS. It's not that I've experienced this, just that I have been married a long time and I feel like I would have a very similar reaction to what Sam had.
"Because they made their marriage such a safe place it couldn't support anything difficult" 🥺
There is so much emotion packed into this story, from the initial separation from her husband, to the long talks, experiences on their road trip, and just Sam and her journey of taking stock of her life and finding herself as a 40 yo empty nester. It's definitely more chick lit than romance and I 👏🏼 am 👏🏼 here👏🏼 for 👏🏼 it👏🏼
I will say, for me it was a little bit of a weird headspace to be in because I'm the same age as the MC's (which please, authors, I'm begging you there needs to be more books about 40+ yos), and to consider the life I've lived, my marriage and the choices I've made as well as to get kind of an up close and personal /raw view of someone else's (admittedly fictional) life. To consider the choices that they made, what they lived through. I'm sure people would enjoy this story on a surface level, but it was kind of introspective for me as well.
I also think the narrator did a fantastic job. She really helped bring to life the emotions that Sam was going through. I also didn't hate the voices she used for Logan and Will 😂🤪
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book really touched my heart in such a personal way. If you’ve ever had to rebuild yourself after heartbreak, this story will hit home. Maisey Yates writes with such emotional honesty that I truly felt like I was right there with the main character, navigating the highs and lows alongside her. Watching her grow and gain the confidence to finally put herself first made me feel so proud.
The audiobook narration by Nancy Peterson was phenomenal . She brought so much warmth and feeling to the story. Such a good vibe and a perfect match for the tone of the book.
Huge thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the advanced listener copy!
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4/4.5⭐️. I loved this book! It was done so well. The characters were relatable. I haven’t read a book about well established married couples. The narrator was also fantastic.
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Thank you @htp_hive @htpbooks @htpbooks_audio for the complimentary DRC & audiobook.
‘ “I think we should see other people…” That one sentence unravels Samantha Parker’s perfect life.’
Can you imagine hearing those words from your husband of over 20 years? That’s exactly what happens to Samantha in Cruel Summer. To try and save her marriage, she agrees to a summer with no contact, no rules. What follows is a journey of self-discovery, growth, and some hard truths.
I really enjoyed it. Samantha and her husband were teenage parents, from a super religious and gossipy town… so there was a lot of past baggage for her to unravel while thinking of decisions she made throughout her life. A lot of people, women especially, will be able to relate to at least one or two of the things that she went through. As a teen mom a lot of her experiences hit close to home for me.
That being said, I did struggle with some of the repetition as Samantha delved into her past, I felt a lot of events, or circumstances were brought up too often. One character also did something towards the end that was so out of character and felt so out of the blue that I was actually really angry, and not in a, ‘this book is so good it made me feel things’ kinda way. All in all, I recommend this if you enjoy contemporary fiction, romance, and stories of self discovery.
All the stars for Nancy Peterson’s narration.
‘ “I think we should see other people…” That one sentence unravels Samantha Parker’s perfect life.’
Can you imagine hearing those words from your husband of over 20 years? That’s exactly what happens to Samantha in Cruel Summer. To try and save her marriage, she agrees to a summer with no contact, no rules. What follows is a journey of self-discovery, growth, and some hard truths.
I really enjoyed it. Samantha and her husband were teenage parents, from a super religious and gossipy town… so there was a lot of past baggage for her to unravel while thinking of decisions she made throughout her life. A lot of people, women especially, will be able to relate to at least one or two of the things that she went through. As a teen mom a lot of her experiences hit close to home for me.
That being said, I did struggle with some of the repetition as Samantha delved into her past, I felt a lot of events, or circumstances were brought up too often. One character also did something towards the end that was so out of character and felt so out of the blue that I was actually really angry, and not in a, ‘this book is so good it made me feel things’ kinda way. All in all, I recommend this if you enjoy contemporary fiction, romance, and stories of self discovery.
All the stars for Nancy Peterson’s narration.