kerosenelit 's review for:

The Summers Between Us by Noreen Nanja

5.0

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Another lakeside summer romance you MUST read. Told in dual timelines, Lia returns to cottage life in Pike Bay, Ontario (yay for a Canadian setting!) to help care for her teenage niece while her aunt undergoes cancer treatment. But coming back means facing the past. And that includes Wesley Forest, the boy who defined her teenage summers.

 

This second chance romance hit me in all the feels with their messy unresolved feelings and buried secrets. And within that is a really deeply layered story of family expectations, with Lia continually putting pressure on herself to be the perfect immigrant daughter. I loved the emotional tension it added to not only the romance but also Lia’s relationship with her wonderful sister. 

 

I adored Lia and Wes and their shared love of books (there’s even a scene where Wes reads to her while she's ill ♥︎). Their romance was such a soft, aching kind of angst that kept me desperate to uncover what exactly happened between them. And the reveal truly surprised me! Both have spent years trying to be who they thought they should be, and seeing them find their way back to themselves and each other was just perfect.

(heat level: 2 open-door scenes, mild details)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Miscarriage, Abortion