A review by khloereads86
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I’m so disappointed in the ending of this book. Despite not usually loving the split-timeline, second chance, and friends-to-lovers tropes, I was really enjoying this book. I had a feeling very early on what the conflict was but I was really hoping I was wrong. Little Sam was so sweet and their relationship was pretty cute. The do they like me back? part was very juvenile (understandable since they were kids) and a little annoying but I was still cheering for them until I got to about the 3/4 mark. 
Percy cheating on Sam, and with his brother of all people, was completely unforgivable to me. I thought that might have been what happened from early on but I was hoping I was wrong because that’s such a crappy thing to do and I completely disconnected from Percy at that point. Her feeling lonely and unwanted as Sam is settling in to university is no reason to cheat on him. It felt like the author thought it could be explained away by her feeling pushed aside and then immediately regretting it, but if she and Sam were having problems, she should have waited to talk to Sam about it instead of flirting and jumping in to bed with his brother. 

The way the conflict was revealed and “resolved” at the end seemed very confusing and fast to me. 
Sam freaked out initially and then we find out he’s known this whole time and ended up screwing with Percy by hitting on her friend while never letting her know he’d found out. Then it seemed like he forgave her so fast. I guess he’d had 12 years to come to terms with it but it seemed very sudden that he was over it and wanting to be with her again.

I loved the Ontario references (Moose Tracks >>>) and this would have been a 4.5+ star read if not for the ending. 
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