A review by midnightrose_reads
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Every Summer After is a debut second chance romance. In the beginning of the novel Persephone Fraser, who is a magazine editor living in Toronto, gets a call. It’s the older brother of her childhood best friend Sam, Charlie Florek. He calls her to tell her that he and Sam’s mother passed away from cancer and invites her to the funeral. Despite the complicated feelings she has about Barry’s Bay, and how she left it, she agrees to come. Once she gets there she goes to The Tavern, a restaurant that his mother owned, and comes face to face with Sam. The initial meeting is awkward, but they then go for ice cream to catch up. Afterwards they go back to The Tavern for a drink. Percy learns that Sam has a girlfriend and after having one too many drinks, they both get taken home and back to her hotel by said girlfriend. As the funeral gets closer Percy reminces more and more about she and Sam’s shared past, and she tries to build up the courage to tell him the truth about why she broke up with him so long ago

This was really a fascinating and challenging story, where the participants are deeply flawed. Both Percy and Sam have made mistakes in their relationship with each other, that they are trying to make up for. It was a sweet, sexy, and sometimes shocking book I couldn’t put down. It didn’t get a full 5 stars from me because there was a character in here that I thought wasn’t taken to task enough about their decisions. It really, made me dislike that character, and become frustrated that their wasn’t more of a call out over what they did. Other than that it was a really solid read, from an author I’ll definitely be reading more from in the future.
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