“I devoted hours to studying the subtle movement of emotions across his features. They were like rain that traveled from the far shore and across the water, unassuming until it was right there, pelting the cottage windows. I memorized his shimmers of mischief, the distant thunder of his jealousy, and the whitecaps of his ecstasy. I knew Sam Florek.”

Six summers to fall in love. One moment to fall apart. A weekend to get it right. Persephone and Sam, a story of both first loves and second chances. At thirteen, Percy’s family buys the lake cabin right next to Sam Florek and his family. Told in dual timelines, the story starts now and then flashes back to each summer leading up to twelve years ago when their relationship abruptly ended, leaving them both broken hearted.

“Betrayals don’t cancel each other out. They just hurt more.”

If you have ever spent a summer falling in love, met a cute boy by the beach, or cut yourself some heartbreak induced bangs, this story will speak to your soul. Despite all of the very adult issues sprinkled throughout, this is a beautiful story of first loves, flirting, a woman’s changing body, teenaged hormones, the sun in your face, and the sand between your toes. It brought me right back to those awkward high school years when you and your girlfriends are fighting and making up and boys seem to dominate all of your thoughts.

And the friendship bracelets?! Ahhh how nostalgic! I remember taping the string to a clipboard and making those in bright colors and patterns for all of my friends! Loved that element. Pick up this book and add it to your beach reads pile for this summer!

Thank you to Netgalley, Berkley Publishing, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It’s hard to believe Every Summer After is Fortune’s debut novel because it reads like that of a seasoned vet. The emotion, the character development, the well-plotted story - it all came together to create the perfect friends-to-lovers, second chance romance.

I was immediately invested in Sam and Percy from the moment they met on the dock. Fortune did a fantastic job portraying the messy emotions that come with teenage love - the vulnerability, the intensity, how it feels like your world may just fall apart without that someone. The dual timelines made it that much more intense because those feelings that felt so juvenile at 17 and 18 were just as overwhelming and all-consuming at 30.

I was lost in this book from the moment I started chapter one and I have no doubt so many of you will have the same experience! So don’t walk - run - and grab this one ASAP!

I was uncertain about Every Summer After when I first heard about it. I wasn't sure it was something I would be into when I read the description. But I saw two friends gushing about it on Instagram and decided to give it a go and I'm so happy I did. It gave me a lot of Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty, vibes, but for an older audience. I do wish the book was longer because it didn't really deal with some of the issues, but it truly was a great book. Carley Fortune wrote the flashback to present scenes some flawlessly. Definite book I would recommend.

This book wasn't on my radar until very recently. A friend devoured and loved it. I was instantly convinced I had to have it. True to form, I also devoured and loved it. The way it's written is completely bingeable. Alternating between present day and a string of summers as teen, this is a friends-to-lovers & second chance romance. There are some content warnings (cancer, death of a parent, panic attacks, etc) that are explored and written with a deft hand. One book down, and I'm a big fan of Carley's.
Percy's parents want to get her out of the city. They purchase a lake house away from the hustle and bustle and so starts a beautiful friendship with the boy next door, Sam Every summer from thirteen to eighteen, Percy leaves Toronto and escapes to the fun of playing and working with Sam.
I think this is a perfect beach - or more like sit on the porch/couch/bed and binge - read. It reminds me a little of Say You Still Love Me, which is one of my favorite second chance romances. Maybe it's the magic of a Canadian author? haha
Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.
Romance: Skippable steam on page

It's been a while since I read a coming-of-age story that was so emotional, nostalgic, and full of love angst. Every Summer After is a great beach read. I read it in the sun, sitting on my porch, with summer just around the corner and it made me long for hot summer days. The summer cottage setting had me reminiscing of summer days spent at rented summer cottages next to Quebec lakes.

Percy Fraser finally returns to Barry's Bay where she used to spend her teenage summers at the cottage by the lake next door to Sam and his brother Charlie. Sam and Percy had been best friends; they grew up together, swimming and frolicking in the lake, watching scary movies, and sharing each other's dreams. They ended up falling in love, but eventually, distance, school, and life insecurities got the better of them. More devastating, though, was that Percy makes a life-altering mistake that keeps her away from Sam for twelve long years.

The story is told from Percy's point of view and it alternates between her teen years at the summer cottage and her life in the present at age 30. This is well done as the stories from the past meet up to finally merge with the present and help us to understand the emotional baggage both Percy and Sam carry. Stories of first love, missed opportunities, second chances and redemption always appeal to me. I had a hard time putting this book down. I was so caught up in their story!

Percy was a great character because we saw her through her own narrative as she grew up, experiencing true friendship, the first flush of love, accomplishing her swimming feats, discovering her writing talent, and navigating her insecurities. She was relatable. I have to admit my heart ached for Sam and Percy for their missed years together. One mistake can cost years of pain.

It's hard to believe this is Fortune's debut novel. The book's pacing was spot on without any dull moments, and she succeeds in creating believable and memorable characters. Regarding content, there are a few explicit sex scenes and some f-bombs. These happen three quarters into the book when I was heavily invested in the book.

If you like small-town coming-of-age stories set during hot summer days at a family's cottage with a good romance story, you won't want to miss this one.

Every Summer After is the debut novel by Carley Fortune and wow does this novel pack an emotional punch! I am so impressed with the intricacies of the plot and how this author wove flashbacks to their childhood with current time holding the reader captive and in suspense. You know from the synopsis that something huge will happen, and she keeps the reader on the edge of their seat waiting for that explanation. It’s been awhile since I was so captivated by a story that I stayed up reading way past the time I should’ve put the book down. I just had to finish it in one night. Despite my lack of sleep and having to get up and go to work, I am not disappointed in my decision at all.

I loved both Sam and Percy. Meeting as 13 year olds, Percy had just gone through a difficult year at school being cast out of her group of friends and kind of floundering. Sam immediately became the person she could rely on the most. Even when she went back to Toronto, school, and making up with her clique of friends, no one took Sam’s new place in her heart. Sam was an old soul. Having his dad die not only changed the trajectory of his life but also made him super responsible. This sense of responsibility and seriousness drew Percy in but also contributed to their separation. I can’t talk about the characters in this book without mentioning Charlie. He’s Sam’s older brother by two years and is the complete opposite of Sam. He’s a charmer with the ladies, and is the character with one liners who always lightens the mood. Although he’s also Sam’s brother and causes a bit of conflict by association. I loved all three of them!

As I stated before, you know that something happens and since it’s been twelve years since Percy has seen Sam and the story is told through flashbacks, you have to wait awhile to find out what and why. Carley Fortune does a great job of building that relationship up so that the reader is completely invested and wants to see that happily-ever-after that we know is waiting for us on the last page. In this book, I’m not really bothered by the wait because the characters keep me vastly entertained.

This book is coming out just in time for summer vacation and is the PERFECT beach book. My hope is that someone else will read this book, or has read it so that I have someone to talk to about it. So please, put it on your TBR’s, it’s an easy bet that you’ll like this story. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest!

Summer love. Secrets. Heartbreak. A second chance. Percy (Persephone) and Sam first meet at a lake cottage as teens and reunite after 12 years apart.

This is a second chance, friends to lovers story told in dual timelines. One is present day and the other begins 17 years ago and spans 5 years. This novel has a lot of emotion and angst. I enjoyed seeing Percy and Sam as best friends and teenage sweethearts. While I was sometimes frustrated with the lack of communication, it felt relatable. There are also some good secondary characters rounding out the story. The author did a great job with the setting in a small lake town. You really felt the summer vibes.

Thank you to the publisher for my ecopy of this book.

HJ Top Pick!

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune: Percy Fraser has avoided going back to the lake for 12 years ever since her life fell apart. One decision caused a ripple effecting leaving heart break in its wake for multiple parties. When she gets a call saying that Sue Florek has passed away, she realizes she has to return. When she arrives, she decides to visit her old workplace which was owned by Sue. As she walks in, she immediately recognizes the man standing at the counter and she is hit by all the feelings she has built up inside.

Sam Florek had his heart broken by Percy 12 years ago, but he never forgot her. Even though her family had come ever summer and break, all of a sudden they sold the house and never returned. When Sam turns around at his mother’s restaurant, the last person he is expecting to stand there is her.

As the two try to figure out where to go from there, they have to first deal with everything from the past. As the story switches from past to present, the reader is able to understand how their love bloomed at a young age and where it all fell apart. Dealing with the repercussions of everything, they have to decide where to go now.

Percy is extremely anxious about going back to the lake as an adult. She goes back to support that people that she loves, but she isn’t prepared to deal with all of her emotions. As she starts to get to know Sam again and the man he is now, she has a lot to confront to be able to move on from the past. She is such a well-rounded character and that’s super important since she is the narrator. You will feel every emotion that she has and want to hug her multiple times. I felt like I could relate to how she was feeling, and I loved seeing her go through her journey.

Sam has been through a lot in his time, but he never forgot Percy. When she first arrives, he just wants to be with her again, but he also must confront the past before they can move on. He may be successful jobwise, but he is not completely fulfilled in his love life ever since he lost Percy. Not only is he mourning the loss of his mother, but he is also elated at the fact that Percy is back and isn’t sure how to handle those feelings.

Overall, this is the book I’m going to recommend for a summer read. I definitely want to get a hard copy when it comes out, because it is phenomenal. After reading this book, I can’t wait to see what the author is able to do next. Every sentence was thought out and had a purpose, and it was a quick read as well. I shed tears while reading it and now I want everyone to experience the roller coaster that the book put me through.

Perfect for anyone who loves Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren or Say You Still Love Me by KA Tucker.

A Then and Now POV, childhood friends-to-lovers, second chance story with lovable characters and the power to make you believe in second chances.

I can not wait to see what Carley Fortune delivers in the future because this debut novel checked all the boxes. This book reminded why I love romance, and why second chance is my favorite trope. I was crying before page 30. The perfect page turner that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what happened 12 years ago.

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune is a captivating read that I could not put down. My heart is so close to exploding after overloading with extreme angst and heartbreak!

When Persephone “Percy” Fraser was 13 years old, her parents purchased a cottage several hours away from their home in Toronto in Barry’s Bay, Ontario. Their next door neighbors were Sue Florek, a young widow, and her sons Charlie and Sam, the younger of the two and the same age as Percy. Over the next six summers, Percy and Sam’s close friendship would turn into love. But something happened during their last summer together that ripped their relationship apart. As the story shifts to the present day, Percy is 30 years old and is drifting through meaningless relationships. When Sue Florek passes away, Percy returns to Barry’s Bay to attend the funeral. While she hasn’t spoke to Sam in twelve years, Percy is finally ready to deal with the reason they parted ways.

The book alternates between the present and each of the six summers Percy and Sam spent together. While reading this beautiful, heartfelt story, it is hard to believe that Every Summer After is author Carley Fortune’s debut novel. She has created a memorable cast of characters who come to life in a serene country setting so vividly presented. This book about young love, guilt, regret and the possibility of second chances will tug at your heart. It is such a wonderful book that I can’t imagine anyone not adoring it.

Pub date: 5/10/22
Genre: romance, coming of age
In one sentence: Persephone "Percy" Fraser spent six summers in a lakeshore paradise - years later, she'll have one chance to fix what went wrong with her first love, Sam Florek.

This book is so atmospheric - it completely transported me to the lake summers of Percy's childhood. Anyone who's spent summers at the beach or lake will recognize that childhood freedom and the special nature of the experience. I loved the structure of the book - six summers with the present day timeline interspersed - building the story of Percy and Sam one year at a time. Both MCs were well drawn and compelling, and I also loved Sam's troublemaker brother.

If you like coming of age novels or second chance romance, I bet you'll love this one. You can't go wrong slipping this one into your beach bag.

Thank you to Berkley for providing a NetGalley ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review posted to Goodreads 4/27/22, posted to Instagram 5/9/22.

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Percy met Sam when they were twelve, the summer her family bought a lake cottage and moved in next door to Sam. Every summer they swam in the lake, watched horror movies in the basement, and became each other’s best friend, and much more than that. The last summer they saw each other was twelve years ago. When Percy comes back to the lake, she knows she is going to have to face Sam and stare head on at their past.
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The story takes place in the present, with chapters going back to each of the summers and some holidays. The author did a great job of letting the past catch up to the present and had us wondering what on earth went wrong.
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I loved the characters and the nostalgic feel this gave me, remembering summer days as a teenager, boys I met on vacation, first love. Fortune did a great job of capturing the characters feelings and putting them on paper so that I felt every bit of shyness, embarrassment, fear, desperation, hope, excitement, anger, yearning, etc.
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Percy likes cotton candy ice cream, but that is the only problem I had with this book!
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Thanks to @BerkleyPub for my advanced ecopy, and to @berittalksbooks, @dg_reads and @thephdivabooks for the great discussion.
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This is available tomorrow so be sure to add it to your TBR. I think it would be perfect summer reading.

Thanks #Netgalley @BerkleyPub #BerkleyBuddyReads for a complimentary eARC of #EverySummerAfter upon my request. All opinions are my own.

What works:
* childhood friends to lovers trope
* second chance trope
* beautiful lakeside setting in Canada
* chick lit for beach reading with some steam (if this is what you’re looking for)

What I wish:
* less time in “then” and more time in “now” (although I loved the childhood friendship, lingering there felt like a YA novel)
* a more likable main character
* big reveal sooner (too drawn out and anticlimactic)
* less predictable (I guessed the big secret)

Many readers might want to grab this for a beach read. I was underwhelmed but based on others in my buddy read group who loved it, I consider myself an outlier.

“Six summers to fall in love. One moment to fall apart. A weekend to get it right.”

This book was everything! I loved the writing, it was packed with emotion, and it’s a debut!

Percy and Sam meet when they are thirteen. Percy’s family buys a summer home next to Sam’s house. Every summer they spend every day with each other until they both go to college. They both stopped speaking to each because of something that happened.

Twelve years later, Sam’s mother passes away. Percy gets a call to go to the funeral. She decided to go but she’s worried what will happen when she sees Sam again.

Told through alternating chapters of the present time and the summers that Percy and Sam spent with each other and eventually fell in love. It’s a beautiful story of friendship, first love and grief. This is not a light beach read, it’s full of emotion and heartache, but it is a story of second chance romance.

I loved every minute of it!

A huge thank you to @berkleypub and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Review will be posted on 5/10/22

Percy Fraser's parents bought a cottage by the lake in Ontario and at thirteen years old, her first summer there, she meets her next door neighbors, the Floreks. The Floreks own a restaurant in town and the two Florek brothers, Charlie and Sam, live at Barry's Bay year round. Percy and Sam are the same age and hit it off immediately. They become best friends and Percy looks forward to seeing Sam every summer. As the years progress, Percy and Sam start to have romantic feelings for one another and for awhile, Percy thought it might last forever. They spend many glorious summers together watching scary movies, reading Percy's latest short story, swimming in the lake, helping Sam study, working at the family restaurant, and more. Their time together is so special to both of them, but as college approaches, things fall apart. Fast forward many years later and Sam and Charlie's mother has died and Charlie called Percy with the hope that she would attend the funeral and return to Barry's Bay as she hasn't been back in years. Obviously something happened between Sam and Percy, and slowly Fortune teases us with flashbacks back to that one fateful summer. Meanwhile in present day, Percy must face her past at Barry's Bay and her first love, Sam. Carley Fortune's Every Summer After is a brilliant debut that tugged on my heartstrings. It has everything I could want in a summertime read--a beautiful lakeside setting, a friends-to-something more romance, and flashbacks to incredible summers over the years.

I really enjoyed Percy from the start of Every Summer After. I immediately felt her connection to Sam, but loved that they formed a strong friendship first. I appreciated that she was a complex person with her own dreams, anxieties, and strong feelings. She is trying to find her way socially when she meets Sam and as the years go on, he provides her with a strong friendship to lean on, vice versa. The school year separates them for sometime, but they always have summer to fall back on. I absolutely loved how Fortune told the story though flashbacks and that helped me piece together what exactly happened to between Percy and Sam. Presently, Percy hasn't been back to Barry's Bay or talked to Sam in twelve years. Their friendship was previously so tight, it's almost unimaginable that this could have happened, but slowly Fortune provides us with all the details.

Sam is such a swoon-worthy protagonist. I really enjoyed him in Every Summer After. He has dealt with his own trauma, as his dad unexpectedly died before he met Percy. He is also a multi-faceted character and I loved how was a genuinely good guy. It was an absolute treat to watch their friendship bloom as he is such a good guy, how could you not root for him? He has so many dreams that pertain to him becoming a doctor, and I really enjoyed how Percy supported him just as he supported her dream of becoming a writer. They were the perfect couple, until things fell apart and it broke my heart. Nonetheless, I adored Sam and I loved his relationship with his older brother, Charlie, too. Charlie, is also a gem of a character whom I really adored. Fortune did an expert job creating "real" characters that I truly got attached to.

If you love summertime stories filled with a lot of heart, a gorgeous setting, and a romance that will make you swoon, look no further. Every Summer After is a hit and I think it will be one of the best beach reads of the summer. It was like stepping into an adult version of Jenny Han's Summer series or an adult Sarah Dessen novel. I adored it!

So, is Every Summer After on your TBR list? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

“I loved you.”
“I know.”
“You broke my heart.”
“I know that too.”

Swoooooooooon. A second chance romance with a then/now timeline?! Say less. I devoured this book. I was rooting for Sam and Percy so hard and will be thinking about them for a long time.

This is a perfect read for a summer day at the lake or beach! Thanks so much NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the advanced copy!!

Every Summer After is the story of Persephone and Sam. They meet as teenagers when Percy's family buys a lake house for their summers and weekends. The boys next door are exactly what Percy needs in her life as she navigates growing up and finding herself.

In the vein of Love and Other Words, we get the current and past stories of this pair. It's filled with so much emotion and longing and angst that it took me a few days to think through all of my feelings. I could not put it down. I kept texting my friend with predictions and feelings and when I thought the book might do me in. Its swoony and so heart felt. I loved how I could almost feel the sun on the lake. I loved the connection between Percy and Sam, but also loved the connection between Percy and the Florek family as a whole.

This is a perfect read by the pool or even better - by the lake. If you want a book with heart, lots of feelings and a compulsively readable HEA, you probably need this book.

this is absolutely one of the greatest books i’ve ever read. i went into it just expecting me to like it and then moving on with my life but i literally can’t stop thinking about it. the plot, the characters, the setting…. wow. i can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy. but for now i’ll just continue my spotify playlist and pinterest board

The leisurely pace of this book is just too slow for me. It's a lot of memories and emotion without much happening. DNF at 38%.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.