I loved this one. The perfect summer read, with great characters, nostalgia, and romance. I loved the lake life setting, the cottage, the summer vibes. Told in past and present, we get to see the characters develop and grow.

Percy and Sam met when they were 13 when Percy's family buys a summer cottage next door to Sam's year round house. They would spend their summers together at the lake and became best friends. But then Percy does something she regrets when they're 18, and they stop speaking. She's lived with that guilt all these years. But then when she gets the call that something has happened, she goes back to Barry's Bay. She knows she's going to see Sam again after 6 years, and wants to make up with him.

This was just such a great debut and I can't wait to see what this author writes next.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Oh my heart y’all! This book is everything I didn’t know I needed. If you want to relive young summer love this one has it all.

Persephone (Percy) spends the summers in small town Barry’s Bay. Nothing could be better than a house on the lake right? Nope…add in cute neighbor Sam and the summer is made.

The writing of this book was so atmospheric I felt the summer lake vibes throughout the whole story. I could feel the heat of the sun, the smell of the water and the feel of the breeze. I also felt the butterflies from first love. Percy and Sam’s relationship is just the sweetest. So many little details like friendship bracelets and scary movies made their friendship real to me. There is also a bit of suspense to this one that kept me turning pages quickly.

Cannot recommend this book any more. It’s one of my favorites of the year.

I really, really enjoyed this book! It was captivating and it hooked me from the very first chapter! I was glued to my seat! Such an amazing story!

You guuuuys. This book just deserves all the stars. And I don't give out stars lightly.

✨Brief Summary✨

Percy is a city girl through and through. Except for six summers in her past when her parents had a lake house out in Barry's Bay. When Percy receives a phone call from her childhood friend, Charlie, it sends her racing back to comfort Sam after the death of Charlie and Sam's mother. On the lake, 17 years ago, Percy and Sam fell in love. But something terrible happened that sixth year to tear them apart. What happened during those six summers? And what is going to happen now that Sam and Percy are finally reunited?

✨My Thoughts✨

I absolutely loved the dual timelines in Every Summer After. I enjoyed hearing about Percy's past just as much as I enjoyed hearing about present day Percy. I found myself flying through each section just dying to know what happened in both the past and the present.

I think my favorite part about this novel is that it was so relatable. Haven't we all met a boy by the lake and fallen in love? No, just me? 😅🤣 Being able to relate so well to the storyline also helped me picture the story well in my head.

This book was beautifully written. It had just the right amount of funny, sweet, and tear-jerking moments. It had so much more depth than a stereotypical fluffy romance novel.

I cannot believe this was a debut! I am so excited to see what else @carleyfortune has in store for us.

❓Have you read Every Summer After yet?

If not, what are you doing?!

I thought this book was well written and enjoyed the relationship of Percy and Sam. However, I felt it was a slow burn and saw the "big reveal" coming a mile away.
There was a lot of time spent in the "then" when Percy and Sam were teenagers, which gave the book a YA feel. I would have preferred more of the "now" timeline.
A predictable, Hallmark-type coming-of-age novel.

This. Book. Was. So. Freaking. Good!! Every Summer After follows main character Percy as her family purchases a cottage and she meets neighbour Sam. It flips back and forth between when they first met (13) and currently (30) and the summers between ages 13-18 that details their friendship and love story.

This book hit me right in the feels with the nostalgia of spending summers, weekends and holidays at our family cottage. Fortune does an excellent job encapsulating the magic that is summer at the lake, and the difficulties navigating seasonal friendships, as well as friendships in general through difficult years.

Sam and Percy have skyrocketed to one of my favourite friends to lovers/second chance romance duos and I would absolutely love another book that’s set in this same dreamy lake setting.

I will absolutely be buying myself a physical copy of this book, and while I’m not much a of a re-reader, I already can’t wait to read it again.

A really sweet, fun read that I liked a lot more than I had anticipated I would. If you love summer vacation nostalgia content, this is the beach read for you.

My personal expectations for this one were fairly low, as I’m no fan of Romance. Though the book certainly has plenty of cringey Romance novel moments, it’s more a coming of age tale/summer nostalgia trip than a straight up romance novel, and as romance tropes go, I find second chance at love to be a far, far more appealing topic than the inexplicably popular enemies to lovers schlock.

All of the summer at the lake themed content is terrific, and Percy is a terrific heroine, likable, relatable, and easy to root for. I was slightly less enamored of Sam, though I certainly found myself rooting for the couple to make it in the end.

Viewed as a coming of age novel, this is a terrific story, well worth a read and far better written than most books with a heavily romantic bent.

🎁 Thank you @berkleypub @netgalley for this #gifted copy of #EverySummerAfter !! Available now!

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

💋 Romance
🔥 Steamy
❤️‍🔥 Slow Burn
⏳ Nonlinear Timeline

A powerfully nostalgic romance.

Persephone still mourns the loss of the relationship between her and her first love; however, twelve years later she might have a second chance to make things right.

📝 I loved the writing style of this one. The atmosphere was perfect and truly felt nostalgic.

💋 Romance at so many different levels is explored here, from the pangs of first love to unrequited longing. It was definitely a journey through many facets of love.

🔥 I would call this a steamy romance overall with a few fade to black moments but the spicy build up beforehand was nice.

❤️‍🔥 This was a slow burn romance that spans years. It didn’t really hook me till about a third of the way in so if your feeling a bit disconnected at first give it some time to warm up.

⏳ The story unfolds effortlessly over a nonlinear timeline, jumping between the present and the past but the past progresses linearly if that makes sense. 😂

💜 I really wasn’t sure about this story at first but I ended up absolutely loving it.

If you like nostalgic love stories then this would be the perfect read for you!

4⭐️ for Every Summer After by @carleyfortune

Thank you to @netgalley, @letstalkbookspromo, @carleyfortune, & @berkleypub for allowing me to read this arc.

Blurb: Persephone, Percy/Pers/P, was just 13 years old when her life changed. She had run into trouble with friends in Toronto, Canada at school & her professor parents decided that they needed a cottage far from the typical cottage. They bought a cottage in Ontario’s cottage country, Barry’s Bay. The first day there she meets the Florek brothers & she & Sam, the younger brother, build a bond that deepens as they get older. The only thing that keeps standing in their way, distance. The Florek’s live in Barry’s Bay year round & Percy & her parents live 4 hours away most of the year. That doesn’t stop Sam & Percy though. They email. Write letters. Percy & her family go to the cottage for holidays. As they grow, the distance seems to wedge itself between the two. While Percy wants to be a writer, she & Sam have trouble communicating & one night that miscommunication becomes something of a massive roadblock. A decade passes, a tragedy, & Percy finds herself back in Barry’s Bay unsure of how to be with Sam and his brother now, but is resolute in trying to be. Can they overcome a decades worth of miscommunication?

If you’re a fan of either @christinalauren’s Love & Other Words or @emilyhenrywrites People We Meet on Vacation, you will love this one. Every Summer After has a great summer feel & you feel the angst that Percy is feeling in present day & remember those first crush butterflies. Then you also feel the strife of not knowing how to handle the past. @carleyfortune wrote a lovely ode to first loves & learning to grow from mistakes, but also learning how to own them. Sam was not a perfect person, even if Percy saw him as one. Percy had her own insecurities & they almost needed the time apart to really grow before they were good for each other. This is one I would definitely recommend!

Lovey debut novel. Follows the story of a young couple. Gives us flashbacks of their childhood to present day. Moving story that kept me intrigued and had me finishing the book in a day.

This book gave me major "Love and Other Words" by Christina Lauren vibes, but while I didn't like LAOW at all this book was exactly what I wanted! This book had a much more grown up vibe and better character development. Sam and Persephone spend every summer together at the lake. Slowly they become more than friends and then life gets in the way. I really enjoyed the alternating timelines throughout this book. These characters make you reminisce on your first love and how wonderfully chaotic it can be to give your heart over to someone when you are so young.
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.

I wasn't expecting to love this so much! This is a second chance romance and is just so full of angst. Our main characters are Percy and Sam who become friends one summer; as more summers go by, they become best friends and eventually, lovers. However, during one such summer, something happened to push them apart. Now, after ten years Percy is back in the lakeshore town of Barry’s Bay and into Sam's life.

there are alternate timelines and I loved watching Percy and Sam's journey. We only get to see Percy's POV but I would have loved to see Sam's as well. I loved the lakeside setting and the cozy vibes I got from it. Overall, I think this is a perfect summer romance and i would recommend it to fans of Christina Lauren's Love and Other Words, and Emily Henry's People We Meet on Vacation.

Thanks to Berkley for a review copy!

Content Notes: [parental death (cancer/heart attack); cheating; panic attacks (hide spoiler)]

At one point, the heroine sums up her relationship history and it’s a better book review than anything I can come up with: “Sam and I are a trash fire with more than a decade of time and a big fat secret between us.”

This book is messy, the heroine is messy, the romance is messy…. You get the picture, lol. Just two people making terrible decisions re: their relationship and hurting each other. I don’t think the brother storyline was handled particularly well toward the end. Maybe I just needed more of a resolution? A confrontation? It felt half-assed. If you’re going to go there, lean into the mess instead of cautiously backing away. I had a very good/insightful DM conversation analyzing my issues, but alas, it’s too spoilery to include in the review.

The teenage flashbacks read like Jenny Han or Sarah Dessen. Compulsively readable when I was in the middle, but the ship won’t stick with me.

Disclaimer: I received a free e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. (less

Ooh… this was such a binge-able romance that has me in the mood for summer!

Here’s what I loved:
- The pacing was so good. It was one of those books where I was sad every time I had to stop reading. I would have read it all in one setting if I could have.
- Coming-of-age story-line with all the 90’s references
- Lots of build-up and tension between Percy and Sam. I was dying to know what had happened between them.
- All the Canadian references- Canada Day, Tim Hortons, and I’m sure if you are from Ontario, many more local descriptions. For once, a summer read that DOESN’T take place in Nantucket. Can’t we have some variety?

I flew through this book and anticipate that it will be a top read of the summer for many!

In her debut novel Carley Fortune takes some of my favorite tropes and shines them in the very best light. It pairs second chance romance, *chefs kiss* friends to lovers, *CHEFS KISS* and dual timelines *chefs MF KISS!!!* all together to tell an absolutely beautiful story. The emotional growth we see in these characters is top tier. The way we watch these characters fall together is just so natural, this story and these characters leap straight off the page and directly into your heart.

Every Summer After follows Persephone, who goes to the lake every summer where she meets brothers Sam and Charlie. Readers watch these characters not only grow up together, but also see them 12 years later after a tragedy brings them back together. This story will warm your heart. It will have you remembering your first love and long summer days out in the sun. Reading this will remind you of all your growing pains, and how important your childhood friends were.

Two storylines with two people at the center of the story. Persephone and Sam met as very young kids and they became fast friends and then it started to evolve! One storyline starts in their younger years when they meet and begin their friendship, while the other one takes place many years later as Sam and his brother Charlie are mourning the loss of their mother and Persephone returns to the small town to reunite and maybe close all the doors left open from the past.

I love a reuniting storyline as the characters can come together and fall back into their ways and it doesn't feel like instalove! Because the reader has the past storyline to also read, there is history to add depth to the story. The way the author moved from one storyline to the author was timed just perfectly - it kept me hanging and wanting to keep reading and reading to find out what would happen next in the past or the present.

The character story arc was so spot on. I have been known to roll my eyes once or twice at fictional characters who maybe do something that doesn't fit them, but these two had just the right ups and downs that felt right for the characters that she built.

Excited to see that this was a debut and that there could be more to come from this author!

While I read a lot of romance and know there are steamy scenes in books, this one felt a little too much, but it fit in the storyline and wasn't out of place. If you tend to avoid those, then I would go into this book knowing that they are there.

Tomorrow is another big day in publishing. Tons of great new books are being released. This one, however, is one I guarantee you will love. It captures the nostalgic feelings of lazy summer days, first love, friendships, and heartbreak. Told in dual timelines, we see the beginnings of a sweet friendship between Percy and Sam that ultimately transforms their lives. Over the course of 6 summers, they grow up, they grow closer, we watch their relationship change. We also get a look at their lives in the present day. It is an excellent coming of age story. The teenage angst is captured perfectly and felt so true. But the development of the characters as adults is done equally as well. These characters felt so real to me. I’d find myself smiling and giggling or with butterflies in my stomach and of course with tears in my eyes.

I realize I’m gushing but I really loved this book. The writing is so good - it’s smart and sensitive and depicts so perfectly the messiness of first love and the inability to ever truly let it go. I love debut authors and I can’t wait to see what Carley Fortune does next! Read this book!

Wow, such a fun, engaging read for the summer. I went in blindly (didn't even read the synopsis) and I suggest others do the same. Who doesn't love the second-chance romance trope?

“The lopsided grin that curves his mouth is a drug I’ve never kicked.”

“Every Summer After" just became my favorite novel of 2022. Percy and Sam are perfectly flawed characters, who when given a second chance, make the very most of it. I am pleasantly surprised that this is a debut novel; Fortune writes like a seasoned pro. Fortune blends heartache, longing, deception with love, angst, and romance so perfectly. While the book spans 12 years, you are so engrossed with the story that at no point does the story drag. As someone who typically struggles with the "before" chapters, I found these chapters to contain some of my favorite parts of Percy and Sam's story. In the "now" chapters readers watched Percy and Sam grow into adults, learning how to handle both love and loss - it was really quiet beautiful.

"Every Summer After" was filled with such wonderful moments. I found myself laughing out loud, tearing up, and cheering on characters that I felt like I knew personally, and not just in a novel. While I read, I kept imagining Thomas J and Vada from "My Girl", which did little to keep the emotions at bay.

As an avid reader, I loved this passage: "I grew to love the writing behind the story - how the authors made impossible situations believable. I liked how each book was both predictable and unique, comforting and unexpected. Safe but never boring." While this is Percy's words regarding a horror novel, I found that this same verbiage could easily be applied to "Every Summer After".

Told in alternating timelines, Every Summer After, is the story of two kids who fall in love very young and subsequently stay in love--even though they don't stay together.

As with the general follies of youth--misunderstandings and teenage hormones get in the way.

Persephone (Percy) and Sam are just so adorable as teens together. They have tons in common and don't seem to be swept up in how to be "cool" around each other--they just are. They're just themselves.

Because they only see each other over the summer and a few holidays, they treat the time together with the care that it deserves. And then they get older.

One mistake sends them careening apart for over ten years. When they find each other again, it's due to incredibly sad circumstances. And, what's more, it seems the path back to that love they shared isn't as easy as it should be.

I find that I much more enjoyed the story from when they were children. The innocence and love of those moments was just so sweet and endearing. Like nothing could ever get between them.

However, the story as a whole was refreshing and completely rewarding--even if it took a bit of time to get there.

This is a must-read this summer--especially if you're in the mood to reminisce and enjoy sweet, young love.