Looking for a sizzling read before the summer ends? Look no further. 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 is an impressive debut from Noué Kirwan.

Mikaela is about to head off to NYU and fulfill her dreams of becoming a lawyer. But she has the summer, the sweet Georgia summer. She spends much of her fleeting time with her older boyfriend Cam Murphy, a boy she's afraid to tell her best friend Julie she’s dating. When summer ends Mikaela knows it will be too hard to keep up with Cam - the distance, the distraction.

Twenty years later and Mikaela has achieved her dream. She is a Black woman lawyer in a prominent New York law firm. But she is shocked when her client brings in Cam Murphy, a photographer. Cam and Mikaela have not seen each other in over 20 years. Now the memories come rushing back.

Cam is being sued by his ex-wife, Julie. Yes, that Julie. Mikaela’s best friend from her youth. All over a photograph Cam took of Julie and Mikaela in their youth. This puts Mikaela in a precarious situation. She needs to win this case for a promotion, but she knows she will be sitting across the table from Julie and working closely with Cam. This could go very badly.

The story flips back and forth between past and present. The dynamics between these childhood friends are so well done; it's messy but passionate. Julie is just toxic if you ask me, but I love Mikaela, although there was undoubtedly some lack of communication between her and Cam.

Such a great second-chance love story that will have you wishing for the steamy summer days to never end.

Thank you @hqnbooks and @harpercollins for a gifted ebook.

Mikaela Marchand finds herself dealing with a difficult lawsuit that involves her former best friend and this brings about many upsetting memories. To complicate matters, as the defense lawyer for a magazine that Julie is suing, Mikaela find herself working side-by-side with a photographer, someone that was previously the love of her life. But that’s not the complication. The complication is that he is Julie’s ex-husband, Cameron Murphy.

Despite a painful history, with 20 years having passed, it is more than clear that Cam and Mikaela still have feelings for one another. However, jealousy has entered into the picture, so chances of that first love turning into a true second chance romance seems very unlikely.

In this first person POV readers get to understand Mikaela on several layers. This no doubt plays to our author’s personal experiences in life. In fact, it is these layers that develop a strong story, especially with the other characters that play a role. As the story unfolds, one thing is made clear. The powerful chemistry between Cam and Mikaela is undeniable.

With even pacing and crisp dialogue, this character driven story was truly compelling. Then when you factor in that it is a debut, that makes it all that more impressive. Also, the fact that we have a BIPOC character, one that imbues strength, and a powerful love story, are all factors that work well together to make this a fabulous read. I definitely look forward to whatever else Noué Kirwan has in store in the future.

Many thanks to HQN and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

Please enjoy my YouTube video review - https://youtu.be/3UlDMyFrDUM

Mikaela, Cam, and Julie have a backstory which comes roaring into Mikaela's adult life as an attorney in New York when Julie sues Cam over a photo of them he sold to a magazine. Mikaela's worked hard- really hard- to succeed in a world where she feels microagression and doubt every day and this case, this tough case, might be the thing that makes or breaks her. She was taken with Cam as a teen and now, even though she's involved with someone else (not a fan of him btw), Cam still has a way that pulls at her. It moves back and forth to tell the story of the trio as high school seniors and 20 years later. This is, however, as much about Mikaela being true to herself and dealing with her colleagues and bosses, as it is about the drama of the romance(s). Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A nice debut that deftly mixes social commentary and second chances.

It's a complex story that mixes past, present, love and friendship. The characters are not always likeable but they're well developed.
The author did a good job and delivers a gripping and well plotted story.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Kirwan takes readers on a very long love story journey. It’s really a distorted love triangle between Cameron, Julie, and Mikaela. Juliet wants Cameron, who loves Mikaela, who is Julie’s best friend. There are several,heavy, intense scenes in the book which lest me wanting to shake both Mikaela and Cameron. I couldn’t warm to Cameron. I thought he was easily manipulated and too quick to blame Mikaela for everything.
I didn’t understand a lot of Mikaela’s decisions or her lack of self confidence, in love at least.
Julie was just a snake.

Long Past Summer is the debut novel from Noué Kirwan about a second chance romance. Mikaela and Cameron first meet in an interesting way. They become friends and then have a relationship during the summer before college when she is 18 and he is 21. They have to hide the relationship from her best friend, Julie, because Julie is also interested in Cameron and in constant need of attention.

The story is told in Mikaela’s POV with flashbacks to what happened with Cameron that first summer and thereafter. There are also peeks into Cameron’s subsequent relationship with Julie after Mikaela breaks up with him at the end of that first summer. As Mikaela is a lawyer, she is forced to revisit it all when she helps with a lawsuit between Cameron and Julie.

Read this if you love:
A second chance romance
BIPOC FMC
Interracial romances

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this eARC.

Really enjoyed this novel. The characters were well fleshed out and the love story felt organic. The middle did begin to drag a little going towards the end, making ,e not invested in the two main character's relationship.

DNF at 47%. At this point in the book I was not invested. I did not feel connected to the characters and I felt like not much had happened. I wanted to like it but I didn't. The writing was well done but the story was not there for me.

⚜️My Summary
Thank you @harlequinbooks and @netgalley for sending me this amazing read! My first read by Noué Kirwan but this will not be my last. The beautiful, resilient, and timeless love story of Cameron & Mikaela. This book started out slow but took off towards the middle which made it hard to put down. I highly recommendthis book! It's been a while since I've read a good novel that was more than just a rom come. The story in the book was well written. A must read!

⚜️Likes/Dislikes

📚The character development.

📚Dislikes- Juliette

⚜️Can everyone read this book?

📚Absolutely! A must read.

⚜️Would I recommend?

📚A must read!!! I highly recommend!

Just Read Stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

While a bit of a slow start, this book has strong themes of “it was always you” and second chance romances. Mikaela had to reconcile her past relationship with Cam and her friendship with Julie, which was done through shifting perspectives of past and present. When returning to the past, sometimes time had gone by since the previous past chapter, and it took me a minute to discern what was happening, and what everyone’s relationships were in that moment. Additionally, I did feel there was a little too much push and pull between Mike and Cam toward the end. That said, there was excellent depiction of an ambitious, career-driven Black woman and the struggles many face working in a predominately white man’s indistry. I also appreciated how Mikaela had to better understand her parent’s marriage in order to understand what love and commitment entail.

Title: Long Past Summer
Author: Noué Kirwan
Genre: Romance
Rating: 3.0 out of 5

Mikaela Marchand is living the polished life she always planned for: a successful New York lawyer, with a promotion in her sights and a devoted boyfriend by her side. She’s come a long way from the meek teen she was growing up in small town Georgia, but the memory of her adolescence isn’t far—in fact, it’s splashed across a massive billboard in Times Square. An old photograph of Mikaela and her former best friend, Julie, has landed on the cover of a high-profile fashion magazine advertised all over the city. And when Julie files a lawsuit, Mikaela is caught in the middle as defense lawyer for the magazine.

Not only will she have to face Julie for the first time in years, Mikaela’s forced to work closely with the photographer in question: the former love of her life--and Julie’s ex-husband--Cameron Murphy. Mikaela needs to win the case to get her promotion--and as a junior partner, she has no margin for error. But unresolved feelings still exist between Cam and Mikaela, and jealousy always made Julie play dirty…

Solid writing from a debut author, I just didn’t really care for the characters. Mikaela was totally self-absorbed and so focused on other people’s perceptions of her that she forgot to be human—and forgot other people have feelings, too (like her doctor boyfriend). Cameron really wasn’t any better, and for me, these two came off as uncommunicative, needy, and co-dependent. Despite the quality of the writing, the characters themselves made this a lackluster read for me.

Noué Kirwan is from New York. Long Past Summer is her debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog post live 8/1.)

I was drawn to the cover and title but ultimately did not finish the book. Thank you for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

No longer interested in reading, as a friend I trust informed me about the emotionally immature “hero” who slept with the heroine’s best friend in a moment of loneliness and abandonment.

(2.5/5) I really tried to finish this book, I really did. But I DNFed at 60%. I thought the author's writing style was engaging and easy to read, which is why it has as many stars as it does, but I couldn't get past the boundary issues and emotional cheating that happened in the book. I felt like the author really didn't explain or develop WHY Mikaela was friends with Julie or why she stayed with Cameron. I kept wanting to jump into the pages and offer her a copy of "Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself" and tell Mikaela to MOVE ON.

Long Past Summer
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 8/02/22
Author: Noue Kirwan
Publisher: Harlequin Trade Publishing
Pages: 448
Goodreads Rating: 4.37

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and HQN and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: An old photograph of Mikaela and her former best friend, Julie, has landed on the cover of a high-profile fashion magazine advertised all over the city. And when Julie files a lawsuit, Mikaela is caught in the middle as defense lawyer for the magazine. Not only will she have to face Julie for the first time in years, Mikaela’s forced to work closely with the photographer in question: the former love of her life--and Julie’s ex-husband--Cameron Murphy. Mikaela needs to win the case to get her promotion--and as a junior partner, she has no margin for error. But unresolved feelings still exist between Cam and Mikaela, and jealousy always made Julie play dirty… With flashbacks to summers of first loves and fragile friendships,  Long Past Summer  looks at the delicate and powerful thread that binds and breaks friends and flames.

My Thoughts: The story is narrated from the single POV of Mikaela. The story starts as a slow burner to build up the characters and their backstories, which I can appreciate. I love how Kirwan did a few things in this book, the romance was an interracial relationship, which you do not see too much of and how women of color face big challenges in the world, without making these things the whole story. The characters are well developed, there was an instant connection between the MCs, and their chemistry was amazing. The author’s writing style built the plot with complexity and layers of depth, character relationships were grown, and flowed very well. I really enjoyed this first read from this author and will be reading more.

The flow of the writing is excellent. Mikayla is so relatable. Her relationship with Julie & Cameron is something that was very relatable as a woman of color. It's safe to say that I felt seen in this book and has helped spawn conversation around dating as a woman of color. I'm truly shocked that this is a debut book. Every character is incredibly fleshed out and dynamic. The journey that my emotions took while reading this book is a wild one. Perhaps this is corny to say but I hope this book becomes a movie one day.

Wow! What a captivating reunion story. I was held from the beginning and was rooting for Mikaela and Cameron from the very beginning. I laughed, I cried, I got mad, I felt every emotion throughout this book and loved every second of it. Such a beautiful story of how what is meant to be will find a way.

I hate to say it because the premise was SO good, but this didn’t land for me. The main characters, all three of them, seemed to have so much trauma they hadn’t dealt with and the relationship(s) seemed toxic. I didn’t find myself rooting for any of them. There were a number of good ideas here, but none I felt were satisfyingly addressed. I really wanted to like it.

Whooo boy, I have so much to say about this book but also this book emotionally exhausted me so I’m going to just list the CWs because this book is 95% plot, 125% CWs, and 75% messy characters. No, I’m not a mathematician why do you ask?

But before we list the CWs, let me briefly introduce the 3 MCs (no this it not a threesome or a triad romance). The book goes back and forth between current day and 20 years ago.

Mikaela - the FMC, a successful Black lawyer, ambitious and aiming for a partnership at her very fancy law firm;

Cameron - the MMC, a white fashion photographer; Mikaela’s first love;

Julie - a white woman, Mikaela’s high school best friend, Cameron’s ex wife; mother of his two children;

When they all first meet, Mikaela and Julie have just graduated high school and are 18 (or almost 18) and Cameron is already in college and is 21;

CWs

1. Parental death (Cameron’s father is dead when the story starts, his mom dies of cancer in the book; Julie’s father also dies);
2. Difficult parental relationships;
3. Arrest (Mikaela and Julie get arrested for pulling a senior prank, which is when Mikaela meets Cameron, who is the Sheriff’s nephew and works at the Sheriff’s dept, taking mugshots);
4. Mikaela gets pregnant with Cameron’s baby in her first year of college and loses the baby; she doesn’t tell Cameron about it until decades later;
5. Cameron feels abandoned by Mikaela who urges him to be there for Julie when her father dies; he sleeps with Julie and she gets pregnant and they end up getting married;
6. The book is very vague about the status of Cameron and Mikaela’s relationship when this occurs but to me, it feels very much like cheating;
7. Later, it is revealed, the baby, a girl, isn’t Cameron’s baby at all;
8. This comes to light when their second child, a son, is diagnosed with leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant and the sister is the obvious choice;
9. All 3 people come back to each other’s orbit when a picture Cameron took of Mikaela and Julie years ago, resurfaces on a famous fashion magazine and Julie sues the magazine and Cameron for publishing her picture without her permission;
10. Julie and Cameron continually make Mikaela feel like shit for making the choices she did which was basically to leave their tiny hometown in GA and go to New York and follow her dreams and ambitions;
11. Julie blames Mikaela for hiding her feelings but also, there’s a ton of jealousy there; it’s a severely unhealthy dynamic;
12. Cameron wanted a family and was in love with Mikaela and wanted her to stay; he makes her feel like crap basically for wanting to pursue her own dreams instead of making a life with him which is bullshit in my opinion that he was making her feel like crap;
13. Mikaela in current day starts off with a boyfriend, a Black doctor who wants to commit to her and repeatedly asks her to move in; they break up when it’s apparent that there is no passion in their relationship and she clearly has more chemistry with Cameron; I was rooting for Doctor dude the entire time;
14. There is also workplace misogyny and racism and micro aggressions;
15. There is also a scene where Cameron can’t understand the pressure Mikaela is under so Mikaela has to do the emotional labor of explaining to him, a white cishet man, that as a Black woman in her law firm, she has to work 10 times as hard for a quarter of the credit; she has to be flawless, perfect, make NO mistakes, and still prove that she’s worthy of being made partner when a white male in her position can make endless mistakes and still end up making partner without a second thought; Cameron’s response to this is initially to joke and then just blow it off and then respond with “that’s not fair”. NO SHIT SHERLOCK;

Ultimately, I just wanted to yeet Cameron and Julie into the sun and wanted Mikaela to understand that she was being gaslit by both of these people; I couldn’t support the relationship, the pairing, or the HEA; the only reason I’m giving it 2 stars instead of 1 is because I did like the writing style and it kept me engaged despite the fact that I was so enraged for the bulk of the book;

I haven’t seen many reviews for this book, but was fascinated by the synopsis! After reading, I’m shocked this was a debut! This book was emotional, clever and a great love story!

Synopsis: The summer before heading off to NYU for college, Mikayla meets Cameron, a charming but older southern boy who has a passion for photography, and their connection is instant. Twenty years later, the two come face to face again after their lives went separate directions. Alternating between past and present timelines, we get glimpses into their budding teenage romance, what tore them apart and their second chance.

Thoughts: While the beginning started off slow, I really grew to love Kirwan’s writing style! The dialogue was vibrant, the small details added depth to the plot and I loved how even though this was told from a single POV, I walked away feeling connected to all the characters. What stuck out to me most was how Kirwan spoke about challenges for woman of color without it making it a central role in the love story. In regards to the romance, I’m a big fan of fate, second chances and when characters recognize who they are now is not the same as who they were then, and there is no way you can read this book without routing for Mikayla and Cam. I also loved that in this story, we had an interracial romance, which I feel we don’t see a lot!

Read this if you:
▪️Want a story with BIPOC rep
▪️Love a second chance romance
▪️Ever thought “It was always you”
▪️Like messy but realistic love triangles
▪️Attend art galleries
▪️Appreciate stories with badass female professionals
▪️Are a feminist
▪️Ever struggled finding a work life balance

Thank you HTP for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! Pub date 8/2