Same time next summer

This book will make a great summer beach read. The location of this book spoke to me personally, living on Long Island my entire life and living in NYC for a few years. I loved the references to the midtown tunnel, Long Island expressway, sunrise highway, eastern Long Island and the ocean. All places I know well.

I think this author does a great job connecting to you to the characters quickly and keeping that connection throughout the entire story.

3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

What I enjoyed about this book:
-Dual POV
-Dual Timeline
-Young Love
-Beach setting
-Family dynamics

What did not work for me
-I found myself becoming frustrated with the characters at times.
-I wanted more time with the two main characters in present day once they connected.

Overall, I enjoyed this book but it did not hook me as much as her first book Nora Goes Off Script. That being said, I would definitely check out any more books from this author!

Check out Same Time Next Summer

If you like books featuring…
Dual Timeline love stories
Men who play guitar
East coach beach vacation settings

Great for fans of…
Happy Place by Emily Henry
Every Summer After by Carly Fortune
The Notebook (HBOMax)

Same Time Next Summer reminded me of Every Summer After mixed with a bit of Sweet Home Alabama. If you're looking for characters that grow throughout the book and have chemistry together, this us a great read for you. It's full of small town vibes, summer love, and second chances.

The young romance between Sam and Wyatt was so sweet, and watching them grow separately and find themselves was rewarding to read.

This book gave me all the warm and cozy feels. Each time I picked it up, I didn't want to put it down. Looking forward to Annabel Monaghan's next one.

After reading and loving Nora Goes Off Script in 2022, I was delighted to receive the ARC for Annabel Monaghan’s second book. I LOVED this second chance romance and I think it is the perfect summer beach read. This is definitely one of my favorite summer romance novels that I have ever read. It was a real page turner with quick chapters and I couldn’t put it down. I really enjoyed the entire cast of characters and their development over the course of the book, even minor characters such as Sam’s grandparents.

I would have liked to read a few more chapters about Wyatt and Sam at the end of the book, but this is still a 4.5 ⭐️ read for me. I can’t wait to see what the author writes next!

This is my second Annabel Monaghan book and I cannot get enough. I effortlessly slip into the pages of her novels; her characters feel like friends. I wasn't sure if I could like another book as much as I liked Nora Goes Off Script but Same Time Next Summer is wonderful in a different way.

Second chance romance isn't always my favorite genre but there was something about Sam and Wyatt's young love that was compelling. Was Wyatt just an addiction? Or were they really in love? I enjoyed how we met the grown up versions of Sam and Wyatt first, before going back in time and seeing them fall in love as teenagers. The book is told primarily from Sam's point of view but the Wyatt chapters were nice insight into the relationship from his perspective.

My only complaint is that the book was over too fast! I would have liked to see Sam and Wyatt settle into their new, grown-up relationship.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

My love for Same Time Next Summer is huge. Initially Sam and Jack appear to be the perfect couple with their lives mapped out. Visiting Long Island to look at a wedding venue to appease Sam's parents seems harmless, until Sam finds out her childhood best friend and high school sweetheart, Wyatt is in town.

I was completely consumed, it's so well developed and written. Sam, Jack, Wyatt, and all the other characters bring so much to the story without being overwhelming but also maintaining their individuality. I absolutely adored watching Sam come back to herself and learn who she really is and wants to be. The alternating time lines and seeing how Sam and Wyatt evolve summer by summer is perfection. The heartache, the love, the support, the secrets, all come together so beautifully. Set against the backdrop of a small coastal town, Same Time Next Summer is one of the best books I've read, I can not recommend it enough.

“If you’ve loved someone your whole life, it kind of makes sense that you’d love them forever.”

After reading and LOVING Nora Goes Off Script last year I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the author’s latest book, Same Time Next Summer.

With the same great writing this book focuses on Sam & Wyatt, whose childhood friendship during summers at the beach in Long Island turns into more when they are teenagers.

Much like the books Every Summer After & Love and Other Words, something happens to break them up. Sam does not return to her family’s beach house until years later, when she is planning her wedding to another man.

Nora will always have a special place in my heart but I enjoyed Same Time Next Summer as well. I really appreciated how the reason they broke up was an original one.

Same Time next Summer publishes on June 6th just in time for summer reading. I think this would make a great beach/poolside read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Group Putnam for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley + Putnam Books for the gifted digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. I really enjoyed Annabel's previous book, Nora Goes Off Script, and it was a joy to read her latest novel, Same Time Next Summer!

We follow Sam Holloway to her family's beach on Long Island, a place that she holds close to her heart but hasn't been to in several years. She's only going because her mom wants Sam and her fiancé, Jack, to consider the beach town for their upcoming wedding, and Sam figures it's safe to return because her first love, Wyatt Pope, won't be there.

But he is, and he's just as wonderful as she remembers, and being around him brings out a side of her, perhaps the most authentic side of her, that has laid dormant for years. As she tries to reconcile the past with the present so she can look toward the future, Sam finds herself questioning everything she knows about her and Wyatt's love story, her current relationship, and how in tune she is with herself. When the time comes, what choice will she make — and which version of herself will she become?

This was a breezy, perfect beach read (even with some of the heavier components). Annabel's style is very casual, which lends itself to being perfect for a book like this. I saw a lot of myself in Sam, watching her mold into a version of herself that she didn't really recognize but convinced herself was fine, because she had landed a man like Jack. I also loved that Wyatt could see right through it and help pull the authentic Sam out of the shell she had created, even if it meant tense interactions.

The pacing is good, though I'm not the hugest fan of going back and forth between tenses. Annabel did mark every time we were going back and then coming forward again, and we stopped going backward once we hit a certain point of the book. That's really my biggest critique, I think it makes sense for the story, but it's also sometimes a little difficult to remember where we left off in the present when we've been in the past for several chapters.

Some of the dialogue felt a LITTLE juvenile for adults almost in or in their 30s, but I chalked that up to being caught up in feeling 15 again, which made sense if you really put yourself in Sam's shoes while reading.

All in all, another 4-star read from Annabel Monaghan, and I'm excited for everyone to read this when it comes out June 6!

This review also appeared on Goodreads.

When a childhood lovers plot set at the beach in the summer calls, I pick up.

This is definitely a good (and quick!) read for the summer! Especially if you're looking for something to bring with you on a trip. Sam is caught between her future––Jack, her Type A fiance, who plays golf recreationally, wears button-up shirts, and never sees her for who she is, just who he wants her to be––and her past––Wyatt, the cute, boy-next-door who plays guitar and writes songs about her in a treehouse, the guy she fell in love with and got her heart broken by well over a decade ago. But...does she want to get married? Does she even want to get married to Jack, who keeps trying to mold her into something she isn't? And can she reconcile with Wyatt and forgive him for how their love story ended?

Honestly, I wasn't entirely sold on Sam as a main character, nor her fiance Jack (which was to be expected since he's intentionally written as the one to specifically NOT root for). I found her to be sort of whiny and I just wasn't all that connected to her. There's a clear difference between the love (or lack thereof) we see her share with Jack versus the love she shared with Wyatt, and it's very easy to see which one cares about her more. She just kept making excuses to stay with Jack, trying to believe he was the "perfect man" she assumed he was and realized a little too late that he could never live up to that. Sam's eccentric family and Wyatt, my love, are what made the entire book for me. Sam is sort of embarrassed by her family and their artistic and somewhat "strange" ways, but I love them. Though I especially enjoyed learning about how Wyatt got his start in the music business. And seeing how much he cares for Sam's sister, given everything that transpired before she was born, was very heartwarming.

I know a lot of people don't like flashbacks in books, but I'm always a fan of them. They were cute, and I liked seeing the progression of her and Wyatt's relationship. My only complaint about the flashbacks was the POV change...I don't understand why the present timeline was in first-person, but the past was told mostly through Wyatt's POV in third-person? It was a weird back-and-forth. Sticking to either first-person or third-person for the entirety would've been a better choice, I think. And I wish the dual POV from Wyatt and Sam carried through the whole book, too.

Additionally, I think Monaghan *tells* a lot rather than *shows*. Her writing style is very: this is what happened, then I did this, then this occurred. I like to see situations play out and feel like I'm there, you know? But it just felt like someone was reciting the events of their summer in chronological order to me. I still enjoyed the book, nonetheless!

I recommend this book if you're looking for a quick summer read about rekindling an old childhood love and moving on from a stagnant, unhappy city life to something more fulfilling and exciting by the water.

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam/G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley for this eARC!!

Thank you to NetGalley, .P. Putnam's Sons and Annabel Monaghan for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun book to read. Set in the summer with alternate time lines before and now. Since we are still getting snow in April in Minnesota it was fun to get lost in a book that is set at the beach! I enjoyed both the before and now chapters in the book.

It's always fun to look back at the before and wonder what could have been. For Sam she returned to the beach planning her wedding to who she thought was the perfect man. Until she came face to face with the past, Wyatt.. It was easy to get lost in this book with Sam and Wyatt growing up together at the beach and falling in love. Current Sam is not so sure of her life and what she has made of it. It was fun to have her extended family in the now and see how they felt about the younger and current versions of Sam.

In this day and age with social media I find it really hard to believe that Sam never googled Wyatt in the years since she had last seen him. Yes she was told not to do this by a therapist but that was when she was a teenager. Would an adult really not look up her "one true love"? Regardless, this was a really fun book to read and makes you think of the one that got away!

I really enjoyed this book! There's just something very special about a love that spans from childhood to the adult years. Sam's character had gone through a tremendous amount of trauma, and I really felt for her as she began to finally deal with everything she has gone through.

There were some elements missing that I wish the book had. For one, I expected there to be more frustration and anger towards Wyatt displayed. But it seemed like she dropped her wall with him very quickly. An example of this was when she started texting with him, like nothing had happened and no time had passed. This felt a bit out of line, even though I do recognize that it was an important element to reestablishing her relationship with him. But, I think this could've been done in other ways.

I loved how Sam came to the realization that she wasn't living the life she wanted, the life that was true to her.

Overall, a great read that I very much appreciated!

If you are looking for a great book, look no further. This book is funny, witty and entertaining. Annabel Monaghan has a great writing style that grabs you from the beginning. You will sit to read for a few minutes and not want to stop. Great book!

I was a little nervous to read this because I didn’t think the author could possibly follow up with something equally as good as Nora Goes Off Script. I was wrong - I loved this book. It sucked me in from page 1 and kept me wanting more. I loved seeing the growth and evolution of all the characters. This book is going to be a huge summer hit. Definitely a beach read.

I was given an Advanced Reader Copy by NetGalley for an honest review.

it took me a week to finish this book because at 25% in, i knew i did not want it to end. this book is exactly what i needed and annabel monaghan never disappoints. perfect for readers who loved: every summer after, love and other words, and the infinity between us.

thank you netgalley + putnam for my advanced copy.

Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan is the absolute perfect beach read for the summer, or really any time of the year. I couldn’t put it down, and had that feeling of not wanting it to end. Sam hasn’t been to her family’s Long Island beach home in many years, ever since her heart was shattered by her childhood friend and eventual boyfriend Wyatt. She’s engaged to marry Jack, and is returning to the place where she spent a majority of her childhood summers to scout locations for a potential wedding venue. As fate would have it, Wyatt is back in town for the summer and feelings and memories that Sam thought were long forgotten resurface.

The flashback narrative is one of my faves, and the author does it so well, making this story that more poignant by seeing what Sam and Wyatt went through as children and then teenagers, and how that shaped their adult lives. Overall, the story was beautifully written and I just fell in love with the setting, characters, and the story.

Annabel Monaghan is becoming a definite instant-buy author for me and I recommend both Same Time Next Summer and Nora Goes Off Script for the perfect summer read vibes and if you want reads that you WILL NOT be able to put down.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided to me through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Annabel Monaghan and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

Move over Tea House, it’s time for the Tree House.

Annabel Monaghan is back with a new romance novel perfect for a summer read by the pool, or better yet, the beach.

The story of Sam and her Wyatt is told by flipping between the past and current time. Sam grew up spending her summers at her family’s Long Island beach house, conveniently next door to Wyatt’s family. One summer love story, one bad breakup, two separate coasts, and more than a decade later, Sam is now grown up with an office job in the city and a doctor fiancé. She brings her fiancé Jack to visit her family and make wedding plans at the beach house, only to find Wyatt came back from California and has been living next door again. (Oops, her family wasn’t sure if they should tell her that Wyatt is back...) What will happen when Wyatt and Sam see each other again, after not speaking for years? Will their teenage summer love story circle back and start again? What about Jack?

Add in eclectic family members, long walks on the beach, and a backyard tree house… this is a heart-filled novel sure to be enjoyed by contemporary romance readers everywhere, coming in June 2023.

This book was an absolute delight! I loved everything from the beach house details to the poignant look at first love. The perfect summer read.

4 stars :)

so it's hard to be creative with this trope (city girl returns to small beach town she grew up spending summers at). every summer after is one title i can name off the top of my head that same time next summer bears an uncanny resemblance to-- but i know i've read many more because there was a familiar feeling while i was reading. that being said, it's a great trope, the second-chance romance of it all really tugs at the heartstrings and i eat it up every time!

i really like how reasonable the main characters sam and wyatt were and the monaghan's matter-of-fact writing tone that cuts to the chase. i think this book definitely has summer hit potential, similarities to other well-loved contemporary romance books aside, and i really liked sam's self-realizations and how she found freedom by processing trauma and choosing happiness.

though i think monaghan's previous book nora goes off script is more unique plot-wise, this book filled me with similar emotions and i'm so so glad i was given the opportunity to read it. thank you so much to netgalley and putnam for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

I'm such a fan of the author's novel, Nora Goes Off Script, so I was excited to dive into this one! Sweet and charming, with a dreamy summer beach setting, this book was a perfect vacation read. Told in dual timelines, Same Time Next Summer follows a young romance and all of the highs and lows that go along with it. A very satisfying read!

After reading (and loving) Nora Goes Off Script, I was beyond excited to read Annabel Monaghan’s newest book. It was extra amazing to get an ARC through NetGalley and the publisher. I finished the book in one sitting and don’t even mind that I lost a night’s sleep to do it.

Same Time Next Summer was a solid reminder of why I love a well-written second chance romance. Over a decade after being torn apart by heartbreak, Sam and Wyatt find themselves back where they started … and ended. However, even though the setting is the same, our two MCs are very different people than they were all those years ago. With a fiancé that fits right into the buttoned up life Sam has created for herself, she has no room left for Wyatt to work his way back into her once shattered heart. But coming face to face with her past has made her question everything about who she has become. While the story has a lot in common with others in this trope, the dynamics and development of the characters (including the supporting ones) brings a unique feel to this heartfelt love story. Sam’s relationship with family was a highlight of the book for me. (I especially loved Granny!)

While Same Time Next Summer does tackle some heavier relationship issues and complicated family dynamics, it is still light and fun enough to be a feel-good summer beach read (that’s much heavier on the sweet than spicy).