Annabel Monaghan does it again! This is a sweet rom-com. This book instantly swept me in and didn’t stop until the end. The story of Sam and Wyatt feels like a real life love story. It is filled with love and humor. the plot is real enough to connect to and perfect enough to dream of. Sam is relatable, fun, and struggles with the balance of life that many of us also struggle with. I would read this over and over again!

Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam Books for this fantastic ARC. Annabel Monaghan has a way of writing characters that draws me into their world completely. This is now the second book I have read by her, the first being Nora Goes Off Script-also a great read. These are romance books first, yes, but not with perfect characters and perfect locations (well I did actually fall in love with the town in Same Time Next Summer). Things are complicated, people have issues, but we understand WHY they are that way. Monaghan leads readers into the past in this novel and shows the paths that made them that way.

The story of Sam and Wyatt starts with summer vacations on Long Island and how they go from friends to intense teenage romance. They grow up together and know each other better than anyone else. But an unexpected moment causes Wyatt to withdraw and leaves Sam to try to navigate her way out of a deep depression.

Fourteen years later, they are both different people…or are they? Sam is engaged to a handsome doctor and Wyatt seems like he has been on some meditative retreat when they meet again.

The tension is brilliantly handled. I found the ending a little rushed, but not enough to make me dislike the book. I was sad to see this book end because it was unputdownable!

Definitely a great escape book, a fun book, and also a book that makes you think: ah, I remember those teenage years. She brings the reader back to the joy and pain of first love in such a brilliant way. Pick up a copy and enjoy!

Sexy, cute, and fun! New author for me and was happily surprised with how much I liked this genre! Would recommend!

I’ve picked up and put this book down too many times. I’m sure it’s a lovely read if you’re into it but I cannot seem to. I gave it 2 stars because even though I DNF I really liked the plot and I feel like it’s a good book, just not for me as I said

If there’s one thing about me, it’s that I will EAT up any childhood friends-to-lovers, second chance romance, that is set at the dang beach during summertime. Same Time Next Summer really was such a treat for me. Sam’s internal dialogue definitely had me laughing throughout the story, and I felt like the *twist* in the plot was actually quite believable. Even though the MC’s had a ton of their past to still work through, I loved how they eventually found their way back to being in each others’ lives. I know they’re two totally different stories, but for me, I was SO much more invested in the love in STNS than in Nora Goes Off Script.

Huge thank you to Penguin Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

A charming & feel-good read!
Enjoyed this even more than the author's last.
Definitely partial to the "now" present day/grown-up part of the story.
Sweet family dynamics & dreamy setting.

With great thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Group Putnam for this e-ARC!

I may have found my new favorite author… the only issue is that now I have to wait for a year or more to read more of her. I loved Nora Goes Off Script, and I love this one equally. The Long Island beach setting is fantastic, the small town feel mixed with big city New York is the perfect vibe for this uncomfortable in your own skin, trying to find yourself story.

When Sam was sixteen, she loved Wyatt. Then their story ended, and it was harder than she imagined. At 30, she’s engaged, with a high-power career, when she returns to her parents’ beach house with her fiancé.

I shared this review on my Instagram, @purely_nora, and saved it to my "reads" highlight: I also shared on Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5414069455?book_show_action=false

Oh gosh. A second chance romance with perspectives from past and present written by the author of one of my favorite books last year? Of freaking course I LOVED this.

Monaghan’s writing is dynamic and smart and full of feeling. I thought it was brilliant how Sam’s perspective was in first person and Wyatt’s was in third person until the end. I loved the setting - NYC and Long Island (but NOT the Hamptons) - and the cast of characters. I found Sam to be incredibly relatable, intuitive and interesting. She understood so much about herself and her feelings…and yet. She struggles. Because love, man that shit is hard. This book is about love and heartbreak, yes. But it’s also about putting yourself back together, growing up, finding your truth and LIVING it.

My only wish is that there was a bit more of the past. But that’s probably selfish. It was just such a beautiful time and seemed to go by in such a flash. But overall I really can’t complain - this story sucked me in big time and I barely put my kindle down.

A big thank you to to @netgalley for my advanced copy. This book comes out June 6th and if you loved Nora Goes Off Script and count Every Summer After as a fave then it is ABSOLUTELY worth a pre-order!

4.5 stars

Sam returns to her parents house with her fiance to visit family and also look at a possibly wedding venue.
While there she run into childhood love and summertime neighbor.
Told in dual timelines and dual povs, we learn about their heartbreak, Sam finally setting herself free to who she really wants to be and a second chance at romance.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

Annabel Monaghan's first book, Nora Goes Off Script, was one of my top reads last year and I was thrilled (THRILLED!) when I heard she had another book coming out AND then received an ARC to read/review. While the bones of this story are strong: thirty-something Sam is stuck between living the life she thinks she wants and the life that reflects who she really is. Her fiancé is rough around the edges (not particularly likable) and ex-boyfriend Wyatt, is a bit mysterious and dreamy. I rooted for Sam and for Wyatt and enjoyed the small-town Long Island setting. But there was something missing -- maybe it seemed too unrealistic (no googling your long lost love?) and or just plain frustrating (please bop Jack and his condescension). All in all, Same Time Next Summer is a fine, quick beach read, just not terribly memorable for me. Thanks to the author, Penguin Random House, and Netgalley for the opportunity for an early read; these thoughts are my own. Four stars, rounded up.

Really enjoyed this one. This is a nice, easy, beachy read. Sam goes back to the childhood beach town she grew up in to look at wedding venues with her fiancé, only to run into her childhood love, Wyatt. The story alternates between the past and present timelines. 4 stars because I couldn’t fully get behind Wyatt’s character. Thank you to netgalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the advanced copy!

I couldn't read this book fast enough! I immediately fell in love with Sam and Wyatt and was rooting for them the entire way. This book is the perfect romance for when you are sitting beach side this summer.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

"There's something about the beach that changes the chemical components of everything around it. Wood feels damp, sheets right out of the dryer still smell of salt. And the coffee, it's just better."

Same Time Next Summer will be the book you'll be seeing on the beach all summer. We meet 30 year old Sam on her way to the beach with her fiance Jack. The family beach house she spent all her childhood summers. The beach house where the boy she grew up with becomes her first love. Through flashbacks to previous summers, the romance of Wyatt and Sam unfolds as Sam and Jack's week at the beach progresses. Wyatt shows up at the beach and Sam must confront their relationship and how it has shaped her as an adult.

Summer is my season. It is my identity. Summer is magic to me. I love the setting of this book and how the story is told through flashbacks and different point of views. It felt like the Summer I Turned Pretty series but in the future. It's not a super light book; there are some heavy topics but it will definitely leave you with that satisfied feeling as you come up for air after reading.

This childhood friends-to-strangers-to-adult friends-to-lovers story pulled at my heart strings.

I love Annabel Monaghan's character development and dreamy scene setting so I was delighted to love this book as much as I loved Nora Goes Off Script!

Dare I say that I actually enjoyed Same Time Next Summer more because the main characters' relationship felt much deeper? Cozy tea house or dreamy treehouse - you'll have to read both and decide which one you prefer!

A great beach read, car read, couch read ... you get the point. Enjoy!

3.5/5 This was so sweet! Any time there’s a childhood friends second chance romance i’m sold.

Wyatt and Sam have been summer friends their whole lives. But when family drama ruins their chance they spend years not even speaking. Fast forward and Sam is getting married back at the summer beach house and puts Wyatt back into her life. Finding out she may have been just drifting through life instead of really living brings her back into Wyatt’s orbit.

I enjoyed this story! I love a beach house, friends to lovers story so so much. However, I didn’t feel the depth of these characters enough for my liking, I wanted more feeling, and more development/ character growth. I felt like the emotion that should have been there just wasn’t reflected on page as much as I would have liked it to be!

I am a big fan of this authors writing though and felt it was very easy to follow and even in the parts that started to lose my interest, still found it to be a stimulating read!

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the arc!

You guys, I wanted to love this one. I really did. After reading and adoring NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT earlier this year - I had high hopes for the next novel by Annabel Monaghan...but sadly, this book was not it. And if I hadn't been buddy reading it with a friend, I probably would have given up on it about halfway.

This book spends WAY too much time talking about things that don't matter and that don't move the plot forward. While this book focuses mostly on Wyatt and Sam, who were childhood sweethearts that met every summer at their family's beach homes, you don't actually really get to know either of them.

You get to know who they don't want to be - but you have no real reality of why they are the way they are. Or why they react certain ways. Or why they're living their lives the way they are. Both are crazily unhappy in the lives they've chosen...but seemed like they were going to continue living them that way anyway?

The overall tone of the book was somewhat juvenile, which makes sense because a lot of it is told from their childhood perspectives. It takes too long to find out what went wrong for the couple & why they couldn't fix it. And honestly - I didn't like either of them enough to care.

I don't know. This book didn't work for me, but it might work for you!

Read if you like:
Second Chance Romance
Beach Romance
Childhood Sweethearts
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

Thanks to @annabelmonaghan @netgalley and penguin group Putnam for the early access to what will surely be the 2023 summer beach read! It releases on June 5, 2023.

Told in dual timelines and dual POV, this is a story about finding the love of your life as a teenager and the things that get in the way when you meet years later. After being devastated by her breakup with Wyatt, Sam builds a new, safer life for herself—a job in HR and a dermatologist fiancé. But when she spends a week at the beach house where Wyatt grew up next door (and he reappears), she starts to question whether she is living the life she wants.

Annabel Morgan’s writing evokes such heart wrenching tenderness. If you loved, Every Summer After, pre-order this book!

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Steam: 🔥🔥
Tropes: second-chance, beach town, boy-next-door, musician

Ahhhh!!!! She does it again. This book was completely binge-able. I loved the dual timeline. We get to experience Wyatt and Sam’s romance rise and fall and it’s beautifully written. I loved it!!

So happy I received an early copy of this from Netgalley! Annabel Monaghan quickly became one of my favorite authors after reading Nora Goes Off Script last year.

The book follows Wyatt and Sam - their families have beach houses next to each other on Long Island and every summer since they were young, they meet up and spend all their hours together - surfing, swimming and eventually falling in love.

My only complaint with this book is that I wish it was longer. Annabel Monaghan has such a unique writing style that always makes me fall in love with not only the characters in her books, but the locations as well. I absolutely loved how the beach was described in this book and there wasn't a single character I didn't want to see more of.

I wish we could have seen more of Wyatt and Sam when they were younger but also present day - the ending felt a bit rushed and I would have loved to see a more gradual build to a perfect ending.

I fell in love with Monaghan's previous book, "Nora Goes Off Script," and was thrilled to get an arc of her upcoming book! We follow Sam as she and her fiance begin planning her wedding. Sam agrees to check out a venue by her parent's beach house on Long Island. To her great surprise, Sam runs into her first love, Wyatt. After a difficult breakup, Sam completely blocked him out of her life. As she spends more time at the beach house, she sees more and more of Wyatt. What will Sam do?!

A wonderful beach read. Thank you, Netgalley!