Thank you Putnam for my early copy of Same Time Next Summer! All thoughts are my own.

You know that feeling of the sun soaking into your skin and you feel totally and completely relaxed? That is the feeling Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan gave me. It was such a delightful read that also addressed some really complex realities and feelings surrounding mental health and young love. It took the freedom of the summers of our youth and juxtaposed it with the realities of discovery (and rediscovering) our identities in adulthood.

It’s low on the spice scale but really pulls on your heartstrings in the best way. I really, really enjoyed this book and I think a lot of people will this Summer as well!

Synopsis:

“Beach Rules:Do take long walks on the sand.Do put an umbrella in every cocktail.Do not run into your first love.Sam’s life is on track. She has the perfect doctor fiancé, Jack (his strict routines are a good thing, really), a great job in Manhattan (unless they fire her), and is about to tour a wedding venue near her family’s Long Island beach house. Everything should go to plan, yet the minute she arrives, Sam senses something is off. Wyatt is here. Her Wyatt. But there’s no reason for a thirty-year-old engaged woman to feel panicked around the guy who broke her heart when she was seventeen. Right? Yet being back at this beach, hearing notes from Wyatt’s guitar float across the night air from next door as if no time has passed—Sam’s memories come flooding back: the feel of Wyatt’s skin on hers, their nights in the treehouse, and the truth behind their split. Sam remembers who she used to be, and as Wyatt reenters her life their connection is as undeniable as it always was. She will have to make a choice. Is her heart worth the risk?” —StoryGraph

What I Liked:

The Tropes—I’m a sucker for second chance romance, that’s no secret. Especially a summery second chance romance? I love it so much.

The Setting—Long Island beaches that aren’t the Hamptons are some of my favorite.

The Vibes—This book made me so excited for Summer. I read it in March and it was the perfect antidote for the still cold, dreary, snowy, gray skies I see each day.

The Characters—I loved Wyatt and Sam so much. I really loved the internal conflicts, I loved how they communicated with each other (until they didn’t—that made me sad) and the side characters were amazing.

What Didn’t Work:

Wanted More Back and Forth Structure—I’m a huge fan of Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After and how things unfolded structurally in that novel. I think I wanted a dash of that element thrown in, mostly because I loved the scenes set in the past so much. They were oozing with summertime nostalgia.

More Exploration of Dividing Conflict—I love stories about complex characters and the conflict that drove the main characters apart is certainly complex. I loved how it showed that through time and adulthood, we can all look back on past mistakes with perspective. But I do wish we got a bit more exploration of it between the two main characters.

Character Authenticity: 5/5 Spice Rating: 0/5 Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Content Warnings:

infidelity, depression

This book. Where do I start? It’s like that great chick-flick movie you lay in bed & watch alone or with your closest friend or your mom and/or sister..maybe you watch it a couple few times even.

AND the way it’s written. You. Are. There. You the reader feel the air & the water on you. You can feel the chemistry between characters. Feel the emotions. The only thing missing is those string lights strung around everywhere at night 😉 This isn’t some highly dramatic or intense book by any means but it’s good. It’s cute. It’s so summery/beachy. And the reader definitely wants to know what happens☺️ It’s hard to not get invested in & root for the main characters. I feel like it has most everything a reader might be after in a book like this.

Just like Nora Goes Off Script the writing is spot on & I just love it. I love how she writes in every way. Her writing style, the word choices & how it’s so beautifully descriptive. I like that the dialogue at times is funny but not over the top trying too hard. This book is ‘easy’, not in a bad way but in a way to where it flows to where I found myself cruising through this book. In my opinion if you’re a fan of Emily Henry I feel like there are a lot of similarities between the two authors. Not gonna lie I love Monaghan’s books more so far💖 I hate to compare to another author but I do this as a compliment or to direct fellow readers to Monaghan if they haven’t had the pleasure of reading her books yet. My only complaint is the ending could’ve had more to it but at the same time the ending was fine. Satisfactory I guess haha. If you’re wondering why I’m not giving it 5 stars after raving on this book, although I really (really!) liked it I can’t say it’s exceptional & a must read. I did enjoy it so much though & it was refreshing reading more of Monaghan’s work. If you’re looking for a fairly light romcom I absolutely suggest picking this one up…maybe save it for your first read of the summer or next sunny vacation book choice☀️Or you could read it now🤷‍♀️😜

Thank you to both NetGalley & the publisher Penguin Group Putnam for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review, always appreciative for the opportunity!

Ah!!! I was so excited when I received an ARC of Annabel Monaghan’s next release! My first read of hers came last year with Nora Goes Off Script and I knew immediately that she would be an author I follow to always know when my next favorite read will be released—Same Time Next Summer did not disappoint!

This book had all the feels and more!

We have a now and then storyline so we get to see all stages of Sam and Wyatt’s love story—from innocent kids to awkward tweens to first love—and how their lives have turned out. The then parts read like the perfect first love YA, and the now a perfect chick lit for a 30 year old woman living a safe and comfortable life completely different than her carefree past.

I loved every character—I would absolutely devour spin-offs with Travis and Hugh, and Laurel and Bill.

Both Sam and Wyatt and the decisions they make in the end with regards to how they want their lives to be are inspiring for anyone at a crossroads thinking about where am I? Where do I want to be? And what’s next?

I anxiously await my next fix from the incredibly talented Annabel Monaghan, who two years in a row has given me one of my top reads for the year!

I absolutely loved Annabel Monaghan's last book, Nora Goes Off Script, so I was very excited to read this one and it did not disappoint. I've always been a fan of first loves and second chance romance, and this book explores those themes in such a sweet way.

One of my favorite parts of this book was the dual POV that allowed us to see both Wyatt and Sam's thoughts and feelings about their past and their present and I think this was the perfect choice to tell this story. However, I do think the POV leans more heavily onto Sam's grief throughout the years, and I would have loved more from Wyatt during the past, but I also understand why the choice was made to leave some of that out.

Another aspect of this book that I really loved was the inclusion of Sam being 30-years-old and not really knowing what she's doing with her life. She seems to have everything figured out between her future wedding and the stable job that she may or may not lose, but she still has to figure out if that stable life is what really makes her happy. As someone who is close to this character in age and feeling the exact same way, it is nice to see a story that shows that people don't often have their lives figured out by 30 and that we're all still searching for what makes us the happiest. I feel like a lot of books, especially in the romance genre, have the main characters in solid careers and relationships by 25 and that's definitely not always the case anymore. I appreciated this book a lot more for this.

Overall, I really loved this book and these characters, even though I selfishly would have liked a less abrupt ending or maybe even an epilogue to tie up the story a bit more. I feel so lucky that I got to read this early, and I can't wait to read everything else that Annabel Monaghan comes up with.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC!

I think so many people can say they’ve made themselves less for someone that they’re with in order to be with that person. And then, the right person comes along who calls you out on your crap. They know you like yellow instead of white napkins, and they love you for it. Even though this book was pretty predictable, it was still such a cute book! I enjoyed every last page!

Same Time Next Summer, by Annabel Monaghan, is about first loves and second chances. Sam's family always spends their summers on Long Island. Wyatt's family owns the house next door. The summer uniform of their childhood is a swimsuit and bare feet. Every Memorial Day to Labor Day, from sun up until sun down, Sam and Wyatt can be found amongst the pack of kids running around Long Island exploring every beach and inlet. At the end of the summer, everyone goes back to their respective cities, where life continues as usual. Until summer comes again and friendships pick up where they left off last year.
Sam can hardly wait to return to her summer life each year. Her summers on Long Island are what she lives for. As the two begin to grow up, Sam and Wyatt begin to see each other a little differently. Theirs is a love written like a fairy tale. Until that summer, 14 years ago, when they left Long Island with broken hearts.
Sam never spends more than a couple of days on Long Island each summer now. That care-free girl running barefoot all summer is long gone. However, this summer, she is taking her fiancée, Jack, to her parents' summer home for the first time. She and Jack plan to look at a possible wedding venue on the Island, for their upcoming wedding. Jack is looking forward to some relaxation away from the city. The possibility of relaxation is the furthest thing from Sam's mind. Since her first love broke her heart, 14 years ago, the beach house has held very little joy and an overwhelming amount of sorrow and pain. And, to make matters worse, Wyatt has also returned to Long Island this summer.
The story, as told by both Sam and Wyatt, takes you back and forth between childhood and present-day. This dual perspective and time-line lends well to telling a more detailed story. You find yourself wrapped up in the sweet love story of Sam and Wyatt and crying along with them as they recount their grief.
Same Time Next Summer is full of great characters and the story really draws you in. However, I do feel like too much of the book is focused on Sam's grief over the years and the exploration of what Wyatt has endured is a mere blip in the story. And then the end feels quite rushed.
3.5 stars
Read this book if you like:
-first loves
-second chances
-romances with depth

Thank you @netgalley for this ARC!

Annabel Monaghan's new book Same Time Next Summer was such a good read!! I loved every minute of this book and the entire time I kept imagining it as a movie, it'd transfer over well.

Sam is a newly engaged woman trying to plan her wedding with her "clean lines", dermatologist fiancé, Jack. The moms of the soon-to-be bride & groom each have an opinion on wedding location, so Sam & Jack go to Sam's family's summer home in Long Island to see her mom's wedding vision. Once there, Sam is filled with memories and emotions from the time with her first love, Wyatt, and what makes it even stickier is that Wyatt is there at the same time. There is a dual timeline to gain the knowledge on Sam & Wyatt's love story leading to the present day where Sam is torn between the life she thinks she should have with Jack and the life she dreamt of with Wyatt.

The love between Sam & Wyatt was so sweet, it was probably my favorite part. It made me want to go back to being a teenager and find a big summer love. It also made me want to build a treehouse that looks over the water, god that sounded so dreamy!

I can't wait for you to read this one! The pub date is June 6, which is perfect because it's the quintessential summer read!

HEADLINE: I'm the problem. It's me.

Thanks to @netgalley and @gpputnam (06.06) for early access to 𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑

I love second-chance, childhood friends-to-lovers, first time love stories. Set at weekend/lake/beach house? Even better. This has strong 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 and 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 & 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 vibes. I loved those books and unfortunately, this book suffered by comparison. The fault lies with me.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃:
- Quaint beach town
- Unlikeable characters that I still wanted to read about
- Leans more towards women's fiction with a closed door romance.
- Dual POV & timelines
- Dyslexia representation
- Compulsively readable. I read it in a day. At 320 pages it would make an excellent vacation/beach/weekend read

𝐈 𝗪𝐈𝐒𝐇:
- We had 50 more pages of character development and a more robust ending. That would have helped me get more invested.
- I could not believe that there was zero social media snooping in 12 years. Not buying it.(I'm a snooper)

MORE: Monaghan's previous book, NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT was a 5 star read. Check it out.

I absolutely LOVED Nora Goes off Script so was elated to received this arc of Same Time Next Summer. This novel transported me to an idyllic scene of growing up spending summers at the beach with your family. It sounded so dreamy, growing up, visiting the beach, bonding with your family and your neighbors, and getting to escape your everyday “normal” for a season out of the year. The story was told by Wyatt and Sam, now and then, and I really enjoyed this. Although confusing at times, about half way through it started making more and more sense. I grew to love both Wyatt and Sam a lot by the end. I wouldn’t say I was particularly close to the other characters, besides Gracie, but I felt that there was decent character development among the others! I loved the rom-com aspect of the novel and enjoyed the general producibility of it, too, especially after reading a heavier book prior. The story was sweet, romantic, and nostalgic and I would highly recommend it! Can’t wait to read the next novel by Annabel Monaghan!!

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this arc

"There was a sound to summer music...It sounded like warm air." Somehow, that's exactly what reading this book felt like as well. Like a summer night on the beach – a blanket wrapped around your shoulders, a bonfire blazing bright in the distance and saltwater & sand cushioning your feet.

Same Time Next Summer was a surprisingly quick and fun read with a (mostly) lovable cast of characters, suffused with an aptly sweet summer love feeling. There's really no better way to describe the vibes than nostalgic and beachy, so that's what we're going with.
Sam and Wyatt started out as a classic girl/boy next door, first love, summer love story until life's curveballs forced them to go from growing up together to falling completely apart. The funny thing about loving and being loved with such passion though, is that sometimes your roots grow parallel to each other even when they've grown apart.
Cut to their "we're completely over it," grown-up present and as it turns out, this story is not quite as finished as they thought...

This book does incorporate both a dual timeline and a dual pov, which was pretty well done for the most part. However, I wish the present timeline would have been fleshed out a bit more, because that did end up feeling a bit vague and rushed in comparison to the "THEN" parts of the plot.
I did appreciate the emphasis on the more intangible aspects of relationships, as opposed to just the physicality, which made for a really authentic feeling read.
Overall, this was a pleasant, breezy read perfect for those golden afternoons when all you want is a cozy, straightforward read with some substance and a whole lot of heart.

Thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons & NetGalley for the ARC!

ahh what a book! 4 stars!

you know i LOVE a second chance, havent talked to each other in years, childhood friends to lovers to strangers to lovers tropes with flashbacks/alternating timelines are my favoriteeee and this one was so sweet!

it didn’t tug at my strings as much as others but the buildup was sweet and the shorter chapters had me intrigued what would happen next. wyatt’s character i really adored! he was so warm and in love even in their early days. i felt so hopeful! sam wasn’t as lovable as wyatt but was still a character i was rooting for! it was so clear she’d gone through so much and was able to come out the end with some guidance from her loved ones. it really was a sweet story of sam’s happy ending and wyatt’s closure.

i wish it would’ve had just a little more dramatics and one liners that just kill me that typically come with a second chance romance. i think for all it was in the little red bow tied on top of this book, i really did love it. i loved it and i’m gonna go read the author’s other things. i did enjoy their writing and agin, i was constantly curious what would happen next. the pacing was great!

thank you netgalley and the publisher for sending me this arc in return for an honest review!

Sam and Wyatt grew up spending summers together on Long Island. They were first loves and they broke each other’s hearts. 14 years later, they have both seemed to move on and Sam has returned to the Island to nail down a venue for her wedding to Jack. The story alternates between past and present with alternating POVs from Sam and Wyatt.
This was a cute and enjoyable read. There was nothing to not like about it and it was fairly formulaic for a summer romance story. It will make for enjoyable summer reading. I’d say 3.5 ⭐️ if I could do a half on here. Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Wonderful second chance romance. I loved everything about the MC's. The struggles in life and the struggle to allow yourself true happiness. No spice here, but it hits you in all the feels. This one will have you believing in the power of true love.
Perfect quick, fun beach read!
Truly a wonderful book.

*ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Undoubtedly this will be one of the top 2023 summer beach reads. A charming story of childhood, love, nostalgia & self-discovery. A heartwarming love story that I will be recommending to many.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC of this novel.

I LOVED Nora Goes Off Script, so I was excited to read this!

To me, friends to lovers to estranged can be super hit or miss as a plot. I think this storyline was good and better than most books that use this trope. My biggest issue with this book is that Sam and Jack didn't feel fleshed but Sam really didn't. I didn't understand the need to include the flash mob or why she had zero friends? I think I just loved Nora so much that Sam felt to surface.

The writing was good and I flew through this book. I'd recommend to others but it's just very different than Nora to me.

A sweet story about first love and second chances. I really liked the vividly drawn Long Island beachfront setting and enjoyed following Sam's unexpected journey of self-discovery. The history between Sam and Wyatt is smartly doled out in alternating dual perspectives, but I could have used more than one chapter from Wyatt in the present day to get a better handle on his current feelings and actions. Given the reasons for Sam and Wyatt's breakup as teenagers and the anger that he dealt with afterward, I was surprised that Wyatt and another character didn't have any friction in the present-day storyline. The secondary characters could have been stronger and the book ends a little too abruptly, yet I still found it to be a very worthwhile and compelling read.

I enjoyed this more than I feel like I should have based on my critiques of it. For one, the writing was lacking for me. There was soooo much “tell” and very little “show.” It felt like everything was spelled out for us rather than describing it and letting us come to our own conclusions. The sentences were stilted at times. It just felt unnatural, especially from Sam. Was this on purpose because she was essentially a robot? Maybe. But I did not like it. I also felt Sam’s character was a low point for the book. She was like a caricature of a buttoned-up trophy wife. She was blatantly making choices that went against her personality and didn’t seem to notice until Wyatt told her to get her shit together. It was just not believable at all that she would’ve been so unaware of how stifled her personality was. I also didn’t like how so much time was spent describing how her relationship with Wyatt was unhealthy and addictive, but then they get back together and it’s like…well, is their relationship/attachment suddenly healthy and well-balanced?? It was just strange.

However. The relationship between Wyatt and Sam was super swoon-worthy, and the author’s ability to draw you back into the memories of your own first love was impressive. I also really liked the town and the summer memories, it was very reminiscent of where I grew up going on vacation, so the nostalgia factor was there.

Overall, this was definitely a 3.5 for me, but I’m rounding up (maybe undeservedly).

4/5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and penguin Group Putnam for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

A Long Island summer? Check. Multi-faceted characters with lovable families? Check. A Second chance at love? You guessed it - Check.

This book will undoubtedly be everyone's favorite beach read this year. I couldn't get enough of Sam and Wyatt's love story.

I haven't yet read Annabel Monaghen's previous work, Nora Goes Off Script, but I'll certainly be picking it up this summer. I'm so excited to have found a favorite new author.

I absolutely loved this book. It hooked me and kept me turning pages until I was done. Finished it in two days! The character development was strong, and the premise was unique enough that it didn't feel like anything else I've read.

Same Time Next Summer was a fun romp about first loves coming back into your life when you're happily engaged. I may be one of the few who didn't read Monaghan's Nora Goes Off Script even thought it was a 2022 fan fave. I promised myself to read this early so it didn't fall through the cracks of a long TBR list.

This book is definitely a romance and certainly has a good dose of wit. I loved the theme of music that drifted through the narrative. Music can bring a person back into time and space of when he or she first heard a song, and this book proves this over and over again. First love feelings are often dormant in one's heart, until they happen upon you in the least expected ways.