this is about a woman who is engaged and goes to the beach for the summer, she meets up with her first love. really enjoyed the story.

The blurb is correct this is somewhat like Every Summer After but I found I liked the latter better. This woman realizes what she wants out of life/love story features Sam who is around 30 and she's arriving at her parent's beach house where she and her fiancé, Jack are planning their wedding.
But her old boyfriend, Wyatt is around and now we set off on the adventure of who is this Wyatt? Why did they break up? And what's going on with her job because she's in the midst of possibly losing her job.

This book was a fun read. I looked forward to picking it up over the course of a few days. The problem is that the characters weren't that deep. Jack is very 2 dimensional and is presented as a real jerk. Which makes the story all that much more predictable. And there is a "secret" that Sam finds out about about half way through that felt far fetched, like how could she not know?

I really really loved Nora Goes Off Script and this will probably be pretty successful to but for me it was a tiny bit of a let down but not enough to not recommend it because it was a good story, just not a great story.

I've really been enjoying the romance novels that have a bit more depth to them. There's more to the story than a giggly romance. This one felt on the same wavelength. Sam slowly realizes she's settled in being a person she's not and it brought the book some depth as we see how that unfolds. This whole book kept reminding me of the movie Sweet Home Alabama and the whole idea of "coming home." I like the now and then writing style and would love to read Nora Goes Off Script!

This book was a cute refreshing friends to strangers to friends to lovers. A mouthful but a beautiful ride to be on. I loved to Dual Pov. Both from one character to the next but also across time. We really got a sense of who Sam is and what she went through. I would have loved to get a deeper understanding of Wyatt but the pieces we got, I enjoyed! The end was rushed and some what predictable. Besides that, It was an HEA and I’m not mad about how it concluded.

If you love the second chance love stories, then Same Time Next Summer should be your next read. The story follows Sam while she returns to her families beach house to plan her wedding to Jack, her safe and sensible fiancé. While at the beach she realizes that her childhood love, Wyatt, is back in town and of course their paths cross again and again causing old feelings and fears to resurface. This book does switch between the past and the present with points of view from both Sam and Wyatt. While some parts of the book are unbelievable (who hasn’t googled or social media stalked their ex after a couple of glasses of wine?!) it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book. I wish I had gotten more of the love story, but I still got a little misty eyed in the last few chapters and that is what draws me to keep reading romance stories. The only thing better would have been if I was at the beach while reading.

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam / Penguin Random House for sending this book for review considerations. All opinions are my own.

Love a good second chance romance with dual time lines! I loved Nora Goes off Script so was eager to read this book. Again really enjoyed a rom-com with a bit more depth and feelings with character development. It's a quick read that's easy to keep picking up

Thank you @netgalley for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, Same Time Next Summer was not my cup of tea.

This was the most bizarre read I’ve had in a while: super quick read, almost no plot, mostly underdeveloped characters. This book felt 50 pages long yet it was 300 and I couldn’t tell you 90% of what happened. I felt like I got to know Sam (protagonist) pretty well, but I don’t know Wyatt at all. The only time we got any clear description of him was when he was breaking teenage Sam’s heart. I don’t think Wyatt and Sam even had a real conversation until 50% through. This book felt like an outline, not a finished product. It has a good concept and the potential to be good, but the execution was lacking. Also, I find the second chance summer romance to be overdone lately (Every Summer After, The Infinity Between Us, etc).

📚 Same Time Next Summer
✍ Annabel Monaghan
📖 Contemporary Romance
⭐ 5/5
🌶️ 1.5/5
Out 6.6.23

Thank you to @netgalley and @putnambooks for an eARC of Same Time Next Summer in exchange for my honest review.

"The way we felt that summer, it changed me. Like knowing that love could make a person that happy opened up something in me. It's why I can write songs. It gives me a lot of hope, that it's possible to felt that way. If what we had didn't matter, then my whole life is based on nothing."
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💭What I loved: No sophomore slump for Annabel Monaghan! I thought it would be hard to top the absolute joy that it was to read Nora Goes Off Script but Same Time Next Summer packed in all the emotions and I felt myself transported to the shores of Long Island the second I opened the book and am wishing I were still there now that I've closed that final chapter. Monaghan's writing is emotional yet weightless and I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN.

The characters, the love triangle, the dual POV and dual timelines- I loved it all! Plus, it was my favorite trope: childhood friends to lovers to strangers--> reunited= chef's kiss perfection!

What I didn't: This book attempts dual timelines and dual POVs but it doesn't always work. Sam's POV is written in the first person and Wyatt's is written in the 3rd person which didn't make a ton of sense. But I still knew what was happening.
◾
Read if you love:
*childhood friends-->lovers-->strangers-->reunited
*complicated love triangles
*summer love stories
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See also: Every Summer After, Love and Other Words, The Summer I Turned Pretty

One of those rare romances where I didn't care if the couple ended up together, and at certain points I really wish they wouldn't. The lead characters are bland, without chemistry, and absolutely grated on my nerves.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy of “Same Time Next Summer.” I really enjoyed this second chance love story between Sam and Wyatt. The settings, both “Now” and “Then” were so vivid, I felt as though I was on the beach with the Sam and the whole family. This was a great follow up to “Nora Goes Off-script” and I recommend to readers of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. You will not be disappointed, although you will definitely find yourself wishing for a Long Island beach home!

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group/Putnam for the opportunity to read Annabel Monaghan's Same Time Next Summer. A beautiful beach, a first love reunion. What's not to Love!?

This book follows Sam who returns to her family beach house on Long Island as she’s planning her wedding. What she doesn't expect is her first love, Wyatt, is back and staying next door again. It is a then and now timeline telling what happened in their childhood and what is happening now.

I loved this book so much. I am calling it right now that this will be the book of the summer in 2023. The descriptions made it feel like you were there, on the ocean listening to the waves, catching a surf, making it the best summer read. I loved the format of the then and now where instead of each chapter going back and forth, there were sections of it. It is also closed door which I love in a book. I do wish we got more of Wyatt’s pov in the now timeline, but overall I loved the characters and the plot so much. (I think I’m giving it a 4.5)

Preorder this book, take a beach trip next summer, bring it along with you, and you are sure to have the best time.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

Just finished this book and couldn’t wait to leave a review. It was heartwarming and nostalgic in a way that I can’t totally describe, but made me feel really good. The main character, Sam, was funny and relatable, on the cusp of 31 and unsure if her life is coming together or falling apart. Wyatt is the one that got away for Sam, and she tries to navigate those old feelings in the context of her new life during a trip back to her summer home. Somehow reading this book felt like a summer at the beach. I thought the balance between the “then” and “now” sections was perfect, and I loved watching the characters grow up. Great story about love, family, and choosing your path. I could not put this one down!

#SameTimeNextSummer is Annabel Monaghan’s follow-up to her delightful debut #NoraGoesOffScript. This second-chance romance is another engaging example of her outstanding talent as a storyteller.

Wyatt Pope and Samantha (Sam) Holloway meet as children when their parents’ summer homes on Long Island are next door to each other. The relationship between Sam and Wyatt evolves over 12 summers from friends to lovers. Their plans for the future, including attending USC together, are torn apart after the relationships between their four parents are shattered the summer when Sam is 17.

Sam is heartbroken after the breakup, eventually getting support from a therapist who believes that the kind of love that Sam felt for Wyatt was an “addiction” so to get over him she has to give him up entirely. To avoid risking that kind of love again, Sam turns her back on who she was and becomes someone who is “buttoned up” and lives according to plans and rules. After more than a decade, Sam returns to the summer home with her fiancée, Jack, to spend a long weekend and placate her mother by looking at possible wedding venue on Long Island. Wyatt is also back, living next door, and the two of them are inevitably drawn back together and Sam finds herself feeling less comfortable with who she has turned into.

This was a lovely story with likeable characters and a narrative flow that kept the pages turning. There are a couple of situations that seemed to strain credibility (for example, despite her therapist’s characterization of Sam and Wyatt’s love as “addiction,” it was hard to believe that Sam never was tempted to find out what Wyatt was doing after their breakup). However, Monaghan is such a talented writer that this did not detract from the overall charm of the story.

All in all, a wonderful sophomore effort; can't wait to see what Annabel Monaghan writes next!

Thanks to #NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC.

First off this is a clean romance, which is fine, just one of those things I wish was easier to discern up front.

This story caught my attention by drawing similarities to either Love and Other Words, or Every Summer After. If you’ve read either of those you’ll know that structurally they are very similar. I was worried this might be too much of a good thing for I read a 3rd novel with a similar premise. That said, there were enough differences to truly make this book feel like a unique experience.

For the most part I found it to be an enjoyable read, however the pacing was a little off for me, let’s just say that Sam (Female main) stays engaged for WAY longer than expected, leaving very little time in the story for the “fall back in love” portion. Essentially the majority of what we got of Sam and Wyatt’s love story occurs via flashbacks. More time should have been dedicated to present day fall back in love.

I loved this quick and easy read. I loved the story of first loves and life and how sometimes you can come back to that time in your life when you could be yourself.

Sam is set to marry Jack and returns to her parents summer home in Long Island to prepare for her upcoming wedding. Being home brings back simpler times with her best friend and eventual boyfriend Wyatt. It is a sweet story about times past and figuring out how to make yourself happy as you get older rather than making everyone else happy!

As a teenager spending her summers in Long Island, Sam thought her whole life was planned out: graduate high school, get into UCLA, and spend the rest of her life with Wyatt, who she was deeply in love with. But sometimes bigger things in life get in the way and everything is thrown off. Now 13 years later, Sam has left the past behind, is engaged to a wonderful man and getting ready to have a beautiful wedding, but the real question is whether or not she’s even truly happy and will seeing Wyatt again change all of this.

I adored this book. The switch from present to past didn’t leave me wanting to bang my head against a brick wall which is always a book reading bonus & I didn’t fully mind the switch from 1st person to 3rd person narration. You could without a doubt see the difference in who Sam was growing up and who she wound up trying to be when she was older. Personally, I blame Dr Judy (her therapist) who had the audacity to tell a 17 year old Sam that was never in love with Wyatt and she needed to detox from him because he was a simple “addiction” for a teenager. While I get that it’s a fictional book, I was super angry about this Dr Judy lady because what the actual f*#k lady, just because someone is 17 does NOT mean they do not have the capacity to fall in love.

The loved the character progressions and how their stories truly portrayed their growth. I also loved how Sam was vulnerable and was able to evaluate her life and realize she needed to start doing what was best for her.

The ending did feel a little rushed but either way I really did enjoy this book.

Thank you #NetGalley & Penguin for providing me with an ARC of #SameTimeNextSummer for my honest review

3.75⭐️ An enjoyable reunited first love by the summer home beach read. Felt a bit new/young adult to me.
Highly recommend, in the mean time, reading author’s recent book Norah Goes Off Script.

Oh my gosh this so exceeded my expectations! It’s a familiar story but the writing and heart in Same Time Next Summer set it on another level. It isn’t chick lit. It is sincere and gut wrenching and sweet and beautiful. The magnetism between the characters is honest.

Enjoyable but I could not get over Wyatt’s betrayal so it was hard to root for a HEA there. Also felt the ending was a little rushed.