I love a good second chance romance! This book is duel points of view and duel timelines which I feel can get really messy fast but the author did a good job of intertwining them in a way that didn’t leave you bored with the past or present story line. I will say it took me about 35% of the way to get really invested into the MC. I do really love how Sam finds herself again after trying so hard to make her life what she thought it needed to be rather than what she wanted it to be. My biggest issue is that although it is duel POV I don’t feel like I really got to know Wyatt as well as I wanted to and the ending felt rushed. I can dig a good quick summer read but I really wanted to see more of them at the end. Their story felt slightly unfinished and I really wanted more at the end. I read this more as a chick lit rather than a romance but overall I really enjoyed it. The characters and their struggles felt real and well thought out. I was rooting for them and had a hard time putting it down at the end. It’s definitely going to make a great summer day beach read!

The second chance specifically childhood friends to strangers to lovers is something that I will never stop gravitating towards. The premise was not anything new as I have read several books with something similar before with some of those being my favorite novels of all time. However, I still had a really good time reading this book and I'm glad I had the chance to pick up this arc! I definitely recommend this book especially for all the second chance girlies out there. This book is for you!

SAME TIME NEXT SUMMER is the follow-up to Annabel Monaghan's most recent release NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT. As a huge Nora fan, I was thrilled to receive this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

SAME TIME NEXT SUMMER follows Sam, planning her wedding to her fiancée Jack, while trying to get closure around her first love Wyatt. As a huge fan of second chance love, and friends to lovers, I loved Sam and Wyatt's story, both then and now, and found this novel to be very enjoyable and heartfelt. It didn't resonate with me as well as NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT though, as Jack's character felt a bit under-developed at times, and I would have liked more time devoted to the resolution of the story. The final few pages felt rushed and could have been stretched to a few more chapters, to really enjoy Sam's happy ending. In all, SAME TIME NEXT SUMMER is a beautifully written, compelling story of love lost and found, of second chances and the magic of summer. I highly recommend it to Monaghan fans and first-time readers alike.

Ah! I'm so glad NetGalley provided me with an ARC of this book because I couldn't go till next summer to get more of Annabel Monaghan's writing. The title of the book had me concerned it would fall into a "just like so many others" category, but I was beyond pleasantly surprised. I read the book in two sittings and fell in love with the characters just like in Nora Goes Off Script. Monaghan does such a great job of writing realistic, beautiful and complex female characters. You can see, smell and feel each scene with the way she writes and I didn't want it to end!

such a lovely, beautiful book. as with the author’s other book, nora goes off script, my heart was first broken then put back together. the emotions really jump off the page. a bit cliched, but what romance book isn’t? i knew what would probably happen but that didn’t make me enjoy it any less.

“Same Time Next Summer” is a beautifully written, visual wonderland of delight. The dialogue is poetically delicious, the beach setting intoxicating, and the characters are entertaining and endearing. Second chances are in the air for everyone, family drama is front and center, and beautiful music is the backdrop for it all.

From the minute Sam and Jack drove through the Lincoln Tunnel on their way to her family’s beach house I knew I was in for the vacation of a lifetime. “You can’t turn around in the tunnel” Sam commented, as she admitted to herself that she dreaded this visit with her parents. But at the same time, part of her yearned to relive her younger days when life was simple, sunny and never planned or scrutinized.

The beach house was full of happy chaos as her parents welcomed them into paradise. It wouldn’t be the same if the atmosphere was staid and orderly which was exactly how Sam was living her life. Where was the carefree young girl who started each day with a brisk swim in the ocean, smiling as the waves washed over her? The longer she spent at the beach the more she missed her younger self and the happiness that was always in her heart.

Seeing her first love Wyatt again after all these years confused her and forced her to reflect on the past and how much she had changed. Wyatt was even more perfect than she had remembered and hearing him sing made her feel like the starry-eyed girl she once was. Sam thought she had her life all planned out but the allure of the beach, the peacefulness of the waves along with her memories, brought back feelings she once thought were gone. Her love for Wyatt all those years ago was magical, pure and one she had never forgotten. Why was he back at the beach and what should she do about it?

I was so excited to request this book once I saw it was recommended for fans of Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After because that is one of my favorite books!
This story is different from Every Summer After, but it has just enough similarities that I couldn’t stop comparing the two. I do think I would’ve enjoyed this one a little more if I hadn’t read Every Summer After.

This was a quick, easy beach read. Even though this book has 320 pages, I feel like it was so short! It went by so quickly, and I don’t feel like we really got a deep dive into the characters. I would’ve really like to experience more of Sam and Wyatt together as adults. I didn’t feel like they had any chemistry in the scenes they did have together.

Overall this was a fun but predictable read. I enjoyed it, but the ending felt rushed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I feel like I've read two other books with almost the exact same plot... buuuut I loved both of those and loved this one as well. It's not a copy of those other book by any means and was a really fun read!

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from PENGUIN Group Putnam and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

A fun, feel good novel about second chances.

How many times will I eagerly and willingly read the same story over and over again? The answer is there is no limit. I just love the second-chance romance, childhood friends-to-lovers, first love, and dual timeline tropes so much. Bonus points if there’s a lake or beach house involved.

This was incredibly similar to Love & Other Words by Christina Lauren, Every Summer After by Carley Fortune, and Some Mistakes Were Made by Kristin Dwyer. The issue with Same Time Next Summer? It just didn’t live up to what those books achieved. It’s tough to compete with well-loved books that have similar plots and I’m a little bummed that I didn’t enjoy this more. I was very invested in the couples from those other books, but in STNS I felt there wasn’t as much depth in the relationship. It also didn’t really bring anything brand new or interesting to the table.

It was a short read, which I typically enjoy, but I would’ve preferred this to be longer and really flesh out the past timeline so I could fall in love with Sam and Wyatt. Same Time Next Summer also requires the suspension of belief because there’s one part of the storyline that, I’m sorry, would absolutely not happen in the age of social media. Monaghan did her best to explain how that was possible but when I read it, I was like yeah… no. There was some back and forth between 1st and 3rd person POVs with the past and present timelines that I didn’t love, it made the voice feel a bit inconsistent. The ending felt rushed and I was a little disappointed I didn’t get to spend more time with the characters once everything came together. I wish I wasn’t stuck in the headspace of comparing this to similar books instead of just enjoying it for what it is, but that’s a risk the author took.

Overall, a fun read that will be perfect for summer vacations. The story had such a positive, feel-good conclusion and I was happy to see Sam figure her life out. I’m very curious to see how this one lands with other early readers!

3.5 ⭐️

I really enjoyed this book. It will make an amazing summer read when release in June 2023.

It follows Sam a 30 something about to marry a doctor, Jack based in NYC. The story flips back and forth between present day and Sam’s pasts summers spent on Long Island at her family’s beach house. You learn about her young love with neighbor Wyatt.

Overall it was a feel good story! I loved watching Sam and Wyatt’s relationship bloom through their youth.

I agree with other comments that the end was quick and cut short. I would have LOVED more time with them in the present.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book. It’s the perfect feel-good read, and a fabulous follow-up to the first book I read by this author, NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT (also great!) In her latest work, Monaghan throws a new cast of characters not real life questions of dealing with loss, who we trust to guide us as we figure out how to move forward, and living “safe” vs. being honest about who you are and what you want. She puts her characters in challenging situations, but it’s all drawn so subtly and with such nuance that it feels true to life. And as a reader who needed a story where things were going to be okay in the end, I instinctually trusted her to land the plane in a way that would be satisfying. And wow, did she. I don’t want to leave spoilers, so I’ll just say - this is a great group of people you’ll be glad to spend time with as this story unfolds. Highly recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book.

Same Time Next Summer was a quick read with my favorite trope- friends to lovers. There were so many parts of this book I liked- I adored Wyatt, Sam’s family was great, and the setting. The switch from 1st to 3rd person from then to now (it was confusing at first and felt choppy at times), adultery (parents) and lying (Sam + Jack), and the rushed ending were my least favorite parts of the book.

Overall, this was a good read with a sweet (although rushed) ending!

Thank you kindly to Penguin and NetGalley for an ARC of this book that comes out June 6, 2023!

Same Time Next Summer by @annabelmonaghan - what a great book! I picked it up because I loved Monaghan’s last book, Nora Goes Off Script. It did not disappoint! You’ll love the beach house setting and the lovable characters.
Thanks to @netgalley and @penguinusa @putnambooks for the ARC!
#netgalley

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read An advanced copy of Same Time Next Summer in exchange for an honest review.

This book is very cute from the start, but it gets truly magical about 40% in when something shifts from adorable to heart melting. Same Time Next Summer tells the story of Samantha (Sam) as she navigates love as a teen and the aftermath of heartbreak and the possibility of marriage as an adult. The return of Wyatt, her first love, complicates the carefully curated life Sam has worked so hard for.

The use of art as a parallel to life is so beautifully done in this novel. I love all the mentions of straight, clean lines (and people) vs curly, messy lines (and lives). Right vs wrong. Right vs what we perceive as right for us. So well done.

There’s something so relatable to Sam losing herself and rediscovering who she really is at the age of 30. I felt connected to her, could understand what she was going through. I truly felt the agony of her heart being drawn towards Wyatt but feeling as if her brain is telling her Jack is right for her.

My only real complaint is that I wanted more of the happy at the end. Another reviewer mentioned wanted more of a grand finish and I couldn’t agree more.

I loved this book. I deeply fell into the story, the characters and the gift of hope that surrounded every page. I would have been so sad if the ending had turned out any other way. I highly recommend Same Time Next Year to hopeless romantics, rom-com fans, chick lit fans and anyone craving a beautiful tale of love and promise.

Wonderful story. I simply could not put it down.
Samantha and Wyatt were next door neighbors - for 3 months each year, as they spent their summers in their side by side beach houses. They grew up spending their summers sharing their days and families: swimming, surfing, cookouts and learning about both sides of life, the happy times and the troubling ones. They're near idyllic summer lives are suddenly put asunder when a poor choice, made by her mother and his father, tears the bond between them that Sam believed was invincible.
The story is a combination of a mesmerizing look back at their lives as they grew up, and the present, as Sam returns to the beach house now, with her fiancee, ready to plan her wedding, only to find Wyatt visiting at his family home, as well.
Though heart wrenching at times the story is a warm salute to the resilience of youth and that old adage of "listen to your heart".
Great character development, well defined plot and who doesn't like a beach setting?
Will be eagerly looking for her next story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing me with an ARC of Same Time Next Summer in exchange for my review.

In Same Time Next Summer, the main character Sam is dealing with a lot at once - the potential loss of her job, a fiancé that is maybe a little too perfect, and a family that she seems ashamed of at times for their quirkiness. On top of that, she is faced with seeing her first love again after many years and she clearly has unresolved issues with their break up. Sam and her first love, Wyatt, broke up but you don't learn why right away. I was intrigued and kept reading to see what could have torn them apart. It seemed like they were meant for one another. The author kept me guessing and I honestly was shocked when I read what happened. Overall, I liked the book and stayed up late to finish it but II felt like the ending was rushed and I wish I could have had a little more time with Sam and Wyatt.

"Out on the water, Wyatt and I are both the past and the present. I am the girl who wasn't afraid of anything, all grown up without having been broken. I can feel the strength of that girl and I think he sees her. I don't want to look away."

Sam Holloway is back at her family's Long Island beach house. She's with her fiancé Jack looking at potential wedding venues and determined to keep her trip back to her family home as short as possible. Her parents artistic, wild and free living out here isn't something she's used to anymore, and she's more than ready to return back to her Manhattan life as soon as possible with her picture perfect fiancé and stable(ish?) job.

Sam doesn't expect to see Wyatt Pope, her childhood sweetheart, her first love, and the man that broke her heart years ago. With Wyatt so close, Sam is brought back to those summers where they met and fell in love. It's harder and harder to let go of the walls she's built around herself, and is questioning everything about the life she's built. She's learning where her real happiness is.
_______________________________

ALEXA, PLAY "THE WAY I LOVED YOU (TAYLOR'S VERSION)" BY TAYLOR SWIFT

But seriously, that's all I could hear in my head during the first chunk of this book. Jack is fine. He is perfect on paper, just very obviously not perfect for Sam. She created this life and persona that's protected from ever having a broken heart again, and Jack fits right into that mold along with her job.

I loved getting to see Sam break down her walls. That was really the star of this book. Being back on the beach and being surrounded by her parents, the water, and Wyatt she's learning how to be vulnerable again. She should be over Wyatt, it's been years, but being back makes it so easy to fall back into this place where she's herself. Wyatt brings out the truest parts of Sam and she has the ability to let go for the first time in a long time.

I love that this book goes back and forth in time. We get to see their young love develop and of course the inevitable heart breaking downfall that split them up. I'll be honest, that split was ROUGH. It felt like everything spiraled so fast and it was very very much teenagers thinking with teenage emotions.

I think the book needed more. Just more of everything really. We needed more present day Wyatt. They needed to talk more in present time and grown up Wyatt deserves more character development. The pacing of the book was also a little frustrating. It went slowly building up their story at first, but the end felt rushed. I finished the last chapter and tried to turn the page but there was nothing more. After all they went through, I think they deserve more at the end of this book.

Overall a good time, if you're a fan of Every Summer After then you're likely to enjoy this book.

Thank you Netgalley, Annabel Monaghan, and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

↠ 3.75 stars

The title sucked me in immediately. To know it was possibly about a reconnected lost love situation made it even better. Some of the story was frustrating but it’s only because I was able to connect so strongly with the characters. We don’t really get to know Wyatt a ton which was disappointing but I still loved this book. A perfect summer read.