This has so much potential to be a 5 star read with all the best aspects of summer reading! However, there was just too much back and forth for me and a tad rug out.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

Summer After Summer is a retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion. Lauren Bailey did a great job of keeping the bones of the story without too heavily relying on the outline. I really enjoyed this spin on the classic.

Thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

Summer After Summer unfortunately fell short for me. The constant back-and-forth narrative and character self-sabotage, coupled with a slightly drawn-out storyline, left me feeling like the plot was treading water.

The central theme of communication issues between the main characters was a double-edged sword. On one hand, the chemistry when they reunited kept me engaged, but on the other, it added to the frustration that permeated the narrative. The dual timelines helped in maintaining my interest. While at times sluggish throughout, the story did wrap together nicely in the end.

This book was everything I wanted it to be and more! It was such a cozy beach read and I constantly craved more. It had great character development and I’ll probably reread it this summer! I loved it.

I loved the beginning of the book. Who doesn’t love a coming of age summer romance? It was nostalgic and gave me all the feels.
As Olivia grew older the tennis picked up and I was less interested in that. I found it hard to believe they would find their way to each other with the intensity of it after only spending a handful of days together in total. It was a running joke with Ash but also what happened to her at the end?
I also didn’t find it believable that their circle of people was so small.
The ending was more the conclusion of a who done it murder mystery game and was easy to predict as it unfolded but also came out of nowhere.
I do love a HEA so the book ended with warm and fuzzies and I really did love the beginning.

A captivating read featuring a multitude of endearing characters. A modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion making it the perfect summer read!

A woman comes home to help her family clear out the house since it is sold. A lot of memories come with this house. Also, the woman is newly separated from her cheating husband.

Summer After Summer is the story of Olivia and Fred as they connect and reconnect every 5 years. Alternating between past and present timelines we see how Fred and Olivia manage to re-emerge into each others lives and continue to not work out.

I loved seeing how Fred and Olivia’s relationship grew over time as well as how they matured as characters. I found both to be believeable characters and I was rooting for them to work out in the end.

I did find myself becoming bored with many of the tennis scenes towards the end and maybe if I were more of a tennis player I would find them to be more engaging. As this was an ARC, I also noticed a minor error - in chapter 15, Olivia mentions she will be turning thirty-six, and in chapter 20 it says it’s the morning of her thirty-fifth birthday.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book.

"Summer After Summer" is a tale of love and growth, exploring the concept that sometimes, the timing just isn't right. Lauren Bailey's retelling of Persuasion offers a fresh take on Austen's classic themes of love, loss, and second chances. If you're a fan of contemporary romance that tugs at the heartstrings and embraces the idea of rediscovering love, this book is a worthwhile read. It's a story of hope and possibility, reminding us that sometimes, the fifth time may indeed be the charm.

This book is perfect for anyone who loved Carley Fortune's Every Summer After!

It's a modern retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion, and follows the relationship of Olivia and Fred. The story is told from Olivia's perspective, but features dual timelines of past and present. I love this in a romance novel, especially for a second (third-fourth-fifth)-chance romance! The past timeline unfolds in 5-year time jumps, so we get to see the characters grow from their teens to their current mid-thirties.

I'll definitely be buying a copy of this when it comes out in May. I can tell it's going to be a summer re-read favourite!

Thanks to Alcove Press for sending me an e-ARC of this book and I look forward to Bailey's next book. :)

Olivia/Fred/Wes. What a page turner. I found myself talking to the book.... Willing it to go the way I wanted. The twist at the end was unexpected but brilliant! I literally couldn't put this book down. Wonderful storyline. I loved how it went back and forth. If only all stories were so well written!!

This book had all of the elements that I could possibly have wanted in a romantic summer read: beautiful coastal town setting, Jane Austen retelling, with lovely writing. I teared up at parts, and the male main character, Fred, was swoon-worthy. I did feel like there were a few too many conflicts keeping Olivia and Fred apart that could've been resolved with basic communication... But overall, I really enjoyed the book. Thank you to Netgalley for this advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

A romance that is imbued with a decade’s worth of hurts, regrets, and unsaid emotions, but that somehow manages to make us feel incredibly optimistic from beginning to end, this was exactly the kind of escapism I was looking for. Highly enjoyed it.

This was the perfect beach read. It gave a very “hallmark-esq” feel which I enjoy in my summer reads. It was a classic story in a modern time and I enjoyed the dual timelines. I liked Olivia, she felt very relatable and I’m all about second chance romance. Overall I liked this one and I think it’s a great beach book.

This book had the potential to be a five star read for me, but unfortunately a few things brought my rating down. I really liked the angst throughout the flashbacks and present-day sections of the book, and the family dynamics and awkward relationships between Olivia and her sisters really worked for me. I did really like the use of the flashbacks to flesh out Olivia and Fred’s past, but I kept finding myself wondering if the reading experience would have been better with a slightly different structure. Bailey sticks to rigid format where the chapters alternate, with one set in the present and the next set in the past. This means that sometimes you reach the end of a chapter, desperate to keep following the current scene, and then are thrust back or forward into a fairly unrelated scene, before returning to where you were in the following chapter. Sometimes this switching works perfectly, but I just kept feeling that if the structure was a bit more fluid that the story would have flowed a little better.

I did find the romance convincing, and I enjoyed that the characters were all pretty flawed. There is a lot of frustration and communication issues between Olivia and Fred but their passionate dynamic did feel believable. Despite all the stupid choices made by both of them, I did still find myself rooting for them.

The book feels tonally a bit uneven, with the writing sometimes being really compelling but really dragging at other points. I especially found the descriptions of tennis matches began to drag in the second half of the book. The first couple of chapters did feel a little bit heavy on the exposition dumping, but luckily this doesn’t continue too much throughout the book.

Also, as a CW I would be aware that there are a lot of references to the weight of pretty much every female character in the book. This is especially obvious in the first half as this is when most characters are being introduced, and there are some emotionally loaded words used to describe the weight of different women when we are introduced to them. This is not as ubiquitous when different male characters are introduced.

As this was an ARC, there were a few issues which need correction so hopefully these can be fixed before publication:
- “Hey Ya!” by Outkast is accidentally referred to as “Hey, Yeah” on p.58 which was just really jarring haha
- In chapter 31, the embroidered name of the couple is referred to as being both ‘Brian and Susan’ and ‘Brenda and Jack’
- On the first page of the Epilogue, it says “Ann and William” where it ought to say Ann and Wes - this really needs to be fixed for it to make sense

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for letting me read an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I overall like this book! The characters are lovable and the character development is great. Would recommend.

Summer After Summer follows the winding love story of Olivia and Fred. Told in alternating past-present chapters, you see Olivia and Fred meet and reconnect every 5 years. Present Day, Olivia is fleeing from her husband Wes after discovering his affair, she must return home to help her sisters and father clear out their family home. before the sale closes at the end of the summer. A wrench is thrown in Olivia's plan when she discovers that the buyer is Fred - her first love and a relationship that comes in and out of her life like a comet every 5 years. We follow Olivia as she returns home and deals with all of emotional baggage being around her family, old friends, and of course, Fred.

This was a very cute and entertaining romance. There were definitely heavier moments, when Olivia and Fred suffer with losses of loved ones and complicated family relationships. I really enjoyed Olivia and Fred's young love and seeing how they change and mature in between each interval. There were definitely times when you just want to shake them and make them communicate better, but I feel like that's the sign of a good book and well written drama! I read this very quickly and one I got about 30-40 percent in, I didn't want to put it down!

A few things that weren't my favorite: We know at the beginning that Olivia and her best friend, Ash, had a falling out at some point, but when actually get around to figuring out what caused it, it felt rushed and like a disproportional reaction to have the response of cutting off her childhood best friends for 5 whole years. Also, it was slightly hard for me to wrap my head around the love interest being named FRED. This is a personal qualm but I just don't think it seemed to fit him very well and made him seem like an old man. Additionally, while I appreciated Olivia's mom's notes and the portrayal of grief in the story, I think the last letter Olivia finds detailing about Sam came out of left field and really didn't end up being important to the story or relationships with her father, sisters, Wes, or Fred.

Lastly, I felt like the ending scene with the house closing/contract/party was rushed and could use a bit more developing. SPOILERS AHEAD: I felt like if Fred knew something was sketchy with the lawyers, he would've been less ambiguous about it throughout the summer since it involves his money too? And Olivia turns into a super sleuth for a few minutes in that scene that don't seem reflective of her character in the rest of the book.

For fans of One Day, One Day in December, and One True Loves - I definitely recommend picking this up. This is the author's first novel and I'm excited to see what else she writes in the future!

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to review this book!

The synopsis of Summer After Summer got me, I needed a break from the news and everything that is going on in the world CHIC LIT hello! This is a modern romance retelling of Jane Austen’s novel called Persuasion, sadly I do not recall the book well enough to compare, it is not a necessary requirement to enjoy Lauren Baily’s book.
The dual timelines help the story move forward enough to retain my interest, even when I wish there was a fast forward button. Yes, TV has ruined me, I need to slow down and enjoy the story. The setting is beautiful and the characters are likeable with enough depth.
This will be a fun beach read.

Thank you #netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This story tells the romance of Olivia and Fred, who meet as teenagers on a beach in the Hamptons and from that point, are set on a course of true (but ill fated) love on and off throughout their lives. It all culminates to a summer in the Hamptons years later, where Fred and Olivia’s stories cross again for a seemingly final will they or won’t they?

This book captured a great many details from Persuasion and in my opinion, I thought accomplished its goal in being a cute modern day twist on the classic story. The dual timelines kept the story moving and propelled it forward enough to retain my interest; there were points where it felt a bit slow and where I wished we could just move forward (this pace definitely worked better for Austen and customs of the 19th century). But, this was a great summer read! There were some points where the writing felt a little at odds with the contemporary flair/writing/references in the story but, it was easy enough to look past. The characters also clearly got in their own way and had me shaking my head a bit but, I get where the author was going with it and where she was drawing from!

Overall, I’d recommend this book for romance fans and for fans of Jane Austen retellings. It made me want to pick up Persuasion again so, that should say something!

I enjoyed the premise but, in execution, it felt rather clunky. I did appreciate the twist ending, the LGBT representation within Olivia's family, and the beautifully descriptive beach setting.