The story alternates between the present and each of the seven summers starting from when Liv and Finn met. The writing is so well done, and the characters are all fleshed out with so much depth. Cornwall, the setting, is a character in the story and the reader is immersed in this small coastal town in England. Liv is such a likeable character and her emotional growth and ability to cope with her grief is both raw and heartwarming. I was rooting for Finn and Liv, until Tom arrived in town. Tom, the mysterious newcomer won me over and now we have a love triangle. This is an emotional journey about falling in love, coping with tragedy and how we can love more than one person. The ending was unexpected but delivers the happy ending the reader hoped for. The epilogue chapters felt very rushed and jammed a lot of information into a few pages. I was interested in hearing more about Liv’s new life, but perhaps that is for another book.

4.5/5

This was such a wonderful read. I loved the story so much. The characters were relatable and the plot flowed well. Definitely recommend

Thank you to Putnam books and NetGalley for the ARC of Seven Summers by Paige Toon. All opinions are my own.

Paige Toon writes such heart wrenchingly beautiful love stories. Liv and Finn find love early but can they hold on to it? Will it survive their own internal battles, trauma and grief? Is love enough to overcome the barrier or, is it best to just let go? Can you find true love more than once in a lifetime? This story is full of love, tragedy, friendship.

Loved this story, loved the emotion it was written with, the depth you feel as you read Liv and Finn and Tom’s story. There was good tension throughout but was totally closed door.

“ Six summers to fall in love. One summer to change everything.
Liv and Finn meet six summers ago working in a bar on the rugged Cornish coastline, their futures full of promise. When a night of passion ends in devastating tragedy they are bound together inextricably. But Finn's life is in LA with his band, and Liv's is in Cornwall with her family-so they make a promise. Finn will return every year, and if they are single they will spend the summer together. This summer Liv crosses paths with Toma mysterious new arrival in her hometown. As the wildflowers and heather come into bloom, they find themselves falling for one another. For the first time Liv can imagine a world where her heart isn't broken every autumn. Now Liv must make an impossible choice. And when she discovers the shocking reason that Tom has left home, she'll need to trust her heart even more...”

She does it again! I absolutely loved Paige Toon’s Only Love Can Hurt Like This. So I was super excited to be approved for this one. This is a true love story. This is definitely not a romcom. I absolutely loved it and I can’t recommend it enough. It is told in dual timelines. There is an air of mystery to which I appreciate.

Thank you Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for this arc!

📚ARC Review 📚

Seven Summers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Liv and Finn know each other from school but they meet again six summers ago, when Finn is back home just for the summer, and instantly bonded - especially after a tragic event happens. Finn lives in LA now while Liv is in Cornwall. Finn promises to come back every summer and if they’re both single, they’ll spend their summers together. Even though it’s not ideal, it works for them… until the summer Liv meets Tom.


I want start off with saying is this not a romcom but a true romance book. It’s heartbreaking with so much loss and grief but also beautiful with the power of love and friendship. It is told in multiple timelines, current day alternating with the previous six summers. There is a love triangle trope and man, is it a hard one. The way it’s written, you fall in love with both characters so there’s no favorite. I loved Finn from the beginning as well as Tom, but Tom did make me suspicious at first. I also really like Liv’s character and Michael (her brother) too. It’s was a beautiful story that had me hooked within the first few chapters. The only thing I didn’t like was the epilogue. I felt like it was just a continuation of the story, same format etc, but felt a little rushed. A lot of info was dumped within it and it could have just been more chapters of the story itself, with a true epilogue at the end. I can see where the author was going with it and the style, but it just didn’t work for me.

Overall, I really did like this one! It comes out on May 21, 2024. Be sure to add to your TBR list! Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for my advanced reader’s copy. This is my honest and voluntary opinion.

BOOK: Seven Summers
AUTHOR: Paige Toon
PUB DATE: 5/21/2024 by Penguin Group Putnam
PAGES: 448
RATING: 5 stars
GENRE: Contemporary Romance/Fiction

A BIG Thank You to Penguin Group Putnam, NetGalley and Paige Toon for gifting me an Advance Reader’s Copy in exchange for my honest review!\

AUTHOR ACCOLADES: Paige Toon has written fifteen novels, a three-part spin-off for young adults and a collection of short stories. Her books have sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide.

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW: THIS BOOK is SO special! I can’t begin to express how much I loved this one! I’m honored to have been gifted an arc, and I will most definitely purchase a hardcover for myself and as gifts. This is NOT a RomCom. This is a story of love, and I LOVE Love! I inhaled it! This one will stay with me for a long time. All I ask for is a book that gives me all the feels, and this one did it! I’m jealous of anyone getting to read it for the first time!

Liv and Finn met six summers ago and instantly bonded - especially after a particularly tragic event. But, Finn lives in LA while Liv is in Cornwall. Finn resolves to come back every summer and if they’re both single, they’ll spend their summers together. And it works, until the summer Liv meets Tom.

Having recently read Toon’s last book, Five Years From Now, I was struck by how incredibly similar these premises are - people on opposite sides of the world trying to make it work, a devastating tragedy tying them together, and the vow to be together every X number of years. I’m not sure why she made these two books back to back so similar.

But, taking this book on its own, I really enjoyed it. Liv and Finn had incredible chemistry, as did Liv and Tom. And the ways in which the book bounced back and forth between this summer and previous summers gave us a great glimpse into how the relationships grew and developed. I loved the added layer of Liv caring for her brother with Down Syndrome, and the brother was such a fun character in his own right. The ending was both sad and uplifting, and I truly wasn’t sure what was going to happen which is always a nice surprise.

Toon’s books are great romances - easy to fly through with an undercurrent of something deeper, and they always have a great setting.

Thank you netgalley for the arc of this book! This is my first book by Paige Toon, and it was a little hard for me to dive into. However, I'm glad I stuck with it. This book was absolutely heartbreaking, but also has some beautiful moments. Olivia deserves the absolute world after everything life has thrown her way. Ugh I'm so conflicted with this rating, because if I go into detail it'd be a possible spoiler and I don't want that. Overall, I'd say it's a solid 4/5 for me.

Liv and Finn met six summers ago in the men's bathroom. They are bonded by a tragedy, but Finn lives in LA and Liv lives in Cornwall. They decide to meet again if they are both single when he returns to visit. Which they do for seven summers.
This is a summer romance. We follow the MCs during each of the summers, entertwined with the current one. I don't really understand their relationship (or lack thereof) and Liv's reasoning. How is it hard to keep in touch with someone you have such a deep connection with? I don't understand the point of Tom if this book if he was not the endgame. Liv and Tom make so much more sense than Liv and Finn, despite their story (which, I'm sorry, was weak). The epilogue was just a mess of stuff piling on top of one another. I would've been happier without it. And the plot was much too slow. This was the second and last book I read by this author, and I founs the other one just as boring. I did not enjoy this book, but many MANY others did, so it may be more for you than it was for me!
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Liv and Finn meet six summers ago working in a bar on the rugged Cornish coastline, their futures full of promise. When a night of passion ends in devastating tragedy they are bound together inextricably. But Finn’s life is in LA with his band, and Liv’s is in Cornwall with her family—so they make a promise. Finn will return every year, and if they are single they will spend the summer together.

This was the perfect Summer Beach read! There was such a strong sense of place, making me feel like I was right there at the beach with them. I really liked these two characters and was really rooting for them to get their happily ever after. Don't miss out on this one in your beach bag!

Thank you to @netgalley, @paigetoonauthor and @penguingroupputnam for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this summer romance between Liv and Finn, set over 6 summers. Great setting, great characters, and so much heartbreak! I have never read anything by Paige Toon before, but will be looking up her backlist. I fully expect this will be one of the blockbuster beach reads this summer!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

how can a story be so heartwarming and so heartbreaking at the same time?!?!?
could not stop thinking of the characters!!
I could have read 1000 more pages!

I am so conflicted with this one!!!

This book did one character in particular, one that I liked the most, really dirty... On the other hand, when it comes to love triangles, I REALLY enjoyed that Toon didn't spend the entire book making it glaringly obvious that one love interest would be the clear winner. I prefer when you are just as conflicted as the MC when deciding who to choose between. Thank you to Paige Toon for displaying this in such a way.

This story hooked me so quick. I enjoyed the characters for the most part. I liked the Down's Syndrome portrayal because it was perfectly realistic and not infantilizing. Liv is dealing with a lot of pain and loss in the beginning of this book, a pain that takes her a long time to healthily get past. Finn comes into her life at the time when she is super vulnerable, bonding with her and creating this really sweet, solid foundation. Unfortunately it isn't enough and both of them are adult enough to see they aren't in the position to really make a relationship work. They come to an agreement... he will come back every summer and if they are both single, they will spend the time together.

This understandably puts a strain on both of them in numerous ways... and after six summers of this situationship, Tom enters Liv's life. This book goes back and forth between now and the past summers, giving context at key times, but also dropping some bombshells along the way. And, ALL of this was so fun...

Unfortunately, it felt like this whole book was leading up to this main event, this big decision that Liv is supposed to make, but when it comes to the final conclusion, it is so incredibly rushed. I just didn't get any time of her living her decision... its all just epilogue and info dump. I got to the end and was like, what? that is IT???? That's all we get? I was so disappointed because the path to get there was so good.

Let's be honest - I am NOT a traditional fan of straight romance books. I have probably read less then 10 in my entire reading life, remembering two that I have truly read in my late teens. However, I will do my best to give this an honest review.

Seven Summers is an adult, contemporary romance. The book goes from present time to the past, telling the story of the life of the FMC, Liv. Over the span of 7-8 years, Liv lives through family grief that changes her the way she sees her future, and winds up staying in her hometown. Because she feels obligated to stay in the hometown, her love life becomes complicated and hinged around the MMC, Finn, and when he returns every summer. You can see where this is going... However, as Liv and Finn's love story unfolds to the reader, in present time, Liv meets a new man. Cue the typical heart break, miscommunication (not telling each other the full story), but thankfully no surprise pregnancy trope. There are likely other tropes that this summer romance hits that I'm not well versed in.

Overall, I didn't hate it, but it definitely reminded me why I don't go out of my way to read romance books.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for allowing me to read this advanced reader's copy for a review. Reviewed on Goodreads, StoryGraph and Instagram

This book had so much potential. I'm a sucker for second chance romances and a back and forth timeline that slowly reveals what happened between the two main characters. The chemistry between Finn and Liv was just not quite there for me. The trauma they've both been through. The way they only see each other but once a year. I needed more angst, more pining, more EMOTIONS. And then we add in Tom, who, I'm sorry, was just there lol. The back and forth between Liv's summers with Finn and then the present with Tom did not flow well. I didn't think Finn and Liv's chemistry was amazing, but it definitely was way more interesting than her and Tom's. And then that epilogue???? I knew I was in for it when my kindle said the epilogue was 22 minutes long. That was soooo rushed. It didn't match the pacing of the rest of the story. I think if the author had given more time to that part of the story, the whole thing would have come together in a much more beautiful and satisfying way. I actually think this book would benefit from being longer to really flesh out the relationships, especially considering we're spanning more than 7 years of these people's lives.

I did enjoy this in a lot of ways. Liv's relationship with her brother Michael, the way Finn was always there for Liv every summer after what happened, finding love for your passions after grief. Like I said before, there was a lot of potential here. It just didn't quite get there for me.

Side note - This would be a great limited series. I think it would really come to life on screen (kind of like Normal People and One Day).

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for the ARC!

This book was a solid 3 stars for me. The story was beautifully written, two characters who keep coming back to each other and yet giving enough space for each other to grow. The characters are hard not to like and root tortilla the end. The last few chapters however. I Could have gone without, they seemed forced and unecessary, 1 epilogue to summarize everything would have been adequate to

Thanks to netgalley for the ARC

While I was intrigued by the premise and enjoyed the first half of this novel, the second half started to feel repetitive, and I didn't like the whole plot line with Tom. The chemistry between Tom and Liv felt inauthentic. Ultimately, I didn't love where the story went, but I did enjoy the setting!

One of my favorite books this season. I kept going back and forth between Tom and Finn but everything worked out in the end. This book was so incredibly well written and I devoted every piece of it.

<b>Seven Summers</b> took my emotions on one heck of a wild ride and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Liv and Finn have known each other since secondary school, but they reconnect while working at a restaurant/bar on the Cornish coastline six summers ago. A tragic event occurs, intertwining their lives and bringing them closer together. But as summer comes to an end, Finn has to return to his life in LA with his band while Liv remains in Cornwall tending to her family commitments and working on her sculptures when she has the time. They make a promise, Finn will return every summer, and if they are single they will pick back up where they left off. Six summers later, Liv finds herself falling for Tom, a mysterious stranger new to town.

The book is told in multiple timelines, current day alternating with the previous six summers. I do not care for love triangles and I normally have a clear favorite, BUT that wasn’t the case with this situation. Be warned, this is not a rom-com. It is both hopeful and heartbreaking. Liv, Finn, and Tom each had their issues but I loved them all. And what I love most about Paige Toon’s books is that she doesn’t rely on the miscommunication trope, but rather life circumstances tend to be the issue which I find quite realistic. She also is able to capture that feeling of young love and show how it grows and matures over the years.

I had a few minor issues, but one of them I cannot detail because I think it would definitely be a spoiler. The other was the epilogue which wasn’t really an epilogue but rather a continuation of the story. For as long as the epilogue was, it breezed over significant events that could have used more detail and which would have been better suited being explored a little more in additional chapters instead being rushed in the epilogue. 4.5 stars rounded up because Paige Toon had me in tears more than once in this book. 💫

I am working my way through her previous books and will continue to read anything she writes in the future. I’ll just be sure to have a box of tissues close by. 😪

** spoiler alert ** I picked this up at 9 pm at night and by 3:30 AM was done. Am I proud of that? Sure. I couldn’t put it down because I fell in love and was hurt by Finn. I couldn’t put it down because I wanted to comfort & slap Liv. I couldn’t put it down because Tom filled my heart & made me suspicious. I felt all the emotions the characters were feeling. At times I couldn’t imagine how she would choose anyone over Finn and then how could she walk away from Tom?

Five stars for me. This should be a top read for everyone this summer!

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin/Random House for the Advanced Reader Edition.