Paige Toon's 2023 release "Only Love Can Hurt Like This" was my favorite book of 2023, so I was super excited to get approved for an ARC from NetGalley for this.

I wasn't disappointed. I loved the characters. While the romance between Liv and Finn was definitely a big part of the storyline, I liked seeing the growth of Liv as a character during those seven summers even more.

While this one didn't make me cry like last year's Toon novel, I still really liked it. It's definitely a five star read though.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Loved the main character and how she stayed true to herself through a lot of the book. Way too much death and hated what happened in the epilogue

Thank you to netgalley for this ARC.

I am gutted. This book didn't seem my type at all.... and then I thought "hey, maybe a light summer read with a bit of drama." NOPE.

This book gave me the full range of emotions and made me really sit and think about true love, pure love, and what happiness means.

Also it is just so G-Dang hot! Toon knows how to write the spicy moments while making them feel tender and emotional all at the same time. As a first exposure to this author I can honestly say I can't wait to read more.

A pair of people brought together by tragedy, over a period of seven years. This isn't a fun rom-com, this is an adult story of love and how it can grow. Liv and Finn are a great pair, but so are Liv and Tom. We read and fall in love with everything and want a perfect resolution, but sometimes, we can't always get what we want.

Paige Toon's is a masterful writer about love. I can't wait to see what she does next.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book

THIS BOOK STOLE MY HEART!!

It also pulled it out, ripped it to shreds, and plopped it back into my chest. The Epilogue alone is capable of doing that to the reader's heart.

This was the first book I've read by this author. I was not expecting how emotional and heartbreaking it would be. Yet, despite the tears (trust me, there were many), I absolutely adore this story. It is beautiful.

I wouldn't change a thing about it! Which surprises me to say because when Tom came around, I was VERY torn about it and unsure if I wanted to see the book go down that path. Of course, Paige Toon made the right decision.

This book, in my opinion, is PERFECTION!!!

I am such a fan. This is a new favorite. I honestly can't say a negative thing about it.

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

What an emotional journey Seven Summers was! And man did that epilogue absolutely wreck me 😭😭😭😭

I loved the vivid storytelling, the beautiful setting of summer on the beach of St Agnes, and really getting to know all the characters included in the story.

Told in alternating time lines of seven summers before, and the current summer we meet Finn & Liv. Finn is a musician who enjoys song writing, and Liv is an artist specializing in sculpting. They’re drawn to each other and begin spending a few weeks together each summer while Finn visits back home from LA, but agree to keep their distance for the rest of the year. If the following summer they’re both single, then they pick back up where they left off.

During one summer while they’re together an unimaginable tragedy occurs that draws them even closer together, but makes their time apart even more brutal. As we watch them live, learn, and grow they eventually grow apart.

Finn finds love with a pop star, and Liv finds love with a newcomer in town. Will they be able to live their lives with their second loves, or will they always be inexplicably drawn to each other?

You’ll have to read to find out. Just prepare to go on an emotional journey full of love, and loss.

Days later, Seven Summers, still haunts my thoughts.

Toon pens stories that tug on your heart strings.

Liv and Finn met six summers ago at a local bar, The Seaglass in the small, coastal Cornish Village. He's filling in as the lead singer for a local band. Dueling tragedies and music bond them for life.

Finn's life is in LA, and over the course of several summers they give into their love story until they can't. The story revisits their summers mixing in the NOW. Seven Summers is engrossing, reeling with emotion and you'll be clutching your heart at its conclusion.

The playlist at the end of the book was perfect!

Thank you, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons

4.5 stars. I spent the whole day reading this book. I could not seem to put it down. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I have never read anything from this author before and I am so glad I tried her out. I really enjoyed it and I was totally not expecting so much of what happens but I have to say
it really works. This is not a book where any details should be given out in a review so I won’t be doing that. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style, the story itself, which gives us so much back story about the main characters and I do love that! Liv is such an awesome character. This is her story and she honestly goes through so much that it is amazing how strong and resilient she is. The ultimate heroine.
This is a very entertaining read that made me feel all the things.

One thing I should realize by now, if my friend Sarah tells me to read it, I’m going to love it. This is just one of many heart-wrenching books she has brought into my life 🩷

DON’T let the beautiful cover fool you, this one HURT. This is one the most mature love triangles I have ever read and although I love a teenage love triangle filled with angst and miscommunication (yeah I said it), this is by far and away an example of the most perfect love triangle. It was beautiful, it was angsty, it was painful.

Paige is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors because the way she can make me feel at the end of every book has me in SHAMBLES.

I am irrevocably broken but also content - i honestly don’t know how she does this. I’ve never felt so conflicted in my life and I am positive she is one of the few that can do this so perfectly. I both loved and hated the ending simultaneously.

Read this if you like:
🐚love triangles
🐚beach settings
🐚alternating timelines
🐚found family
🐚disability rep
🐚crying just a wee bit

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thank you to @netgalley and @putnambooks for allowing me to be an early reader!

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.