A love story set over seven summers, the first summer being the one when Liv meets Finn, but also the one when a terrible tragedy occurs. It sets the stage for every summer after and bonds the 2 of them together. It is told from Liv's POV and jumps from This Summer to the previous summers as Liv experiences heartbreak with Finn over and over again.

Paige Toon does a great job with the characters in this novel. I liked Liv, her brother Michael, and her group of friends. The most tragic part of the book for me was the Epilogue, heartbreaking and emotional in a good way.

I’m emotionally gutted! What a rollercoaster of feelings! This was my first Paige Toon book and it definitely won’t be the last. I’m looking forward to reading many, many more of her works.

Thank you NetGalley & PENGUIN GROUP Putnam for sending this book for review consideration

I love a second chance romance and was so excited for this book. This story hooked me right away, but then it fell a little bit flat for me. I found it to be a little slow in the middle, and picked up again around 75%. This book is filled with heartache, grief and loss, and was not a light read by any means. I think I was expecting a more of a lighthearted summer romance. I feel conflicted about it, because I think the character development was underwhelming yet I still was really rooting for and felt for these characters.

As always an emotional and heart wrenching read from Paige Toon. I hate love triangles but PT handled this really well. Definitely worth a read. 3 🌟

My first venture into the world of Paige Toon was more than I could have hoped for. Seven Summers is the story of Liv and the summers she spent falling in love with Finn. Summers spent navigating grief, instant adulthood, sudden responsibilities, and making dreams come true. The timing isn’t quite right for Liv and Finn year after year, but their love for each other - their desire for happiness for the other - is bigger than everything else.

I loved the character growth shown as the years progressed. The characters went from young and naive to wary yet wise. I loved rooting for Liv and Finn at times then rooting for something else at others. This book reminded me so much of the storytelling in my own book, Never Too Far Away, which made me feel connected to the story on a deeper level.

Loved loved loved and highly recommend this delightful summer read! Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy to read and review.

This is my first Paige Toon book. Wow!, I was not prepared, and these characters will live with me for awhile. It gives a rollercoaster of feels until the very end. I absolutely loved it. This is not a romcom, It's is a book about loss, grief, family, and ties that bind. It will break your heart, but it does have a happy ending. I fell in love with the Cornwall setting. I wish I had followed the author before I read the book. She does research videos showcasing the locations, which really bring the scenes to life. This will definitely not be my last Paige Toon book.

This was an enjoyable, compulsively readable romance! I enjoyed the alternating timelines and looked forward to each switch back and forth. The characters were fun to follow throughout the book. The beach setting for the majority of this book also added to the reading experience for me. Overall, this was a lighthearted book that was great to read!

I’d be interested in reading more of Paige Toon’s work and I’d definitely recommend this book to romance readers!

🐚 Book Review 🐚

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest opinions.

Publication: May, 21, 2024

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

This was my first book by Paige Toon and what a great first book! I wanted to hold it to me and sigh. I’m not sure what it is about the summer but it has magic and love possibilities. Toon did amazing capturing that. The story was slow here and there but great overall!

Perfect for fans of:
🐚 Singular POV (Liv)
🏖️ Dual timeline
🐚 Beach town
🏖️ Love pact
🐚 Heartstrings will be pulled
🏖️ Fade to black spice

⚠️Triggers ⚠️
🛑Suicide (only mentioned)
⚠️Death of parents
🛑Grief/depression

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Whewww, what a wild ride! So ok this book starts out with Liv finding these mysterious artworks in the sand that she is drawn to and then subsequently meeting the artist, Tom, who just happens to be renting out part of her house. Then we jump backwards 6 years to her first meeting with Finn, a man from her past who moved away but is back for the summer. The rest of the book follows suit with the dual timelines until they merge to the present/future. The first half of the book was a little slow moving for me. I found myself a little bored at times with some of the long winded descriptions of places and things that generally weren’t that relevant. I feel like there were lots of friends thrown in but they weren’t necessarily fleshed out so I found myself not really caring about them. I do wish there could have been a little more meat to them. Anyway moving on her flashback back between Liv and Finn falling in love over the span of a couple of summers in the past and Liv and Tom falling in love during the current summer. *SLIGHT SPOILERS* I’m a sucker for underdogs so I totally loved where we went with Tom and then I didn’t. Lol. Honestly it’s my own fault because I should’ve seen it coming. Now way were we set up with 6yrs worth of summers with Finn just for waltzing off into the sunset with Tom. But to tell you the truth I was 100% fine if we had. 😭 I loved Amy’s speech to Liv at the wedding, I was literally sitting in bed co-signing her like “yesssssss, you tell her girl and she better listen”. I wish we had gotten a better reason for the way they treated their relationship during the regular months. I get that a lot of these stories need angst and whatnot but I wish we started getting some believable reasons. I feel like she had dumb reasons for not wanting to talk to him ALL YEAR aside from summer when they can hook up and lay in each other arms for 2 weeks. Like if you still feel that much of a connection spanning years why limit yourself to only talking for such a small time. It’s not like it worked. You claim it would be too hard and you’d be waiting for him but then it’s what you did for 6yrs anyway so what was the reason to not talk year round? Sigh. Aside from my man Tom (I do not forgive you Ms. Toon) I did enjoy the story. The epilogue was cute and it was an overall enjoyable read. I would definitely recommend you read for yourself. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me this ARC.

This book was a little bit of a wild ride, switching from the current summer to the summers of past. The events in the beginning certainly took me by surprise but I found the ending to be predictable and not satisfying. There were just parts that also felt very dramatic for no reason. Also fair warning, I would not describe this as a love story.

This was my first book by Paige Toon but certainly won’t be my last! This is the love story of Liv and Finn, told over the current summer and flashing back to the previous six summers. This emotional story features joy, profound sadness, loss, grief, and love in all its forms. Liv’s growth and maturation throughout the book felt so relatable, as did the depth and conflict of her feelings for Finn and Tom. My only critique is in the epilogue, which felt rushed when compared to the rest of the book, however it didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this wonderful ARC.

I read this book in one sitting. I’ll be honest I think you’re supposed to be invested in Finn and livs romance but it took me awhile to get there. However I loved her love story with Tom and that story really made me love this book. The ending didn’t come as a surprise but it was still crushing but I’m glad she got her hea.

The perfect romance book to read this summer.

This book goes between the past 6 summers and the current summer. Liv meets Finn 6 summers prior and they start a little summer fling. Tragedy hits just as they take the chance to be to something more. Finn has his sights set on LA and leaves every summer to be with his band. However, they agree that every summer he will visit and if they are single they will pick up where they left off. There are a lot of highs and lows to this arrangement that were so real.

Everything is great until Tom walks in. A mysterious man visits during the 7th summer. Through the highs and lows of Liv and Finn, Liv takes a chance on Tom. I liked this part of the story because there was a big mystery behind Tom. Why was he there and what was he hiding? When we found out why he was there I was a little shocked and knew where this was heading.

I loved that we got an epilogue but felt that some stuff could have been taken out to get more from the changes that happened at the end. I don't want to say much but it just felt rushed and I would have loved more from how everything came about. I found myself skipping over some of the art stuff. That was just me but the art info isn't interesting. I did love what she did, there were just some parts that got long.

4.5

This was my first book by @paigetoonauthor and I was not expecting to be so overcome by emotion throughout this entire book. At about 50% in, I texted my friend and said “this book is going to wreck me”. It was an accurate prediction. This was a story of loss, grief, love, and self discovery. Liv is such a strong FMC and she has really been through it. So has both Finn and Tom. I loved how this was told over seven summers but the epilogue touched on the seven summers after the story wraps. It was so beautiful and moving that I predict this to be one of my top reads for the year.

Thank you to NetGalley, Putnam & Paige Toon for a digital galley of Seven Summers in exchange for an honest review.

Paige Toon is one of my fave authors for contemporary fiction & I was hooked by the gorgeous cover art!

I loved the concept of this romance. I've only read a couple of other books with a kinda similar concept, so I loved that it wasn't something overdone.

Liv & Finn spend a passionate night together six summers ago that ended in tragedy, but live completely different lives worlds apart. Finn returns every summer & while they are single, they spend the summer together. Then Tom moves to Liv's town & they begin to hit it off & fall for each other, but Tom has a secret of his own. This story is told from alternating timelines (past summer & present).

All of the characters were likeable & Liv was very easy to relate to & love. Finn & Tom are both amazing in their own ways & I think the reader will have a very difficult time trying to decide on which guy is the best fit for Liv.

I like to read romance in between thrillers & kind of a palate cleanser. With that said, this was NOT a light-hearted romance. This one was deep & very emotional. You're going to cry. If you don't, something is wrong with you.

This book completely captured me & would not let go. It still will not let go. I will be thinking of this story for a long time to come.

This is my favorite book by Paige Toon so far!

Paige Toon has a way with words and storytelling that will break your heart and still leave you feeling hopeful.

Finn and Liv are childhood schoolmates who reunited six summers ago and were swept up in a whirlwind romance until an unimaginable tragedy and life choices separated them.

Ever since then they come back together every summer, which brings them stolen moments of joy but always leaves them heartbroken when it’s time to say goodbye. As much as they love each other their life paths continue to head in opposite directions.

Until this summer, when Liv meets Tom and she begins to wonder if it’s time to let go of Finn. Tom is sweet and charming and most importantly in the same country. However, Tom has his own tragic secret and it threatens to once again destroy Liv.

Seven Summers was a beautiful yet heartbreaking story about love, grief, and second chances.

The story follows Liv as she navigates grief, loss and love working to find an answer to “is love really enough?” Written with flash backs and present day intertwined, this one has me reminiscing about old loves in my early 20s and choices made along the way.

This is now the second book I've read in the last year by Paige Toon and I must say that her books are very comparable to two of my favorite authors and their style of books, those being Abby Jimenez and Emily Henry. I truly hope this novel will be the one to push her to more notoriety in the book world, because she is wonderful.

Toon writes such realistic and heartbreaking novels that are indeed about romance, but with so much more depth than some of your fluffier romances. This book made me smile, had me in tears, and made me fall in love with these characters over the 7+ years that you get to hear about their lives. I really enjoyed this book and found it to be a quick read (even though it's over 400 pages), because I was constantly thinking about it and wanted to be reading it even when I couldn't. I loved it! This would also make a perfect summer beach read!

US Publication Date: May 21, 2024

Thank you to Paige Toon, Putnam Books, and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This novel follows Liv over the course of seven summers. In the first summer, Liv meets Finn and quickly falls for him. After one night of passion, Liv and Finn wake up to an unspeakable tragedy that forever changes the trajectory of Liv’s life. Pulled in different directions in life, Liv and Finn agree to meet back in Liv’s hometown every summer. We see their relationship grow and flatline and re-spark over six summers. On the seventh, Liv meets Tom, a mysterious stranger who is staying in her downstairs rental house and is instantly drawn to him.

I loved the location of this story. The small town vibes, the local spots, the beautiful scenery. It made me want to visit somewhere like it.

Though sad, I thought the depiction of Liv’s grief was very accurate. Especially the way we see it grow and morph over the years after the tragedy. This isn’t just a love story. It’s a story about coping with grief while also going through a pivotal point in your life, your early 20s. Liv is juggling her loss and heartbreak, multiple jobs, taking care of her brother, and also finding time to pursue her passion of sculpting.

I enjoyed both love stories in Liv’s life but to me, it was clear that one was the “right one” for her. Both love stories had such electric energy and passion, it was hard not to fall for them both, herein lies Liv’s problem.

My complaint is that some reveals throughout the story were a little anticlimactic. The buildup was so tense and mysterious throughout the book that a few times when the actual reveal happened, I was like “Oh, that’s it?” Similarly, some conflicts near the end only lasted 1-2 pages and even I, as a reader, felt like there wasn’t enough closure to move on.

Lastly, the epilogue mostly just made me mad at Liv. SPOILERS!!!! Her relationship with Tom was so tender and beautiful and when he died, we got, what, a page? He died and then two days later, she’s back to her ex. Just as friends, of course. Then, turn the page, boom relationship. Turn the page, boom, kids. I just felt like these events, especially Tom’s death, deserved a lot more fanfare. A lot more depth. It made their relationship feel cheap to me. Like Tom was just a step stone to finding her true soul mate, her true life. I think the book itself should have been shorter so we could have spent more time developing the plot points that occur in the epilogue.

Though this book was not 100% my vibe, I definitely can see someone loving this book for the second chance romance and dual timeline. I also really commend Paige Toon for such a natural, diverse cast within this book.

I am all about a book on a beach! This book will break your heart and pull at your love strings. Love the perspective from liv and her thought process.