"When I’m quiet I can hear my heart yearning for impossible things. I want a perfectly pared-down home, and I want to hang on to every scrap of the past. I want a break from my kids without missing a single minute of their lives. I long for a partnership, and I long for freedom. I long to be enmeshed with someone without losing myself. I want all of it."

Super brief summary
The romantic and hilarious story of a professional organizer whose life is a mess, and the summer she gets unstuck with the help of someone unexpected from her past, by the bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script.

I absolutely loved Nora Goes Off Script and really really didn't like whatever the title was last year so where did I land with Summer Romance?

I loved it. I love when main characters are a little older, have real life issues, and have real life emotions. Even without any steam this one still had the build and tension I love in a romance. I can't wait to see what Annabel Monaghan does next.

Thank you @prhaudio for the audio and @netgalley for this reading copy. Both formats were great but I think I preferred the audio. Either way you go, it'll be a perfect summer read ☀️

*This photo is from my girl's trip last weekend at the Cape - poolside one day, beach side the next 👌
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Ali is lost two year after the death of her mom. She is an organizer by trade but she cannot seem to organize her home or her life. She and her husband are divorcing which throws her even more. She knows she needs to be there for her three kids. A chance meeting at a dog park, where her dog pees on a good looking man's leg, leads her into finding herself, love and joy again. Little did she know it was her best friend's younger brother, all grown up. "Scooter" call him by his name Ethan is one perfect man if there ever was one! I really enjoyed watching their love story unfold. What starts as just a summer romance becomes so much more and it is a joy to behold.

I loved Ali and all her little issues. I loved her with Ethan and how he lead her back to herself. Her husband was such a narcissist!

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for a copy for review.

I tend not to read books about single parents or main characters with kids because it's not relatable for me. However, I really enjoyed this novel and the romance between a single mom and her best friend's brother. I found their meeting to be a little predictable, but I do love a cheesy meet cute.

I ADORED this book. The perfect summer read. The two main characters Ali and Ethan were just so perfect. I loved watching Alis character develop into the strong woman she was at the end. After losing her mom, she lost herself. Her marriage was toxic, her kids were sad because she was and her life was a mess. I truly believe without Ethan she never would have come out of her dark place. Ethan was loving, charming, caring and so good for Ali. This book had so many pieces and layers to it that I just adored so much. Also the dog love - that will always make a book better for me! I cannot recommend it enough!

Another summer, another perfect summer beach read from Annabel Monaghan. Summer Romance is a heartwarming story about a newly single mother dealing with grief and rediscovering love. Annabel Monaghan writes fiction for women of all ages, but it is especially relatable to women who have lived a bit of life already. Second chances at love, rediscovering oneself, and starting over are all recurrent themes in her novels that are difficult to put down. Upon finishing, I find myself already looking forward to her next book. Her characters are complex, relatable, and her male characters are swoon worthy. I highly recommend her books for a perfect summer beach read.

I have loved Annabel’s writing and this one did not disappoint! I enjoyed how there were moments that made you laugh and moments that felt very real and raw. It wasn’t all fluff but not so deep that it was depressing….it was the perfect balance! As a wife and mother I thought the portrayal of losing yourself for others was very well done!!

*3.5 stars

Thank you, NetGalley for this ARC!

A summer romance, a best friend’s brother? and a meet cute—sounds like the elements of a good book.

Ethan and Ali felt like real people (also Ali is a professional organizer which I think is so fun), and I loved how kind & caring Ethan was to her kids.

I liked how the author addressed grief in such a realistic and even beautiful way. It will make you want to cry, but also realize that we are so much better when we love freely, even if that results in a loss.

The book was predictable and felt a little slow at times, but I think it was cute and worth the read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I haven’t been swept up in a romance like this in a very, very long time. I finished the book in one day and stayed up way too late reading because I couldn’t put it down. It was so refreshing reading a love story about someone in their late 30s that had kids- it felt so realistic. Monaghans depiction of grief was both haunting and comforting, most importantly it was beautiful. Read this book in the summer, you will not regret it.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

great chemistry and banter. I loved how Ethan and Ali discovered parts of themselves as they grew with each other over the length of a summer. Ethan had no chill and was obviously head over heels for Ali, despite the "baggage" she may bring to a relationship. He would do anything for her.

This is the second novel I’ve read by Annabel Monaghan and I just can’t get enough!!

Summer Romance is about a main character named Ali. Her mom died two years ago, she’s having a hard time coping with this, and her husband filed for divorce. She has to deal with all of this while raising three children.

She then unexpectedly meets Ethan at a dog park after her dog pees on him. After running into him a few other times, there is undeniable chemistry between the two of them.

Summer Romance takes readers on a journey as Ali begins to find herself, stick up for herself, and learn what she deserves. This is the perfect summer read and I absolutely loved it!

Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam Books and Net Galley for this advanced reader copy of Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan in exchange for my honest opinion. This is my second book by this author and it certainly will not be my last! I absolutely loved this read!! It grabbed me from the first line! The story is about Ali, a mother of three whose husband decides he wants a divorce. Ali is not only grieving the loss of her marriage but also the loss of her mother. Enter Ethan, a handsome guy she meets at the park after her dog goes to the bathroom on his foot who just happens to be her friend’s brother! The story goes from there! It’s charming, funny, serious as Ali is dealing with her grief from the loss of her mother, sworn worthy and a feel good read! I just loved it and you will too!

“It’s starting to feel like a champagne summer.”

This was the perfect summer book to kick off my summer reading! 
It is refreshing to read a romcom with a single mom as the main character. These types of romcoms feel so real. These characters are dealing with real issues! 
I love that although this was a romance, this was a journey for Ali to find herself and what makes her happy. She is grieving her mother and her marriage and she is fighting for her life. 
This book had the same charge as Nora Goes off Script- which I adored!!
Really loved this one!!

4.5 stars! This was my first book by Annabel Monaghan but I will definitely be reading Nora Goes Off Script and Same Time Next Summer. What a perfect summer read! I was engrossed in this book from start to finish. The first page hooks you in and before you know if you're finished with this amazing story. Recently I've been reading a lot of NA but it was nice to read a novel about adults, who think and act like adults. I thoroughly enjoyed both the romance and Ali's journey and development. Ali really went through it but it was so important to her character development and for readers to truly understand her. I really really enjoyed this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy.

I'm convinced at this point that Annabel Monaghan can never miss! All of her books to date have been incredible and this one lived up to that. I was rooting for Ethan and Ali throughout the whole book and I was so happy when they finally got their happy ending and Ali found herself again.

Annabel Monaghan slowly but surely overtook Emily Henry for my must read book of every summer. Her books are so compulsively readable and it was so refreshing to read a book about someone older than 22 years old! There are so many layers to the plot, but without saying too much it was so lovely to read about someone coming out on the other side of divorce, with kids nonetheless. Five stars!

This was OK. I had a hard time believing she truly didn't remember or know anything about her best friend's brother that she grew up with. I had a few other issues and started to get bored with not much happening.

Summer Romance what a fun light hearted summer read. Ali is a very relatable character with amazing character development. So many woman could completely relate to her. Married young have babies then DIVORCE. But that ok he isn’t who you should spend you life with but when you have a string of sadness then find true love. Heart!

Thank you NetGalley for another amazing book.

I think this is a good book but just not the book for me. I couldn’t get into it but maybe on a later date I’ll pick it up again.

Ali Morris decided to make oatmeal cookies for breakfast for her kids. It’s her mother’s recipe, and it has a lot of oatmeal, so it does seem appropriate for breakfast. But also, it’s the two-year anniversary of her mother’s death, and Ali wants to feel her close. It’s also the one-year anniversary of the day her husband Pete had told her that he wanted a divorce, and Ali knew that it hadn’t been easy for the kids.

She lives with her 3 kids in the small town of Beechwood, where she had grown up. She had moved away to go to college and then lived in Manhattan, working as an accountant after that. But then she met Pete and about a year in, she got pregnant, so they got married. After her second baby, the family moved back to Beechwood so Ali could be closer to her mother. And then her mother had gotten sick. And then Ali had gotten stuck.

In Beechwood, Ali worked as a professional organizer. She would go into other peoples’ homes and fix the problematic areas of their houses, the overstuffed pantries, the neglected basements, the cluttered closets. Se had a strategy for helping her clients move through the emotions that held them back from fixing their homes and left them feeling stronger and more in control of their environments. However, it had been a long time since she’d been able to do that for herself. Exhausted by grief and loneliness and ashamed of her inability to organize her own home, Ali dragged herself through her days, focusing on her kids.

And then one day, as she was letting her dog run around the local dog park, she meets a handsome stranger. Well, her dog peed on his leg, but after that she introduced herself and apologized for her dog. The man was kind enough to laugh it off, and Ali felt the first spark of attraction she’d felt in a very long time. He said his name was Ethan and asked her out. Ali was nervous—it was her first date since her husband had left—but she ended up having a really good time. But he hadn’t asked for her number. And he hadn’t kissed her. And Ali felt like she was a disappointment all over again.

The next night, at dinner at her best friend’s house, as her kids were about to jump into the pool, Ali looked up and saw Ethan. She couldn’t understand it at first, but her friend reminded Ali that it was her little brother Scooter who had come back to town for a visit. As Ali was putting the pieces together—her friend’s screwup of a little brother had become the smart, funny lawyer she’d had a great date with—Ethan came over to apologize to her. He explained that he’d always had a crush on her, and he was afraid that if she knew who he was, he’d never have a chance to spend time with her.

Ali was reluctant to see Ethan again after that, but then things changed. The amicable divorce she was looking forward to became more difficult when Pete announced that he was moving into a bigger apartment with their shared money, and he had that tell that Ali knew meant he was lying. Ali needed an attorney, fast, so she asked Ethan for help. He agrees and tags along to their first mediation in a light blue tuxedo he’d found in his dad’s closet. With Ethan’s help, Ali finds herself wanting to stand up for herself against Pete and his passive aggression.

Ali decides to give Ethan another chance, and she finds herself lightening up as she spends time with him. He knew her when she’d been a strong young woman in high school, and he encourages her to be more herself. Ali finds that her confidence is growing and her grief is easing as she uncovers this part of herself that had gotten neglected during her marriage.

But the more time she spends with Ethan, and the more her feelings grow towards him, she understands that there is only so far their relationship can go. He’s only in Beechwood for the summer, and she can’t move her kids away from their home. Can she be in a relationship only for the summer, or should she end things now, before she gets in too deep?

Summer Romance is a charming, effervescent story of a woman rediscovering herself after years in a marriage to a man who felt trapped and took it out on her. The healing that Ali finds after the years of grief and emotional neglect is a beautiful journey, as she learns to take chances and open herself up to possibility again. There are a lot of genuinely funny scenes as well as many heartfelt painful, cleansing scenes. The journey through grief is never easy, and while author Annabel Monaghan adds some humor along the way, there are also tears.

I had a lot of fun with this story. I liked these characters a lot and wanted things to work out for them. I did think that there was some awkwardness in the plotting, especially in the story of Scooter’s parents, but I still enjoyed this ride and would love to take it around again. Overall, this is a warm and revealing story, and it left me feeling hopeful and joyful, both for these characters and for myself. And also, I could really use Ali’s help with my cluttered basement. I feel like she’d know just what to say to help me get it cleaned out.

Egalleys for Summer Romance were provided by G.P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley, with many thanks.

All that really needs to be said about this book is that IT IS AMAZING AND WONDERFUL! This was the perfect summer read full of love, humor, emotion, grief, chemistry, family, friends and all in a beautiful setting. I wanted to live in this book and I never wanted it to end. A must read for the summer!