Every Summer After

this book was phenomenal!! i loved every page and i fell in love with the story and characters. it’s told in past and present timelines over the course of six summers and one weekend 12 years later. you get small town, second chance romance, childhood best friends to lovers to strangers to lovers, and more! some of my fav tropes in one book <3 i love the parallel events between the past and present chapters, seeing how percy and sam grown and matured but also stay the same throughout the years (iykyk - the friendship bracelets, “swear on it”, ice cream). their attraction and connection are undeniable! the book perfectly captures friendship, teenage angst, first love, loss, mistakes, and forgiveness. it’s also about finding your person, someone who understands you like no other. the writing was spectacular - it was so magical and enchanting as it encapsulated summer nostalgia at a lakeside cottage. i felt like i experienced every summer with percy and sam. i love how real and relatable the characters are. percy and sam are two flawed characters that let their fears get in their way, but they try their best to repair what they broke. i adore sam so so much, he’s the sweetest and kindest guy who loves really hard. the sarcasm and banter between the two were soo good too, i loved how we get a glimpse of what they were like at 13 and then at 30. this is the PERFECT summer read, i highly recommend it!! i promise you’ll love this if you love ‘love and other words’ by christina lauren! i didn’t think i’d find a book like laow that hits the same, but reading this book made my lil laow heart so happy 💞 i’m blown away by the fact that this is carley fortune’s debut novel and i hope there is more to come!

Every Summer After is a perfect summer read and although it had been in my TBR for so long, I really enjoyed it. I’m a sucker for second chance romance and childhood friends to lovers and I was captivated immediately. Their friendship blossomed into a cute young love romance until one impulsive decision during a vulnerable moment lead to the downfall of Sam & Percy’s relationship. Now over a decade later, Percy makes the trip back to the lake to attend a funeral and memories flood back of her summers with Sam. But does time heal all wounds? Read to find out. I really love young love romances because they are innocent with heighten emotions, personal growths and can be extremely messy. Not to mention the angst that keeps me wanting to read more and this book definitely kept me engaged.

Great read! I love cheesy novels and this was great. Kept my attention and it's relatively short so it's a fast read.

What can I say to effectively capture the beauty, sweetness, and depth of this story? Sam and Percy’s story is sweet and nostalgic, and it made me feel like I was a teenager again right along with them. It brought back memories of my own teenage years spent camping at various lakes with family and friends; memories I hadn’t thought about in awhile. Barry’s Bay is a character in its own right as well, and I had such a vivid picture in my mind of what it must have looked like. There were moments when I laughed out loud, and moments that made me cry. The exploration of guilt and what it does to a person and the ones they love was so emotional and real. And the sweetness and love between Percy and Sam, despite all their mistakes and miscommunications, is something that will stick with me for a long time. There is so much heart in this story. I love a good friends-to-lovers romance, and have read quite a few, but this is easily one of the best.

Every Summer After is a coming-of-age and second chance romance, but it's more than that. It's full of hope, love, and bittersweet heartache. It's reconnecting with your soul. It's coming home. ˊˎ- Told in alternating timelines between six years (past) and one weekend (present), this story focuses on Persephone (Percy) and Sam's early years and their reunion after more than a decade. They spent six summers filled with lakeside swims, watching old school scary movies, eating ice cream, and hanging out at Sam's mother's restaurant. I loved the chemistry of these characters, how much they trusted each other, and how they understood each other better than anyone else. I was drawn to their world with my heart falling in love and breaking along in this emotional journey. These two were torn apart from the past, but glued back together by the future. Sam had my heart from the first time he entered the story, and Percy made me want to jump into this book and give her a big hug. Carley Fortune's writing and storytelling is impeccable - I can't believe this is her debut novel! The characters are relatable and lovable (yes, even Charlie and Delilah). The atmosphere is enchanting and nostalgic. I wasn't a fan of the third-act reveal and the ending felt rushed, but it was still a fantastic summer read. Read this if you like: — Summer vibes at the lake — Childhood friends to lovers — Second chance romance — Alternating timelines — Friendship bracelets — Nostalgic happiness — Perogies

I give this book 4.75 stars rounded up to five for the purposes of this review. I really liked this story and flew through! Anyone looking for a great summer romance can find it here. This was my first Carley Fortune book, but I’d like to read more (and plan to read the sequel to this one very soon). It was so fun to experience Percy and Sam’s relationship as it developed from close friends at the age of thirteen to something much more as they got older. Their relationship was so deep and respectful. They knew everything about each other and shared so many wonderful experiences together. It felt like a very natural evolution from friendship to romance (although I did want to smack Sam a couple times, but he was young, so I’ll give him a pass). And the setting of Barry’s Bay was a beautiful, relaxing place. I wish I could live in a cabin on that lake! There were some great side characters in this book too. Sue was such a kind, loving person. Charlie was sometimes difficult to like, but he really wasn’t a bad person. Delilah definitely annoyed me at times, but she turned out to be such a good friend to Percy. I wish we’d gotten a little bit more of Chantal, because she also seemed like an amazing friend. I don’t always like a miscommunication trope in terms of breakups in romances, but this one actually made sense, because Percy and Sam were so young and trying to figure themselves out, as well as their romantic relationship. So, that part of it didn’t turn me off the overall story. I loved the ending (it made me cry), although I wish Sue’s storyline could have been different. In my opinion, this was the perfect summer romance, so if that’s what you’re looking for, I would definitely encourage you to read it!

Nothing amazing here. Love story with a tiny bit of angst, didn’t ever get a chance to fall in love with the characters or feel particularly invested in the story line. Every time I picked it up though, I found it hard to walk away from it. Writing was good, easy to follow, and believable storyline.

Persephone is thirty years old and she just got dumped. She didn’t really care, he didn’t mean much to her and she never really let him in, even after seven months. She gets a phone call that has her racing back to her past, the small town of Barry’s Bay, and back into the life of the one who got away… Sam Florek. For six summers Percy and Sam were inseparable. The friendship naturally blossomed and grew into something more and he became the man she never wanted to live without, until it fell apart in a splash. Percy returns for Sam’s mothers funeral and all the feelings come rushing back, their connection burning as brightly as it had twelve years ago. But Percy has a secret, a reason for why she broke up with him, and until she tells him, they can never be together. Told in dual timelines, we unravel the mystery of the once in a lifetime love story between two people who were as fated as a couple could be. First and foremost, there are not one but TWO John Candy references in this book. He is a late Canadian actor who was popular in the 80s. Most will know him as the Polka Player from home alone but I know him from so much more. Trust me, he deserves this paragraph of recognition and I praise the author for including him as he is slowly being forgotten. Now onto the story. I loved it. No ifs ands or buts about it. I absolutely love this story. It is a dual timeline, second chance romance and I think it got me out of my reading slump. I finished it in less than 2 days and couldn’t put it down. The history of the characters, watching them slowly fall in love and come to terms with their feelings. Seeing how they struggle over the long distances and other romances that pop up. It was so well written and it felt like I was watching two people I knew in real life fall for each other. It was so realistic , even the lows had me tearing up but remaining hopeful. The twist, the reason why they broke up, was predictable. I saw it coming not long into the book but it didn’t take away from the heartache I felt when it was revealed. I enjoyed that we also got to explore relationships outside of the main love interest. We got to know Percy’s friends and how they interacted with Sam too which was a nice break from the romance and gave depth outside of the love interest. Great book and I’m so thankful it got recommended to me.

The book came with an almost perfect condition without any breakage found. The quality of the pages was really impressive . The printing of the cover was fine and not so dull. The book was an impressive add to my collective at a pretty condition Review of the novel: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 If you're looking for a small town romance with a glimpse of innocence, this book is the one. I bought it without having much knowledge of the storyline, and was pretty impressed afterwards. I had originally expected it to be a city romance with busy lives, but with the nature of the characters, Sam Percy and Charlie, small town fitted them so well and i wouldn't want it any other way. The character building as they grew older was so strong and inspiring. It's a second chance romance (my first one) and portrayed a very true and realistic friendship even after they've drifted apart. It's nostalgic, intense, and an escape fro the busy lives of big cities, even in the book! The lake and the nature is portrayed very nicely in the book and the entire novel is from the perspective of Percy. It's the kind of writing style that makes you feel and highly aware that you're reading a book rather than reading someone's personal diary; which was kind of difficult at first. So if that works just fine for you, go for it! You'd feel alot - deep effection for the characters and their choices - when you finish the book!

I loved loved loved this! Such a brilliant way to portray real people messing up and loving each other! Would recommend :)

Loved every second of this one! 5+ stars! Really made me want to rent a cottage at a lake lol.

Quite expected reading.. typical story.. it reminded me another story from different author.. i stopped reading it cause it kind annoys me that the man.. was waiting for her and she was too sad to try what they had.. lies.. this is not even a bit realistic..😂

This book took me on a lovely nostalgic journey. It was an escape I desperately needed. Easy to read and totally engaging. Just simply enjoyable. Leaving me with that warm and fuzzy book hangover. The characters feel like friends I'm going to struggle to let go of. I miss them already.