My Review│Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

 

My Review│Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

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Title: Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Published: May 10, 2022

Genre: Romance, Contemporary Fiction

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About the Book: Every Summer After by Carley Fortune is a popular contemporary romance novel about a woman, Persephone "Percy" Fraser, who returns to her childhood lake house and reconnects with her first love, Sam Florek, confronting a past mistake that drove them apart. Told in a dual timeline, the story flashes back over six summers of their intense friendship and romance before a pivotal event in their late teens, and then jumps forward to their reunion in their thirties, exploring themes of second chances, nostalgia, and the choices that shape a life. 

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My Review: You know when a book will automatically be a masterpiece just from reading the first chapter? And not because of something a character does but a small, descriptive moment that you're certain will set the tone for the book? That's how I felt when I read the lines, "The voice is deep and soft. It's one I haven't heard in more than a decade, but so familiar I'm suddenly thirteen years old and slathered in SPF 45, reading paperbacks on the dock. I'm sixteen and peeling off my clothes to jump into the lake naked and sticky after a shift at the Tavern. I'm seventeen and lying on Sam's bed in a damp bathing suit, watching his long fingers move across the anatomy textbook he's studying by my feet." I could just feel the sense of mystery, nostalgia, and even a hint of yearning which impressed upon me that this book would really tug at my heart and that's exactly what it did.

This book made me fall in love multiple times. With Sam and Percy's beautiful friendship and heartbreaking yet hopeful love story. With Barry's Bay and the memory of childhood summers. With lakes and pierogis. With lifelong bonds that never leave you.

What I appreciated about this book the most is how, despite the character's flaws and their mistakes, I never once doubted their love for each other. Sometimes romance books fail for me because the chemisty just isn't there. We're told the characters love and desire each other but the feeling isn't there. That's not the case with Every Summer After. The moment Sam and Percy reconnected, the heat between them was so strong that I felt like I was third wheeling as a reader. But in my opinion I think that's how it should feel reading a romance.

It's safe to say that this is a five star read for me and I'm so happy that I gave it a chance. Sam and Percy live in my head rent free now and I can't wait to revisit this book soon. It's the first in Carley Fortune's works that I've read so far and I will definitely be checking out her other stuff soon.