Every Summer After is heartfelt, poignant, and utterly unputdownable. The story is propelled by rich emotional undercurrents that built and built as the story went on, layering angst and tension along the way.

Told in alternating timelines the story follows Sam and Percy over the span of their friendship from pre-teens and into adulthood. Until, that is, their connection was severed, leaving a wound that festered for ten years. Now, Percy is called back to the lakeshore town that always felt like home, back to where everything began and fell apart. Back to Sam.

Fortune's writing style and character development stood strongly on their own without the crutch of trendy tropes. (Not that tropes aren't fun) What I'm getting at is, Every Summer After felt timeless. It instantly became one of my new favorites that I can see myself recommending time and time again.

Full stop this is my favorite book of the year. I'm in complete shock that this is Fortune's debut novel. She is one to watch, I'm telling you now.

Add Every Summer After to your summer reading list - it's a beautiful story of love, loss and redemption.

I actually won a copy of this on GoodReads a month or so ago, and was approved on NetGalley this week. Thrilled I can share my thoughts here too.

𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 follows the story of Persephone and Sam. Their young romance, how it abruptly ends, and what happens when they are reunited over one weekend.

I really loved this book. It jumps back and forth between the present and various parts of Persephone and Sam's younger years. It's hard to describe, but with each flashback, more pieces of their stories come to life. I honestly couldn't have loved this book more and can't believe it's a debut. I'm really looking forward to reading more from Carley Fortune in the future.

Huge thanks to Berkey Publishing for the Goodreads Giveaway copy and the digital ARC on NetGalley. Truly loved this book!

4.5/5 stars

Every Summer After is like The Summer I Turned Pretty meets Love and Other Words and I loved it! The story follows Persy and Sam's friendship as it turns into a relationship, before something happens that prevents them from speaking for over 10 years. The chapters alternate between past and present, when Persy returns to the town she spent her summers in growing up after finding out Sam's mother has passed away. There was so much chemistry between Persy and Sam, and I loved the lake setting. I didn't like the twist at the end, but it was still a great read and I would definitely read more by this author!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

It was such a heartwarming and delightful story, filled with so much passion, angst, love and palpable chemistry between Sam and Persephone. I really liked the voice of the heroine. Along with that, I have an absolute liking of the way Fortune heavily has also focused on individual character growth and development, and it is something I very much look forward to in my reads. Overall, it’s a 4 stars read for me.

4.5 stars!

The first thing about this book that caught my attention was the synopsis. A romance that was six years in the making, that somehow fell apart for years, and a weekend in which Persephone and Sam fell back in love? Yes please! My instincts were spot on and I devoured this book.

There's so much to love about this story- there's angst for sure, and also this delicious intense connection and yearning between Percy and Sam. It was hard to reconcile the Percy at the beginning of the book with the Percy that slowly unfurled on the pages as we went back in time to the beginning of Percy's time in Barry's Bay and when she met Sam. It was wonderful to watch their friendship develop, strengthen, and change, and heartbreaking to watch it fall apart. You can see Percy's metamorphosis as she reconciles the past and the present, and all that's changed.

Persephone and Sam have this chemistry that was so enjoyable. I think it was all the stronger because they were friends first. I loved how the story is told from Persephone's point of view, and can't help but wish we'd also gotten Sam's. It would've been like getting sprinkles on top of an iced cake. Also because I would've loved to have been in his mind to see the relationship change and to see the devastation of things falling apart.

It's always a testament to an author's writing when you forget of what's coming. I am so impressed with Carley Fortune's writing. I found myself caught up not only in the story and writing, but also in the emotions Sam and Persephone were dealing with, as well as of those around them. The way Fortune handles grief, forgiveness, and broken hearts with gentleness and care is to be commended. It's perfect for the beach, but maybe keep some tissues on hand in case you find yourself moved like I did.

Oh my goodness - I have no idea how to rate this book!

For much of the first part, it felt like it nestled into my heart, tugging on the heartstrings that reminded me of my own coming of age years, my first love, and all the chaotic emotion that came with it. The intensity of the experience. The messiness of learning to navigate your heart and unfamiliar feelings. The dramatic friendships and just the way everything felt like so much back then.

I loved Percy and Sam a lot for so much of this book. I loved the sweet friendship they formed and how easy and natural they were together. I loved the slow awakening of their feelings for each other and even the sweet first steps they made.

But then, it kind of went off the rails for me. It got messy. And then it got really messy. For a while I didn't really know if I liked either one of these characters. And after that I wasn't so sure their relationship was healthy or good for either one of them. It stopped feeling good. And for me, honestly, it never really started feeling good again after that.

Yes, there is a happy ending, and there were moments along the way that really did fill my heart. In the past and the present there were these bits of sweetness and/or tenderness that really resonated. But when I turned the last page of the book, I didn't feel the happy ending. The joy of Percy and Sam's reconciliation wasn't big enough to overcome the issue that tore them apart for me. I don't know. I needed something more to get over the hump of how icky I felt for the almost the entire second half of the book. The story is settled, but my heart is not and I honestly don't know what to do with that.

All that said, this was a really well-written book. The writing and the storytelling are so engaging that I fell into it effortlessly and by the time it started slicing my heart to bits, there was no way I was going to turn back. I also felt like it was authentic, it was very real (and the messiness of that might be one of the things my heart can't get over). It's a good book and I think it's going to hit home for a lot of readers. In the end, it just didn't treat my heart the way my heart wants to be treated. ~ 3.5 Stars

Carley Fortune’s debut book, Every Summer After, follows Percy and Sam (who meet when they are young) —as they navigate their friendship turned to romance relationship,

Ohhh, my heart! This one started a little slow for me,but it sure did pick up. I loved it. This book will give you all the feels! It’s told in alternating timelines (my favorite). I love a book trope involving friends to lovers so this one did not disappoint. Still, it’s definitely not all love and sunshine for these two.

I loved seeing the friendship between Percy and Sam evolve. We experience everything with these two characters throughout the course of the book. Secrets, betrayals, lies, hardships, milestones, etc.
I felt the characters were very well developed and I also liked this authors writing style. I started this book before bed last evening and finished it up late this afternoon. It’s been a long time since I have read a romance that captured my attention (and heart) like this one has. I highly recommend! Have tissues!!

i knew i'd love this before opening the book.

second chance romance, best friends to lovers, and a summer vacation trope all rolled into one book? i just really hoped the writing wouldn't disappoint because the plot was golden for me.

and it didn't. told in alternating timelines of now/then, readers are thrown into the plot where persephone and sam attempt to rebuild their relationship after something caused it to go awry twelve years ago. we get glimpses of the past every other chapter, in which we read about percy and sam grow up and fall in love, and eventually stop speaking. all of this is set against a lake town backdrop where sam lives but percy visits every break.

it was heartwarming and angsty and heartbreaking and i found myself holding my breath for so many scenes. the writing is simple but packed a punch, and i flew through it in a few hours. i haven't been able to stop thinking about it, which is how i know it was a good, good romance.

(it would have been the perfect novel if a few scenes were fleshed out / the pacing was a bit slow in the beginning then rushed at the end but all in all i really can't complain because this had the holy trinity of romance tropes).

for a girl who grew up on morgan matson and sarah dessen novels, this was my grown up summer romance i've been waiting for.

people who are fans of love & other words by christina lauren or people we meet on vacation by emily henry, this is for you.

It's taken me a week to recollect my thoughts on this book, and the conclusion I have come to is... I am still in shock.
If you enjoyed Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren and November 9 by Colleen Hoover...do yourself a favor and read this book.
What I loved
- second chance
- the tension
- the pain
- the plot twist
- boy falls first
- past/present time line

This book will cause you so much pain that you might even need tissues or a pillow to scream in (I personally needed both !) I swear I went through the five stages of grief and back while reading this book.
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There is only one trope in this book that I really dont like but it is a spoiler so I will say this as a warning, that there is a spoiler below but
it has the cheating trope? I don't know I could see someone arguing that technically it wasn't cheating but still, IT MADE ME SO SAD AND MAD UGH.
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UGH THIS BOOK IS SO INFURIATING I JUST NEED TO SCREAM OUT MY EMOTIONS

Honestly loved this book! Found myself thinking about it long after I've read it. I love a good friends to lovers--I love the yearning, I love the reconnection. Very reminiscent of some aspects of PWMOV and TSITP.

Sam and Percy were best friends since they met at the age of 13.. Spending summers together their special bond only grew and turned into love. But the cliche the course of true love never runs smoothly is the entire plot of this romantic novel. Great characters and storyline.

This book was just so good. The nostalgic parts and first love elements were so well done, you could practically feel the sun on your wet skin and smell the lake water. The steamy parts were nicely done and not too long. My only complaint is that I wanted it to last longer and draw out the ending a bit -- it seemed to wrap up pretty fast. This was very much enjoyed and I look forward to more from this author.

4.5 STARS
Young love that spans through the ages and a heartbreaking secret that hovers over your head throughout the book was emotional yet hopeful at the same time.

Fortune dials us in with a dual time frame story that puts you thru the emotional wringer as you try to figure out what broke them. The term "best friends forever" was epitomized in this story and you cannot wait to see if all can be healed.

I love the deep-felt connection between all of the characters. Beautiful dreamy days at the lake with the buzz from young love pulls you right into Every Summer After. It is everything you look for in a fresh, tingly read!

So why only 4 stars? I just need more at the end of these emotionally draining stories. I want the feel-good to last longer! Plus, the secret stretched out for a long time! (Okay, bumping to 4.5 stars!)

This author has a fabulous writing style and the touch that will keep her out front for a long time to come! Cannot wait to read more from her!

This story is told from the point of view of a 30 year old woman who has been going through the motion of her every day life, but never allowing herself to feel deeply or get too attached to anything. Always keeping everything & everyone at surface level.

It’s a story told in alternating flashback chapters as we learn why Percy is so closed off emotionally as an adult. It begins the summer her parents buy a lake house when she’s in the 8th grade, next door to two brothers around her age— one who quickly becomes her best friend, & the other as gorgeous comic relief. The relationship she forms with Sam evolves summer after summer, blossoming into a young love that both are terrified of ruining yet so difficult to keep ignoring. We see glimpses of their beginning, only to be met each chapter with the after— a return to the same lakeside town to grieve & try to put back the pieces of a love that was shattered so many years ago.

This story had me from the beginning. It felt very much like an Adult version of The Summer I Turned Pretty, and if you know me, you know that’s my one true love when it comes to contemporary romances. I literally could not stop reading this gorgeous, heartbreaking, emotional story until I made it to that last page. This book is messy and raw, and very hard to read in some moments. It’s a sign of good writing when you feel the character’s pain as if it’s your own. But oh that pain is met with such a brilliant love story that takes you soaring. My heart was definitely on a rollercoaster of emotions while reading.

I’ve always gravitated toward books set during the summer, especially on location at such a beautiful nostalgic place such as this one. It breathes life to a story that already has such a strong heartbeat. Count on me to continue gushing about this one as we get closer to its publication date, and even longer after.

What a wonderful title. This is the perfect summer beach read. Memories, friendships, romance and more. There is always something to be said about a little drama and the bittersweet poignancy of memories. I know my patrons will love it!

Oh god! My heart is so close to explode after overloading of extreme angst and heartbreak!

When I read the blurb: I was so sure Sam and Percy will be my ruin! Literally my eyes cried out! I barely opened my eyes to read last chapters!
This is effective blend of betrayal, longing, lies, secrets, anxiety issues, grief with well developed character and truly well written angsty- tear jerker! 12 years long story is perfectly told by moving us back and forth between past and present to understand more about mistakes, resentments, unresolved issues of those two lovers!

I’m so happy to be introduced with brand new author who knows how to make me cry so loud! My emotions are absolutely everywhere!
I was so close to five stars! The reason why I didn’t: I truly wished to read events from Sam’s perspective! It may give us more realistic approach to lovers’ story!

But overall: I truly loved this book and ai highly recommend it!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

I read this in one unputdownable sitting. Percy is in a corporate rat race, plodding towards editorship at a design magazine, her horror novelist aspirations long forgotten, when she gets a phone call that's a jolt from the past. Her first love's brother wants her to know their mom Sue has passed and the funeral is Sunday. She drops everything to drive back to the tourist town where she spent her formative years, swimming across the lake, waiting tables at Sue's Polish restaurant, and falling in love with her best friend Sam.

The narrative moves back and forth in time. Percy is still so guilt-racked with the incident that ended her relationship with Sam she still has panic attacks a dozen years later. Yet when they see one another again, she is torn between confessing and not. The attraction with Sam is still there, teasing, flirting big brother Charlie is ever-present, and everything is just so dang angsty and complicated.

Author Fortune strings us along and doesn't deliver the gut punch to the near end, but the longing and regret is as palpable as cool dive off the pier or a warm, cheesy pierogi.

Every Summer After is perfect for fans of Josie Silver novels or Judy Blume's Summer Sisters with it's themes of friendship and betrayal, love and loss, and idyllic teenage summers.

I received an advance reader's review copy of #EverySummerAfter from #NetGalley

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. I am speechless after finishing this! This book literally took my breath away and I didn't want it to end! I absolutely loved it! I could NOT put this book down and stayed up late into the night to finish it. Do yourself a favor and read this right away!

This one broke my heart, and put it back together again.

Persephone arrives in cottage country, an only child, with her parents and is immediately "adopted" by the family next door. They christen her Percy, and she, Sam and Charlie become fast friends. But things between Sam and Percy become more than friendship, until it all goes shockingly wrong. When Percy is summoned to the funeral of Sam and Charlie's mother, a woman she loved and admired, she has to face her past and find the courage to own up to her part in all that went wrong so many years ago. Being back in Barry's Bay opens up old wounds, old questions, and a chance at forgiveness.

This is a coming of age story, how seemingly good decisions can have bad consequences, and how coming home is sometimes the only way to heal.

Told in the format of Then and Now, we get deep into the characters heads, their thoughts and feelings. I was so enthralled, I couldn't put it down.

Percy meets Sam one summer when her family buys a cottage on the lake for a summer home. Percy and Sam immediately form a bond - both just starting their teen years. They form a sweet friendship and become inseparable by the end of that first summer and every summer after. Until one summer twelve years ago when Percy and Sam suddenly stop talking. What happened that summer and why haven't they kept in touch? Percy is now headed back to Barry's Bay for Sam's mothers funeral. Will Sam and Percy move on from whatever tore them apart 12 years ago?

As soon as I started reading Every Summer After I immediately fell in love with both Sam and Percy. Their friendship was so sweet and pure when they first met. I loved watching them grow together through flashbacks as well as how rocky their relationship is in the present. What happened, why did they drift apart?? These are the questions I needed answers to even though I knew they'd break my heart.

Carley Fortune's writing is so beautiful. I couldn't stop reading and felt like I was right there with Percy and Sam every summer on the lake. I enjoyed every single secondary character in Every Summer After and each of them was essential to the story.

Every Summer After was heartbreakingly beautiful. This book was extremely hard to read at times and my heart broke on more than one occasion. Overall I would give Every Summer After 4.5 stars!

CW: cheating, death of a parent, bullying, panic attacks/anxiety.