OH MY GOD, THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING.

childhood friends to strangers to lovers ✔️
small town ✔️
vacation/summer-y vibes ✔️
second chance romance ✔️

By the sypnosis and the very first chapter of this book, it already got me hooked. The chapters had alternating timelines so we get to see their moments together every summer and their reconnection.

There are a lot of sweet moments in here that made me blush and giggle, a lot of angst, THE TENSION and some heartbreaking parts that did make me cry (which I didn’t expect)

I also enjoyed this since it has the same vibes as people we meet on vacation by emily henry and love and other words by christina lauren which are both 5-star read. That’s probably why I’m so hooked on this story. (so if you did enjoy reading these books, this one is just for you.)

I love Sam so freaking much. I think he would be on my book boyfriends list causeee *screams* he’s just the ideal guy that a girl wants to have. He can even talk anatomy to me and still find that hot.

Overall, definitely recommend and I’ll probably buy the physical copy and annotate it cause I love this so freaking much.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC !!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada and Debut Canadian Author Carley Fortune in exchange for an honest review.

Six summers to fall in love and one weekend years later to decide what it all meant.

Do you enjoy the Canadian pastime of summers at the cottage (we usually say cabin in Manitoba but I appreciate that elsewhere in Canada we say The Cottage”? This is something my parents introduced me to buy renting a cabin once a week but something I desired for my own children so we have the great fortune of summers at “our lake”. Did your first love story start at the lake? Mine did not but - what a wonderful way to live, love and learn.

Percy is the only child of older academic parents and it is her great fortune that her parents bought a cabin next door to year rounders Sam and Charlie. Percy and Sam enjoy one of the most beautiful love stories I ever read and their six summers together sustain them through that tumultuous period of middle years and high school. But then out of the blue, something happens and the reader is kept in the dark.

Years later Charlie calls to tell Percy that their beloved mom has died and he would like her to come to the lake to be there for Sam. She does not hesitate and sets off to face whatever their love story had been and what happened to make it come crashing down. Do you believe in second chances? What about the power of first love?

This book is an absolute joy to read and I recommend it to everybody - even people thar don’t typically read romance. The Publishing date is May 9, 2022 and this would be a wonderful Mother’s Day gift.

I loved the dual timeline. I felt equally invested in the past and present. The “second chance at love” trope is not my favourite as it can be a little too unbelievable but seeing so much of Percy and Sam’s story unfold, it made sense! Witty dialogue. Loved that it was set in Toronto and a nearby cottage town. It made me nostalgic for my Montreal nearby cottage on the lake. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any cute “summer boys”. Definitely recommend!.

I got hooked on it real quick. The first 80% went by really fast and then the rest slowed down a bit. It was really good. I loved the dynamic between the friends.

It is a nice summer read - love story and Ontario cottage country,
I was really looking forward to read Summer Ever After because of its location - Barry's Bay near Algonquin park - what can be better. And I was not disappointed! Everything related to Toronto, Barry's Bay, Kawartha Lakes ice cream, cottage country and lakes - all these details were amazing.
As for the main plot, it is a typical romcom situation with a bit too perfect guy and not so perfect girl, everyone who likes romcoms would enjoy that. The only thing which was quite intense for me is that the main characters was suffering from quite severe anxiety and some scenes were difficult to read, I had to skip them and can imagine that some readers could be triggered by that and it is not something you would expect from a summer read, usually it is a lot lighter.
But to conclude, I enjoy reading that and I want more novels from Carley Fortune! It would be so nice to have a whole summer in Ontario series, I'd buy every single one of that.

Wow! Growing up at a cottage north of Muslims, this story gave me all of the feels. It would have added to have Sam’s POV, but I loved how the author entwined the past and present to create the perfect story. A magical, nostalgic summer romance - one of my new favourites. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book tugged on all of my heartstrings. The ending had me in tears. Throughout I cried, I laughed, and constantly had that smile on my face that internally has me going 'aweeee'.

It gave off We Were Liars vibes with each chapter flipping back and forth through time as the story unfolds, leading up to the fateful summer that changed Percy and Sam's lives forever. I didn't want to put this down, every chapter had me wanting to know more.

As a Canadian, I loved to read about places that I knew and it helped put me right into the characters' lives as cottage country summers are such a staple for me.

A stunning debut and a must-read for the summer.

This is Fortune's debut novel and she's a fellow Canadian! 🇨🇦 This is a must read book! I couldn't stop thinking about it whenever I put it down. The dual timeline and summer vibes were perfect and I loved all of the characters! This one definitely needs to be on everyone's radar when it releases next month!

Read this if you like:
🌞 Summer
2️⃣ Dual timeline
🍁Books set in Canada (Ontario to be exact)
💕 2nd chance romance
🥵Some great spice scenes

Thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Random House Canada for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

I quickly dived into this book and enjoyed the geographical mentions and the premise.
I’m not usually a fan of past and present chapters but it worked with this book.
The characters were engaging, not always likeable but interesting.
I was invested in the build up of what happened to keep the characters apart but the reveal left me flat.
It was a good story but the reveal is what knocked the review from five stars to fours.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

Thank you, NetGalley, Carley Fortune, and Penguin Canada for this ARC.

I absolutely LOVED this book. A story about young love, summer romance, and complicated coming-of-age decisions told through a very compelling now/then narrative style. The Ontario setting added a level of familiar realism for me but I have no doubt readers everywhere will connect with this story.

Couldn't put it down! 5 Stars.

the summers falling in love were sweet, although i just don't understand how 2 ppl can not move on for 12 years while also never trying to communicate lol. but i'll let it go bc it was cute

I could not put this book down. I read it in less than a weekend, finding a few minutes here and there between parenting duties to read when I could because I was so wrapped up in the story. I loved how we got the alternating timeline of the present and the past, I love that we got bits and pieces of the full story—only to finally get the full picture when the characters both knew the full picture themselves and I love that this took place in Canada, with all its unapologetic Canadian references, so it truly felt like home (with a bit of nostalgia). Plus there were so many references to Queen’s University—my alma mater!

The characters were all beautifully developed to the point that I felt like I was spending my summers with these people, too. And though I don’t relate to the main character, Persephone, because we’re not all that much alike, I could place myself at my own cottage growing up, with the summer-only friends I met there, and it brought me back to a time when life was much more simple. I love when books with teens have realistic parent-child relationships, and I loved that Percy’s parents and the boys’ mom gave the same kind of freedom my parents did growing up—they were parents (not friends) but gave some liberties because we were good kids. And as for the “now” storytelling, the drama was also something that you could see happening, not just a silly miscommunication that could have been solved with a phone call, as a lot of stories seem to do these days.

I loved this book, and I hope that Fortune writes another one.

4.5 STARS

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I love me a good second chance romance. This book is definitely up there for those who liked love and other words by Christina Lauren (and I LOVED that book). I started this despite having two exams to study for and I ate it up. I was hooked from the first chapter, desperately wanting answers to what cause them to break up. This book was so Canadian??? I loved it??? The casual references to Tims pit stops and the description of the bone chilling winters and hot summers?? So real. I do say that it loses a star because I saw where the twist (to an extent) was going and I wanted to be wrong so so badly. I am very intrigued to see how Sam and Percy exist as a couple without the months apart and school, I do wish we got more of that.

Thank you net gallery for this arc!
Ok where do I start at first I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book but then is started reading and got more into it then it lead me to crying my eyes out at 2am. I loved this book with a passion I loved the tropes I loved the characters I loved the setting I love the dual time pics between past and present AND OHMYGOD my new favourite book And I cant wait to get my hands on the paperback when It come out

I have been searching for a romance to love. Fortune immediately dragged me into the novel when she began describing the cottage journey North that is common for so many Canadians. I loved the nostalgic feelings of driving up to the lake cabin or “cottage” as they call them out east. Her writing is so casual that at some points I desired some more high brow narration, but I grew to appreciate the accessibility of the story.

The story is told between two timelines, “then” and “now” - of Percy, a teenage girl who meets the boys next door at the cottage. The story revolves around her growing love for Sam, her teenage lake crush, and “now” 12 years later, revisiting the lake after an obvious falling-out between the two of them for Sam’s mothers funeral.

I fell in love with all of these characters. The innocence of childhood, the awkardness, and the desire to grow up were all so well represented in this book. The romance was adorable and quirky for the teens, and steamy and complex for the adults. As awkward and sweet as the teenage love story was, they did communicate awfully well for a time when email was the primary method when they were apart. It really brought back a lot of nostalgia of high school relationships, the anticipation of hanging out with the opposite sex and the belief that these things were all “meant to be.

The relationship Percy had with her parents of being a generally well adapted, responsible “good” kid and getting awarded many freedoms was such a good explanation of the relationship I had with my own parents growing up.

Fortune describes Percy’s mentality when thinking of her young love as “plotted, dreamed, obsessed” and I don’t think I could find better words to describe teenage love. This book was so full of promise and hope, and I was completely rooting for their love story. It felt like a Noah and Alli a la The Notebook kind of love, that was perfect, but also so beautiful.

A nostalgic escape into young summer love!
I love that it took place in Ontario (where I am from).
This would make a perfect beach read, or a book to devour at the cottage!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! I'm a sucker for friends-to-lovers and second chance romance stories so I was super excited to read Carley Fortune's debut novel - and it did not disappoint!

Every Summer After follows main character Percy Fraser, after she receives a call that her childhood best friend/first love's mother has died. The story is told in alternating timelines. In the past we see Percy meet and fall in love with Sam, her neighbour at her family's cottage, as their relationship grows each summer of their teen years. In the present Percy and Sam haven't seen each other for years but reconnect over the course of the weekend Percy is back in town for Sam's mother's funeral.

This book had everything I want in a romance, angst and heartache, pining and love. The story was so well written I was hooked from the beginning, the characters were well rounded and I was rooting for them as people and obviously for them to get together. It was definitely emotional as we deal with Sam's grief and Percy's anxieties, but it was also really sweet and had me smiling to myself as I was reading. I also loved how unapologetically Canadian this book is, Percy is from Toronto and the cottage town is Barry's Bay. Being from the Greater Toronto Area myself I really appreciated all the little references to places in Toronto, Canadian universities, and though I've never been to Barry's Bay specifically the author definitely captured the feeling of small Ontario lake towns. My only complaint with this book is that I wish we had seen more of Percy and Sam in the present once they had gotten together, and that we had explored a bit more of the conversations surrounding how they had hurt each other in their original relationship as late teens.

Overall I loved this book, and I'll be eagerly awaiting whatever Carley Fortune writes next!

Full review is posted on Goodreads and StoryGraph!

Absolutely loved! Every Summer After gives you all those summer and small town vibes and I loved every minute of it, Plus, as a Canadian this book felt like home. Would definitely buy this to pick it up again because I really enjoyed it

This is a great read even though I'm super conflicted about the "terrible thing" that ripped the two mains apart. Time jumps are also not a thing I typically care for.
However...
The. Setting. Is. Excellent.
Carley Fortune nails small town Eastern Ontario big time. And the characters are so real. But the place. The place shines like every summer memory - bright and golden but diffused.
The hard parts are really tough - this book makes you think about betrayal and forgiveness when it's so close you'll never not have to face it. You have to choose to move on, or nurse that hurt forever.
I tore through this book. I didn't love it but damn it was good.
Thank you to NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are my own.

I must state right off the bat that I may be a little biased towards liking this book SIMPLY because our author is a Canadian girl who writes like it!! My go-to genre is romance, and it's not often the story is based in a place I can fully relate to. I'm not from Ontario, but the Canadianisms sprinkled in throughout made my heart sing (like Tim's rest stops, last names as first names, hockey guys' weird obsession with the perfect hockey hair, frigid winters with hot summers on the lake). The writing style was fun, and I felt like I was *right there* with our MC.

My first impression of the novel - right after reading the description and getting through the first chapter - was that this book would be suuuper similar to Christina Lauren's "Love and Other Words". I'm talking "summer beach house, childhood best friends, to lovers, to second chance romance back to lovers" similar. No one owns a trope, so I can't fault how similar they are, but it was definitely difficult not to constantly compare the two novels as I read. That said, I enjoyed and gave LAOW a 4 star rating, so with the similarities and Carley Fortune's very readable writing style, I'm not surprised that I'm giving Every Summer After a similar rating.

Watching Percy and Sam [quite literally] grow in their relationship was a freakin treat. I felt every moment of their relationship evolve, and found it to be so easy to feel to what they felt. Fortune did a good job of writing across the ages of 13 to 30, and kept things realistic and relatable through each stage. I found myself SO FRUSTRATED at the MCs sometimes in their youthful ignorance of how relationships operate (and how they handled hardships)... but then laughed at myself when I remembered how accurate the portrayal was. Percy and Sam were young, clumsy, and figuring things out along the way - - and even tho it was messy, it was perfect.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and thought it was a great debut novel for Fortune! Can't wait to see what she comes out with next.