Summary
Sam doesn't spend much time coming out to the family beach house anymore. Ever since the summer Wyatt broke her heart, she stays away as much as she can. But now she and her fiance' Jack are coming to visit. Her parents want them to consider a wedding there. As soon as she arrives, Sam can tell something is different... Wyatt is back next door. Wyatt, her childhood friend, first love.

Review
I've seen comparisons of this book to a few others, that I haven't read but are on my TBR. It is a second chance, friends to lovers, childhood sweethearts, dual timeline story. We see present day, as Sam returning back to the beach house for more than a weekend for the first time in years. Then we see the backstory of Sam and Wyatt and how their families bonded and the connection between Sam and Wyatt. One slight critique is the idea of people being romantic with someone for a summer as teens and then a decade later they are reconnecting and wondering if they were the love of their life. It may just be having gotten cynical in my old age 🙂 Ten years ago, these stories may have made me swoon. The reason for the falling out was not what I expected and it felt like there was an attempt at some misdirection with Sam's sister, Gracie.

This book is the perfect summer vacation read - it has everything you need for a feel good vacation read! The characters are beyond lovable, the story itself is GREAT. I think the only thing that kept it being a 5 star for me was that I had SUCH HIGH EXPECTATIONS after "Nora Goes Off Script" that held me back from rating this one a 5 star.

This one was so good! Love a good second-chance romance and this one definitely delivered! I had the opportunity to listen to the audio and definitely recommend the audiobook!

This book is such a perfect read if you're looking for a summer themed read! It's filled with nostalgic summer memories, loveable family relationships, and of course a second chance romance plot. I found this one to have similar vibes to Every Summer After and Love & Other Words, both of which I loved just as much as this one! I found Sam to be a relatable main character and I definitely enjoyed following along on her journey of self growth.

Read this one if you like:
☀️Second chance romance trope
☀️Beachy vibes
☀️Lighthearted reads
☀️Summer time

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thirty-year-old Sam hasher life all planned out and tied down. She's engaged to a doctor who has rigid (aka safe) routines and has a job in HR where she can consult with companies to make sure that their employees follow strict guidelines. Instead of feeling good about this, she is panicking as she heads to Long Island to have her fiance see where she spent summers as a child with her artistic parents. As they arrive and get comfortable, she finds out that her childhood sweetheart Wyatt is next door for the summer. This matters far too much to her as she hasn't seen him in years.
The story then jumps back and forth in time for a while. Sam is trying to plan her wedding to Jack while dealing (or not dealing) with her feelings for Wyatt. Chapters also showcase how she felt as a teenager when she was falling in love with Wyatt (and he with her-there were a few chapters from Wyatt's POV). This story had all the feels and angst. I really felt like I was on the beach in the middle of my first romance. The secondary characters are fun and there are no clear villains in the story which is nice as I preferred the more realistic approach to the story.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in return for my honest review.

This was a sweet second-chance romance~ I adore Monaghan's writing and she does the nostalgia of a first love justice here. I preferred the "now" timeline more than the "then" which felt a little YA since the characters were teenagers, and I wish Sam had resolved her current relationship sooner - it was a little off-putting that she was planning her wedding while pining for her ex. That being said, I really enjoyed this book, and Sam and Wyatt's story makes for a perfect beach read.

Thanks to Putnam for the copy to review.

Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan is the best summer/vacation novel I’ve read this year. I adored this author’s last novel and couldn’t wait to read this one. I admit to being scared that this novel couldn’t live up to the quality of the last one. While this book couldn’t be more different, I loved this book just as much if not more than the last one. Readers of romantic women’s fiction will absolutely love this book, as I did. I cannot recommend it enough. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

Sam's life is moving in the right direction. She's getting married to a hot doctor and loves her job. However, her life is extremely structured. She follows all the rules and sticks to her fiance's routines. Once upon a time she was a carefree summer girl on Long Island who followed no rules and fell in love with the boy next door. She's going back to the beach for a week to merge her strict life with her beach life. She hasn't spent a lot of time there since her previous summer life fell apart. Visiting the beach this time will throw her life for a loop again.

This might be the perfect summer rom-com. My only critique is that it wasn't long enough. I wanted more of this complicated, fun, romantic, funny book. Great quick summer read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC of Same Time Next Summer.

While I very much enjoyed the characters and their characterization in this novel, I feel like the story was not for me. The behavior of the main character was very much cheating adjacent, and that is not a plot that I enjoy reading about, and because of that I found myself struggling to finish this novel. I really wish that this was not the case because i enjoy this author's writing so much. Due to this, I cannot recommend this novel, but I would recommend other novels by this author and I would be willing to read another novel written by them.

I enjoyed this book! I didn’t love it as much as Nora Goes Off Script but I loved the nostalgia feel of this book and the second chance of finding yourself and your first love. I think every person can pinpoint that critical moment in their life when something happened that had such a profound impact on it.

For Sam, it’s the summer she and Wyatt finally voiced their love for each other only to have it shatter beyond their control. Sam spent a lot of time rebuilding herself only to find out that life isn’t fulfilling her anymore. Her engagement to Jack was carefully crafted and while Jack wasn’t ever a bad guy, he just didn’t know the Sam she thought she buried deep down long ago. What Wyatt went through was hard and he took it out on the person who was supposed to be his safe space but he failed to let her in and it cost them both so much.

I would love to see an epilogue for Sam and Wyatt. I want to see more of them in the future living the lives they always imagined as kids. Their friendship and the honesty we see them share as adults gives you that feeling that you know they survive together long after the story ends.


Thank you @annabelmonaghan @putnambooks and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

I loved the premise of this book. The idea of facing your big love as a teenager is both interesting and challenging.

I instantly took to Sam as a fellow HR gal. I didn’t fully understand the flash mob situation or motivation behind it. I would have loved to have understood this part of her unraveling as it seemed to be the beginning of the end. I appreciated the arc and where she landed at the library. Overall felt like this storyline was a little half baked.

The reason behind Sam and Wyatt’s falling out surprised me. The scandal seemed random, and the ensuing plot line of having a new little sibling was an odd choice. These situations are real, though I can understand being more upset with your parents than taking it out on your partner.

I have come to realize that second chance romance is not my favorite trope, and I should have known that would be a challenge entering into this story. While that trope doesn’t usually work for me, I really appreciated how Sam’s revelations about herself lead to the changes she made rather than being driven by Wyatt as the end game. She had to figure out that she wasn’t where she wanted to be in order to fall into the right place long term.

The ending felt haphazard and cutoff to me. I would have loved to have seen an epilogue or further closure. After the last page, I fully expected another chapter and was left wanting for more.

Many thanks to Annabel Monighan, NetGalley, and G.P. Putnam's Sons for sharing this work with me and hearing my thoughts!

I loved Annabel Monaghan’s book last summer, Nora Goes Off Script and was so excited for this one to come out and it did no disappoint. The sense of place was perfect and reading it took me right to the beach. A perfect summer read.

This is a second chance romance that started with a teenage romance that spilled over into adulthood. I loved Sam's journey back to her true self. We often lose our true selves to become what we think is expected of us. The vivid story telling made me feel like I was there on that beach feeling the water and the sand. Definitely a beach read. Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC in exchange for my review.

I really enjoyed this read! It's a perfect vacation or summer weekend read--it has great characters, a beautiful beach setting (you'll wish you were there) and a sweet romance story. Though a bit predictable, that's part of what I liked about it--I wanted a perfect beach read type book and that's what I got.

Sam and Wyatt have been best friends since they were 5 until they were 19 when Wyatt just disappeared. Now Sam is getting married to Jack, and goes back to her family house on Long Island and see Wyatt staying next door and she starts to second guess everything she has become and maybe there is a second chance at true love after all and everything isn’t as black and white as it seems.


I loved this book I would so recommend to anyone!

Annabel Monaghan, author of the award-winning novel, "Nora Goes Off Script", has written a new novel called, "Same Time Next Summer." This book centers around Sam, a businesswoman who seems to have it all: a doctor fiance and a corporate job in New York City. When she brings Jack (her fiance) to her family's Long Island beach house, she begins to see that there are some pretty big differences between the two of them. While Jack is happiest in the big city and has rigid, traditional plans for their wedding and their future, Sam wants to live a more laidback, creative life. And when Sam runs into her childhood love, the actual boy-next-door Wyatt, she begins to realize that chapter of her life might not be as closed as she originally thought.

This was a quick read, and I enjoyed the sweet chemistry between Sam and Wyatt. I also loved the peripheral family characters and their genuine love for each other. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this book, but it was not for me. This book is like if you combine Every Summer After with Sweet Home Alabama, which sounds amazing! I’ll explain why it didn’t work for me below, but to do that I’ll have to include some spoilers.

This rom-com felt like it was too close to cheating for me to want to root for anybody. Sam’s first love Wyatt broke her heart at 17 (I mean he just ghosted her, which doesn’t look good for you Wyatt), and this girl went on a whole 12 step program to get over him and is STILL pining for him at the age of 30 while she’s engaged to another man. I just find this unbelievable, and I say this as someone who married my first love and high school sweetheart (and I am still obsessed with him at the age of 32 🥰).

In all this time she’s clearly not over him, she never googled him? Never looks him up? Never runs into any of their old acquaintances who mention what he’s been up to?

And does Sam even like her fiancé?? Her inner monologue does not seem that way. She’s disparaging that he gets his haircut consistently and has a strict workout schedule - okay, maybe that’s not for you, but are those horrible faults? He wants the two of them to read the same book at the same time, which I find very sweet! But Sam hates it because she doesn’t like the same books he likes. But does she tell him? No, she just moans about it internally and silently hopes he notices. And yes, maybe he should have noticed that. Or noticed she doesn’t like tennis like he does. But I think the book paints him as a villain for liking monochrome colors and straight lines because deep down our main character is an ~artist who likes bright colors~ and he’s that straight-laced doctor who just doesn't get her. But she made no effort to speak up for herself, and I just have a hard time rooting for that type of character. Granted, her fiancé DOES have some moments where he’s a major jerk. But I feel like Sam never has an agency or took responsibility for her own happiness.

Even though this book was not for me, I think a lot of people will enjoy it as a cute summer read. Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the copy in exchange for my honest review.

Annabel Monaghan has definitely become an auto-buy author for me! I found this second chance romance to be utterly charming. I was happy to see the character growth from Sam as she came to realize her relationship with her fiance was not healthy. And Wyatt was absolutely swoon worthy!

Such a fun summer read. Great storyline that flowed nicely without the excess fluff. Loved the characters and the second chance romance.
Although it was a bit predictable I don’t think it took away from the story. I like knowing the book I’m reading is going to end in a HEA.
Definitely suggest adding this book to your tbr.

Thank you to NetGalley for the complimentary ebook to read and review.

Very sweet, beachy read about a 30 year old woman who never got over her first love. This romance is more about family dynamics and character development than lust and open doors. I was rooting for the main characters and only wish there was a little more page time with them together.