Oh, how I do love a second chance romance! Annabel Monaghan’s new novel Same Time Next Summer features my favorite kind too – childhood sweethearts who are reunited after years apart. The nostalgic vibes and the sweet flashbacks showing a first love in bloom are just pure catnip for me.

Same Time Next Summer follows Sam, a young woman who has returned to her parent’s Long Island beach house to start planning her wedding. On the surface, Sam’s life seems perfect. Her fiancé is a handsome doctor and she has the perfect job. But the more we get to witness Sam in action, the more it becomes clear that things aren’t nearly as perfect as they seem. There’s trouble with her job, and her doctor fiancé isn’t quite the catch he should be. When Sam runs into Wyatt, her childhood sweetheart who she hasn’t seen in almost 14 years, it becomes clear that Sam has just been going through the motions both personally and professionally.

Monaghan does a wonderful job of alternating between past and present so we can witness the moving story of Sam and Wyatt when they first met, became friends, and then fell in love and then see them reconnect as adults and realize that they still have very strong feelings for one another. It made me sad to see what initially drove them apart but the bond between them is so strong that I felt confident that if Sam were to choose him, they could have a happily ever after.

The romance is lovely, but this is a story that features more than just a second chance at love. Sam’s return home, and everything she experiences while there, serves as a wake up call and a second chance for Sam to have the life she has always wanted professionally as well as personally. This creates a perfect balance between romance and women’s fiction. As someone who loves both rom coms and romances that have a little more meat to them, I loved the extra layers Sam’s personal journey added to the story.

Featuring a poignant second chance romance as well as a moving journey of personal discovery, Same Time Next Summer is a read that will appeal to so many readers. And with its vibrant beachy setting and nostalgic summer vibes, it’s the perfect book to toss in your beach bag this summer!

2.5/5

Does anyone really forget their first love? Or do they just try really hard to for years only to find out they never truly got over them? Only time will tell if Sam is dead set on marrying her fiancé or if she’ll drop everything for Wyatt, her first love…

I’ll just come straight out and say it, I struggled with this book. Hardcore. The first 50% of the book was slow, somewhat monotonous, and just irritated the mess out of me.

The choices made by Sam were just not there for me…at least the timing of them. There was some serious emotional cheating going on, even if both parties were relatively checked out of the relationship. And really, if we dropped Jack earlier we could have had so much more Wyatt. Which would have been great because Wyatt is a sweetheart.

Another big thing that got under my skin was the therapist’s approach to the situation. Telling her what was wrong with her, gaslighting her emotions, and not really helping her to heal at all. It made me want to scream. If you have a therapist taking this approach with you…please drop them and find another.

The family drama in this book was spectacular. I ate it up. Even though it was beyond inappropriate…I just held onto that nice and tight.

Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan

Thank you to @netgalley, @putnambooks, and the author, @annabelmonaghan for the chance to read this #eARC in exchange for my #honestbookreview! This book is now available for purchase. 💚

Sam Holloday has her shit together. She’s engaged to a handsome and established man who happens to be a doctor, she is a respected and responsible HR executive and they’re planning their life together. And, most importantly, she’s definitely not still in love with her ex, Wyatt. She and Wyatt had a very passionate once-in-a-lifetime kind of romance but that’s in the past. Then circumstances throw Sam and Wyatt back into each other’s lives as he coordinates a music festival and she works on wedding planning in the place where it all began - Long Island. Will Sam settle for the buttoned-up life she’s carefully curated for herself or will she take a chance on true love and happiness?

This is it - this is the quintessential summer romance read for Summer 2023! As Sam sorts through the what-ifs of her past, present, and future I was forced to also do some soul-searching and remind myself life is too short to be anything but your true self and do what makes you happy. Though the extraordinary, passionate, life-altering love Sam and Wyatt have may be rare, their experiences are too easy to relate to. Sam dissociates from her true identity and desires to protect her heart and cope. Wyatt pushes away the most important person in his life and pours his emotion into his craft instead of communicating with Sam and telling her how he feels. This book gave me alllll the feels and I’d love to see a sequel with these characters. Highly recommend!

TW: PTSD, cheating, dissociation, gaslighting, depression

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 5/5

Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan follows Sam through planning her engagement with the seemingly perfect-doctor-fiance-fitness-buff Jack, which is smooth sailing until Wyatt, her teenage summer crush / first boyfriend comes back into the picture. The book has very short chapters, which moves the story along quickly, and compells you to read it even faster, because “just one more chapter” will only be a few more minutes, which turns into endless “one more chapter”s. The author uses vivid imagry to create distinct life-like characters, and pulls you into the setting, making the beach house feel like a home you’ve visited dozens of times before. The audiobook narrators also do a wonderful job capturing both Sam and Wyatt’s emotions.
With Monaghan’s novel prior to this, Nora Goes Off Script—which I loved, I was deeply impressed with the author’s ability to make the readers so deeply upset with a character, and create reasoning that would make us fully forgive him, when I’d otherwise written him off as irredeemable. I was nervously hoping for the same sort of twist with this novel, and found it didn’t quite redeem anyone the way I’d hoped. I recognize full that “leaving my seemingly perfect man (who when I think about it, isn’t as perfect as I thought) for the man I crushed on long ago” is not a relationship dynamic / story trope that I’m a huge fan of, but I also didn’t feel like either man would actually be good for Sam to end up with. Wyatt’s redemption didn’t feel much deeper than “I was young and distressed, and I said I’m sorry, so forgive me.” and felt more like Sam falling back into the obsessive mental patterns of her youth, just with less perceived consequence as before because this time, he simply said he wouldn’t leave.
My dislike for this doesn’t change that I do think it was a very well written and entertaining read, and more than anything it’s just not MY cup of tea, but I am certain that it will be for others.

Years ago, Wyatt and Samantha, a.k.a. Sam, were best friends. They grew up in neighboring beach houses on Long Island and spent every summer together until Sam turned 17 and Wyatt broke her heart.

After years away, Sam is back again and has brought her fiancé Jack with her, As Sam and Jack start to plan their wedding and look to the future, Wyatt reappears. Throughout the week, Sam and Wyatt find themselves repeatedly crossing paths and the reader is treated to getting to know Sam and Wyatt both now and when they were younger.

I loved the fact that this book kept me guessing what was going to happen next right up until the end. Same Time Next Summer should DEFINITELY be on your beach book list!

Thank you to Net Galley and Penguin Group for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a sweet second chance romance. As most, it was insanely predictable but i was in for the ride!
Our main character Sam returns to her family beach house with her fiance, only to find her childhood love in town as well. He was their next door neighbor and their families were intertwined each summer for years. The book flashes back and forth from current to prior summers. you want her fall in love as a teen and refall in love as an adult. Her family was equally charming in this novel and i finished it within hours. Its light, sweet, fun. But in most stories, i felt bad for her fiance, even though it was clear they were not the right match. The heart wants what the heart wants! Annabel Monaghans previous novel is still my favorite (Nora goes off the script) but if you need a lighthearted sweet summer romance, this will sure do the trick!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

I loved Nora Goes Off Script so much that I made everyone I know read it. Same Time Next Summer had a lot to live up to and unfortunately for me the two books can’t compare. This was a fun, easy read but at times I was bored and the storyline was very predictable. A good beach read but that’s about it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC!

I'm always a sucker for the "first love lost, second chance" trope. This was a sweet and lovely story that made me smile yet felt bittersweet at the same time.

Same Time Next Summer is about a woman named Sam going back to the beach town she used to visit every summer when she was a teenager. During that time, she met and fell in love with a boy named Wyatt. When she comes back years after Wyatt broke her heart, she runs into him once again. Only this time, they're adults, and Sam's engaged to be married! Does that mean there are no more sparks between Same and Wyatt after all this time? Of course not.

This was a delightful read for me because it reminded me of my high school years of taking trips to the coast with my friends. We would build bonfires, talk for hours... and there was always that one guy who would bring a guitar and softly strum in the background. Yeah, we were cool. But I'm nostalgic for those times; they were gems. This book brought me back to that.

I really liked Sam and Wyatt; even though she was engaged to another man, I was rooting for her to leave Jack and go back to Wyatt. I understand the hesitation: it's been years, they're two different people now. But sometimes you just can't let that first love go.

I liked the way the author wrote the two main characters that it got me to pick up another of her books, Nora Goes Off Script, which was another one I enjoyed.

Solid 4 out of 5 stars for me.

Same Time Next Summer is the perfect beach read. I read it in one sitting and could not have loved it more. It’s a second chance love story at its best. Likeable characters, an amazing setting and a great story make this novel easy to fall in love with and even easier to recommend.

I wanted to read this because I loved this author’s last book. While this book was great, it isn’t 5 stars as Nora was. I will say that the storyline was interesting, held my attention and kept me on the edge of my seat! Great quirky family members as well. A little predictable ending, but well written. This author is one to watch! This book was an ARC in trade for my honest review, thanks to netgalley.com.

To appease her family, Sam chooses to have her wedding near her family’s beach house in Long Island. The last person she expects to see, nor does she want to run into, is her childhood sweetheart Wyatt. Wyatt just happens to be home for the summer. Sam has to find a way to push aside any of her past feelings to move towards the future she always thought she wanted.

Same Time Next Summer is a stand-alone contemporary romance. This second chance romance is full of sweet and swoony scenes along with plenty of great banter. It is dual POV.

I adore the author’s last book, Nora Goes Off Script, so I had high expectations for this one. Same Time Next Summer proved to be a delightful summery read. The storyline does float back and forth between past and present but I found the overall flow of the book to be smooth. The plot was much more emotional than I was expecting. (It may have gotten a few tears out of me.) There is a decent amount of drama but nothing too angsty.

I look forward to reading more of Annabel Monaghan’s work in the future.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

This was a fun second chance romance about childhood friends Sam & Wyatt. They were each other's first love, and, now 14 years later, they come face to face again while Sam is planning her wedding to Jack, right where Sam & Wyatt spend all those summers and fell in love. The setting of summers spent in Long Island makes this the perfect book for summer and beach reading!

Love love loved this book! This is the perfect second-chance-romance for your summer reading. I loved the multiple timelines and how it was almost like 2 love stories in one. My only complaint was that the book ended, I want more of Wyatt and Sam! Annabel Monaghan is definitely an auto buy without for me and I can’t wait for everyone else to fall in love with this book and her writing.

A perfect beach read. Sometimes slow and just enough to keep you hooked. Love the different perspectives and time changes to give more information on what happened.

BOOK REVIEW✨

Read this book if:

✨You've had a song written about you
✨You love flash mobs
✨All your best childhood memories were in a treehouse

✨Brief Summary✨

It took a while for Sam to get there, but she finally feels like she has her life together. She's engaged to a stable doctor who helps keep her life in order. Over the summer, Jack and Sam head out to Long Island to tour a wedding venue. The venue is near the cottage that Sam spent every summer at growing up. When they arrives, Sam hears the familiar sound of Wyatt playing guitar in the treehouse in the backyard. Why is her first love in town? And what caused Wyatt and Sam to have a falling out more than a decade ago?

✨My Thoughts✨

As you all know, I'm a true sucker for a childhood friends to lovers novels. My one requirement is that they all take place in a beach setting. If I could only read one trope for the rest of my life, it would probably be second chance romances 👏

While there was obviously a strong romance plotline, there was also an important storyline that uncovered some of the difficulties and complexities of families. Both Sam and Wyatt's families went through a lot in the 25 years that they knew each other. The author does a good job of handling these topics delicately and with grace.

The setting of this book was absolute perfection. I loved hearing about how Sam would get up in the morning and spend her days barefoot on the beach. I could transport myself there where she described the "sunlight feathering the water." 😍

I also really liked the focus on character development. I felt like Sam grew tremendously from the beginning of the book to the end. She was almost a shell of a human when she first arrived on Long Island with Jack. It was great to see who she became by the end of the novel.

I ended up rating this one five stars. So far, I haven't met a second chance romance that I haven't loved, and this one was no exception 🙌

Do yourself a favor and save Same Time Next Summer for your next trip to the beach. You won't regret it.

I loved Nora Goes Off Script, and was looking for more of that here, but didn't find it. This book is a second chance romance that bounces between the present day and the characters at 16 years old. I already don't really resonate with second chance romances, but especially found this similar to other books like Carly Fortune's Every Summer After. I dnf'ed at about 33%, but would definitely read a book by Monaghan again -- this one just wasn't for me.

Thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons, PRHAudio, and netgalley for early copies of this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for gifting me a digital ARC of the new book by Annabel Monaghan - 4.5 stars rounded up!

Sam has spent every summer at her family house on Long Island Beach. It was there that she met Wyatt, who lived next door. They grew up together and moved from friends to first loves. But then Wyatt left and broke Sam's heart. Now she's back at the beach with fiancé Jack in tow, looking at wedding venues. Jack is a doctor and perfect in all those ways that a fiancé should be - but is he perfect for her? Then Sam learns that Wyatt is back on the island from California.

This story is told in the past and present timelines, as we tag along as Sam and Wyatt's relationship grows and then explodes. This book will transport you to summer, the beach and will have you remembering your first love. It's full of great secondary characters as well, plus I love how her parents' personalities and house expanded while at the beach. I fell into this book and didn't want to look up - perfect to pack along on your summer vacation!

𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬💭:
Another highly anticipated read for me since Nora Goes Off Script was my favorite romance book last year. So my expectations for this one was definitely high. Plus points for the stunning summery cover😍

Thank you so much Putnam Books for my copy and PRH Audio for my audiobook. It’s amazing on audio and made for a very easy listen under 7hrs. It comes out 6/6/23!

𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐛📝:
Sam is engaged to Jack, her perfect doctor fiancé. She visits her family’s beach house in long Island to tour a wedding venue. Upon arriving, she comes face to face with Wyatt, her first love whom she hasn’t seen in 14 years and memories come flooding right back.

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫/5. This book definitely gave me Every Summer After vibes. Told in two timelines, it gave me a bit of a mystery as to how the relationship ended in the first place. It made the build up absolutely incredible and i really enjoyed how the author weaves the past and the present to bring their love story to life. The chemistry between Sam and Wyatt was so palpable and I truly felt the pain that came with it. Second chance romance is usually a trope I don’t always love, but with enough time apart and growth between them, it made for a sweet reunion. If you loved Every Summer After, you would enjoy this one! It’s a sweet summer romance you wouldn’t wanna miss!

𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚: 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘛𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺, 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦

I loved this book and am so excited to find a winning author! These characters really grabbed part of my heart and I enjoyed this one immensely. It would be perfect for a day at the beach or a vacation read. I’ve never been to Long Island, but the author’s descriptive writing made it so easy to imagine.

Sam is living her best life -- engaged, working a great job, and returning to a family summer house on Long Island to plan her wedding. When you dig a little deeper though, are things all that great with her fiancé Jack? And is that job really a good fit allowing for no creativity? Sam is feeling boxed in and discovers that she’s not really happy.

Do we ever really get over our first love? Sam is about to find out when she discovers that Wyatt is also on Long Island. It’s been fourteen years since they’ve seen each other, but he still makes her heart bit a little faster and she longs for all those summers spent together growing up.

Throughout the book, we get flashbacks of Sam and Wyatt’s love story filled with beach magic and why they are now estranged. I fell in love with this couple and the relationship that they built. And I mostly understood why things fell apart. The big question is whether Sam will marry Jack or if there’s a chance that she could repair things with Wyatt.

The relationships seemed really authentic in this one as did the growth after a romantic relationship ends. I also loved Sam’s family members in this one. They each added to the story. Writing this review makes me want to read this one all over again! It’s on my favorites of 2023 for sure!

Sam is bringing her fiancé Jack to Long Island to see how her family passes their summers and check out a wedding venue that neither of them actually intends to use. Jack has already picked out a Very Sensible (and easy) wedding plan at his parent’s club in Connecticut, and Sam? Well, she’s fine with it. Still, it’s time she had Jack out to her parents summer place and it’ll make them happy if the two at least pretend to consider their option.
There’s a surprise in store for her there though. The boy next door, Wyatt, is staying at his parent’s place for the summer. They basically grew up together - for the summers at least - and were each others first loves until the last summer ends in upheaval.

The story is told between present day and flashbacks to all those previous summers. It feels like there’s more of the past than the present, which makes the book read a little YA. That said, I liked the story and was happy with the way things ended up in the end. This is one of those books that you can almost see the movie version playing of it in your mind while you’re reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC