This was a really easy story to get into. I liked the then and now timelines and I liked that it was dual POV too. What I didn’t get was why there were different point of views used in each timeline. The writing changed from first person in the “now” timeline to third person in the “then” timeline. I guess it was supposed to read as more of a flashback and like we were seeing it from the outside but it just didn’t work for me.
It was hard to get into the romance for most of the book because Sam had a fiancé for the majority of the book. How was I supposed to root for her and Wyatt when she’s fully engaged to another man. It was clear that her connection with Jack wasn’t as great as what she had with Wyatt but it wasn’t like he was a horrible human being.
I really liked the setting of this story. The Long Island beach feel was really cozy and had great summer vibes.
I liked this one okay, I think if I had gone into it not expecting a big focus on the romance I would’ve liked it more. This is more about Sam finding herself again.
Thank you to netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing an early copy in exchange for an honest review!

No sophomore slump here! Annabel Monaghan has created another great summer read. Old love, new love, summer at the beach. What more do you need!!?

Thank you, NetGalley, for the Advanced Reader Copy/ARC of Same Time Next Summer, by the wonderful author of Nora Goes Off Script, Annabel Monaghan. Soon to be released - June 6, 2023!! Spoiler Alert! My book club had a LIVE zoom meeting with Annabel Monaghan last year that was absolutely delightful. She is generous with her time, funny, engaging, and we all loved her!

Now on to the review. This is a sweet now and then story of 30 yr-old Sam (female), engaged to Dr. Jack, with a pretty good life in NYC. She and Jack are *finally* going back to Sam's family's beautiful NJ beach house for a couple of nights to view possibly wedding venues, taste cake, etc. Suddenly the sound of guitar strumming wafts over to her patio. Could it be her first love, Wyatt, who she hasn't seen since age 18? Could he be hanging out in the amazing tree house at his next-door property where he and Sam spent some very powerful time together way back when? Why yes, it could.

This is a feel-good book about reclaiming the ideals and activities that made you joyful as a young person before other people's expectations cast you into something not reflecting your authentic self if you're really being honest with yourself. There is an ungraphic and brief scene that serves to pivot the plot, but doesn't warrant a trigger warning AT ALL (no spoilers). There are also no extreme sex scenes as is popular in the current romance genre, and no super bad guys, just a focus on relishing what you, well, relish, and finding someone to share that vibe with.

The only quibble I have is that I find it hard to believe Sam wouldn't have heard about Wyatt, although Ms. Monaghan cleverly crafts her story to explain why Wyatt's family wasn't in touch with Sam's, and why she didn't seek him out herself. Kudos to her. I enjoyed the book. 5-stars.

I was so, so excited to read this after loving NORA last year, and I’m so sad to write that this didn’t work for me. I’m not the biggest fan of second chance/first love, but if it’s done right, I can get behind it. However, you will never convince me that a first love needs rekindled while there’s an engagement/wedding planning happening. I don’t like cheating or even brushing with cheating at all. I also wish the characters had a bit more depth because I didn’t find these characters to be memorable like I did Nora, her children, and Leo. I will still check out her work in the future because I’m sure with this one, it’s more me than the book after reading some stellar reviews.

I adored Nora Goes Off Script so I was really excited for this one. The setting is beautiful- you can almost feel the breeze and hear the ocean. The story for me felt a bit flat- I wanted to know more about the characters, they all seemed under-developed. I also didn’t feel like there was a strong conclusion-the ending was a bit abrupt. Overall a light, beachy yet forgettable read. I received an arc of this book through NetGalley.

Overall, I really liked this one! It was easy to get swept away in this story. I can definitely see this becoming a must have beach read this summer. There were a few things I was a little iffy about, but first, the things I liked: I really loved the flashbacks in Part 1. I thought young Sam and Wyatt were so cute and ugh, watching them fall in love over the years was so romantic. I thought Sam’s family was an absolute treat. I loved their dynamic. Also, as sad as it was, the reason for Sam and Wyatt’s slow and painful breakup was done really well. Part 2 moved a bit slower than Part 1 for me, but I still really enjoyed it. Okay, now for the ehhhh things: Wow, Jack…he couldn’t have any sort of redeeming quality about him to make Sam’s decision a little more difficult? Even before Wyatt showed up, I was DONE with this guy. What a stick in the mud. I get that Monaghan was portraying the juxtaposition of the wild, magical love Sam felt for Wyatt against the safe, steady feelings she had for Jack, but Jesus, there was not one single thing that was appealing about this guy. Also, a very minor character seen in Sam’s flashbacks, Dr. Judy…I hated her. She absolutely trivialized Sam’s feelings about Wyatt and I thought it was not okay at all. Also, you don’t call a patient, even a teenage girl, crazy. She was just in the book for a small number of pages, but ugh, she made me furious. I was hoping for some resolution at the end with her. Lastly, the ending was gearing up to be so cute and full circle and it just ends super abruptly! I was hoping for a bit more. My likes of this book far outweighed my dislikes so I’m happy about that and I did finish this in a day so it gets my overall recommendation. Like I said earlier, I think this one will be VERY popular this summer!


Thank you to NetGalley and G. P. Putnam for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Engaged and planning her wedding, Samantha returns to her family's summer beach home on Long Island with fiance Jack in tow. Her next door neighbor, and first love, Wyatt, usually isn't around when Sam's at the beach house, and that's the way she likes it. But this time, he is. They haven't spoken since they broke up twelve years ago. She's still angry and mad at him and now he's here and around all the time. This shouldn't get weird at all, right?

I inhaled this story. I'd put it down to do life, but kept giving up on that and diving back into the story of the beach, Wyatt's treehouse and Sam's artist hippie parents' house. Wow, was Sam frustrating at first, but the more layers peeled back from the story, the more I championed her. The story is from two timelines, third person, with the past timeline incorporating Wyatt's perspective as well, which definitely helped explain all the threads of the story and served the story well. This read had me smelling and feeling the beach, reliving the nostalgia of being a kid and teenager at the beach and experiencing all of the character's hurts and feelings. And wow did I swoon, swoon, swoooooooooon. It's beautifully written from a descriptive perspective. While I had a few issues with the timing of certain plot points, that didn't take away from the writing or my overall enjoyment of the story. After Nora Goes off Script and this book, Annabel Monaghan is for sure a must-read author for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam and Sons for the advanced copy.

I adored Annabel Monaghan's latest novel, Same Time Next Summer - this second chance romance set on Long Island (where I grew up) was a fast read but the characters felt real and three dimensional. I am always a sucker for a love triangle and enjoyed the navigating by Sam of her relationships with Jack and Wyatt. I look forward to more from Monaghan in the future.

Same Time Next Summer will be what everyone is reading on the beach this summer. This book perfectly describes the beach and you can almost hear Wyatt playing the guitar. I will be reading everything Annabel Monaghan writes!

I will say I was slightly hesitant to read this because while I enjoyed many things about Nora Goes Off Script, I still overall didn't connect with the romance section of that book. While this book wasn't 100% perfect, I can say I enjoyed this book much much more.

Sam is very buttoned up, lives a more controlled life, but her family is anything but that. When she takes her fiancé Jack for a summer vacation to her family's summer home she is very nervous. Jack has met her parents before, but never seen them in their true carefree state that they adopt over the summer. What she doesn't expect is the guy who broke her heart at 16 to make an appearance after not seeing him for 14 years. So enter Wyatt, the one who got away, the guitar player, the first love, the first everything.

Now the only thing I truly worried about was cheating. It definitely leads you to believe that might happen. Thankfully while some very minor thoughts go on her in head, I don't truly believe any cheating occurred. Her conversations with Wyatt do trigger some decisions, but I fully believe Sam did everything for her and not for him.

I love how Sam realized the life she had wasn't what she wanted, I love how she took time to figure it out, and I love how Wyatt helped her along the way. I loved the dual timeline and POVs. The past really gave some insight on what was going on in teenage Wyatt and Sam's head. When that story catches up to the present we do start to get some of Wyatt's POV in that timeline as well.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. The conclusion did come a little quickly, but also alluded to a lot of time going on during the epilogue which helped some with things not feeling rushed.

It is hard to follow up such a great debut novel in Nora Goes Off Script, but I think this is another really strong offering by Annabel Monaghan.

This story follows MC Sam as she visits her family’s summer home on Long Island with her fiancé. Of course she runs into her childhood love Wyatt while there and navigates a lot of old feelings surrounding their break up. It also has themes of self-discovery and I like that Sam often breaks the mold to be her truest self.

The downside: While second chance romances are one of my favorite tropes, it makes it super hard not to compare books in this genre to other books in this genre. Having just read Every Summer after not too long ago, I found myself remembering how much I enjoyed the “past” character development in that book and how that made the “now” relationship one you were rooting for that much stronger. This book gave me just a bit of a lack-luster connection between Sam and Wyatt.

Overall great read in spite of these things. Will absolutely immerse you into that summer mood.

Special thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP
Putnam/ G. P. Putnam's Sons for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

THIS BOOK. This is the absolute perfect summer book. I’m glad I went into it not expecting another Nora - because I absolutely adored Nora and truly if Monaghan had just tried to write Nora 2.0 I would’ve been so bummed - but this book can stand on its own two legs. Expertly done multiple timelines, and the setting just oozes warm, sandy, sunburnt days by the lake. I will be eagerly adding this author to my yearly summer roster and can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

This book felt very much like the adult version of The Summer I Turned Pretty. Same Time Next Summer is a fun, summery read. It made me very excited about my beach vacation this year. I think it would have been perfect to read this book by the water.

The premise was very intriguing to me. An engaged woman comes face to face with her childhood love after a dramatic ending to their relationship set against the backdrop of Long Island. The setting was so dreamy and nostalgic just like the blurb said.

In the end, I think this was a fine book. It wasn't anything mind-blowing, but it was entertaining and kept me engaged. I really loved Annabel Monaghan's other book, Nora Goes Off Script. If you liked that book, I think you'll like this one, but not as much as her other one. It continues with Annabel's very unique writing style, I just don't think the book is as captivating as Nora.

When I say "her unique writing style" I am referring to the fact that I feel like her books read a bit like self-insert. But not in a bad way, it is enjoyable, it is just that all of the characters feel a little flat. Like you are supposed to be imagining someone else.

Anyways, I think Same Time Next Summer is a good beach read. Light, fluffy, and engaging - just don't expect anything else.

It's almost summer, so here's a review of a nostalgia beach read to get you in the summertime mood. Sam (FMC) is an engaged woman who hasn't seen her first love Wyatt (MMC) in fourteen years after he broke her heart. They were inseparable during their summer vacations between the ages of five and seventeen. Sam isn't the same young woman who lost a part of herself when Wyatt broke up with her, but she is looking to find some closure with him. With the fresh air and beach vibes reminding Sam of her more carefree life, she is faced to consider if the life she made post-Wyatt is the life she wants to live.

I like that there is a dual POV throughout the book with the past and present being mixed in. I think the pacing was good for the story, but you won't find out what happened to Sam and Wyatt until halfway through the book. I think there was plenty of plot occurring, so the readers aren't entirely focused on what went down between them. I would recommend to any reader that likes beach vibes rom-coms with dual POV and closed door policy.

Thank you to NetGalley for offering me a complimentary copy of the book for an honest review.

4.25 stars

Our main character Sam (female) is engaged to Jack and goes for a short vacation to her family's second home on Long Island. There she finds her first love Wyatt at his family's home next door. As Sam spends time with her family and fiance, she reminisces about her and Wyatt's summers together as kids and teens. And she comes to realize the life she really wants.

I think this one is very comparable in topic and scope as Emily Henry's Happy Place. I liked this one better than that one, so if you're debating between the two, I'd support picking this one.

I feel like the author excelled at the nostalgia of the teen romance here. You could feel the characters so well, all in the beach-y, summer-y setting. This is the perfect light beach book of the summer.

I was let down a bit by present day Sam's life. I feel the author could have done more to make her current New York life more interesting. I completely understand that this is the romance, and it's NOT a romance between Sam and Jack. But Jack is purposely the dullest person in the world; he has a rigid gym schedule, he believes everything should be monochrome, and he flips his lid if anything isn't as it should be (he's a doctor; shouldn't he be slightly more flexible?). He comes across as having no redeeming qualities other than bringing in a good income and being predictable. Also, Sam's career at Human Corps (aka corpse aka "We take the human out of human resources") is a little far-fetched that she would get in trouble for showing an iota of creativity. I mean, it all does work with the plot, but it's all a bit too convenient and perhaps I was looking for more nuance.

3.5 Annabel Monaghan's Nora Off Script was one of my favorites last year so I was delighted to received an advance e-copy of her upcoming release. The long lost love trope is no newbie of course but I was cheering for Wyatt before I really even knew the whole story. Sam and her now fiancé Jack return to the beach to check out a possible wedding venue and Sam is confronted with her past. There is so much unresolved between Sam and Wyatt and you can definitely feel it. It is a dual timeline story that jumps back to their childhood and then teens, of summers at the beach as compared to now, at 30. I definitely enjoyed the book and suspect it will be a big beach read hit this summer. The middle of everything being unresolved felt a bit long and tedious and then the ending was so fast. Monaghan excels at real, messy characters, especially the supporting cast. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sons for an advanced e-copy in exchange for an honest review. Same Time Next Summer will be available on 6/6/2023.

Actual rating: 3.5/5

I was really intrigued by the summary of this book and thought it would be fitting for a summer read. I liked how the novel switched between "then" and "now," allowing the full story to unfurl. I do wish a little more time had been spent on the "then" aspect - I felt like I was meant to assume that the main characters had been in love, without being shown much more. The pacing felt a bit off at times - I felt like end of the book progressed too quickly and would have liked to have seen the main character take more time to herself. Overall, the romance was cute and the book was a light, easy read.

Same Time Next Summer follows Sam as she goes back to her family's vacation home on Long Island with her fiance, and runs into her great love of her teenage years. She has to come to terms with her lingering feelings for him while trying to plan her wedding to a perfectly nice, buttoned up fiance. This is a second chance romance set at the beach, so it really could've been over shadowed by another famous second chance romance at the beach, however I tore through this and found it really wonderful! It is truly a book made to be read at the beach - I was reading it wishing I was a little sunburnt with sand all over everything. Highly recommend picking this one up when it comes out!
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC.
ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Adored Monaghan's first novel, and this was such a great sophomore book. Summery and gauzy, just like a beach vacation, I loved this second chance romance.

I loved this one. I think Annabel Monaghan is officially an auto-buy author for me. I loved Nora Goes Off Script and this book is every bit as good as her debut. Same Time Next Summer is a perfect summery beach read! I totally blew through this one. I never finish a book in just two days!! This has Sweet Home Alabama vibes and is perfect for fans of Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After, which has a very similar premise. I loved both! The character development is so strong that you feel like you actually know and love these people. The mental imagery is powerful and now I’m dying for a beach vacation!

Things I loved:
🌊 Beach setting
🌊 Being true to yourself
🌊 Second chance romance
🌊 Childhood sweethearts
🌊 Sexy musician

Read this book if you liked:
☀️ Every Summer After
☀️ Sweet Home Alabama
☀️ Love and Other Words

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnum Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I will buy this one to add to my shelves. Love the cover and the story within!