The beginning of this was a bit rocky - the jumping from then to now could’ve been handled a bit more seamlessly, but I really enjoyed this cast of characters. This book felt like “Every Summer After,” but in my opinion, better and more real.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a cute, summery read. I read this over Spring Break and it was the perfect lighthearted romance to relax with—it gives you all the emotions and angst without completely ripping your heart to shreds. I love the flashback between Then and Now, and the development of the childhood friends to lovers and their reunion as adults. The cute nicknames, innocent teenage love, small town vibes, and quirky family gave this book such a Hallmark feel. I also loved Sam’s character development and realization of who she truly is, and the cute banter between her and Wyatt.

I’m not much of a beach person, but this book absolutely made me want to relax with the sea breeze and a beachy cocktail! I’ll definitely be reading whatever Annabel Monaghan writes next!

Summary: Sam has avoided going back to her family’s beach house on Long Island since she was a teenager. It holds the memory of the boy who broke her heart, Wyatt, and the summers they spent falling in love. She’s now engaged to a man that is absolutely perfect for her on paper. Her parents have convinced them to consider Long Island for the wedding. She sees Wyatt again and it has her questioning every part of the life she’s curated in the years since they were torn apart.

Thoughts: I barely even know my own name right now. I just finished this book but feel like I somehow transformed into the main character, Sam. I was completely trapped in this perfectly simple story about the one who got away.

The writing just swept me away. The story develops in such an effortless way. I wish there were more pages because I really escaped into the beach house on Long Island with this adorably flawed cast of characters.

I remember feeling this exact same way after Nora Goes Off Script. This author has such a unique way of taking an ordinary love story and making it feel like the epitome of romance. I have a feeling this will be THE beach read of the summer.

Sam is heading with her fiancé to see her family at the beach house where she spent every summer as a child. Her life feels off balance as she might be about to lose her job and her wedding is quickly approaching. This is not the time for an unexpected reunion with her first live, the one who broke her heart., but he is there next door again, the sounds of his guitar drifting over along with all the memories that are better left behind.

Second chance romances are so amazing if done well and so irritating when they aren’t. This book does a lovely job with the nostalgia of first love and the all encompassing feelings. I just wish more time had been spent on Sam and Wyatt together in the present. That didn’t stop my heart from getting fully invested.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Same Time Next Summer
By Annabel Monaghan

Pub Date June 6, 2023
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Imprint: GP Putnam Sons

⛱️2023 Beach Read⛱️

Sam has her life buttoned up. She is in a safe relationship and engaged to handsome doctor Jack. With him, Sam finds comfort, safe from broken promises. She replaced her childhood impulsiveness with deliberate decisions. Life is predictable.

Reluctantly, Sam agrees to bring her fiance to visit her family summer beach home to scout wedding venues. She knew she would have to explain her eclectic family beach cottage filled with her parents half-finished art projects, but she didn’t plan coming face to face with her first love. She is covered by a wave of memories - of summer days and nights filled with adventure, laughter and love - and must find her way to the surface.

“Creating art is about being vulnerable enough to invite people to spend time in your skin.”
In addition to the enviable beach scenery painted in this book, I absolutely LOVED the way Sam’s family and Wyatt used art as a form of therapy. I only wish Sam’s therapist used art to help her teenage heartache.

“There are no straight lines, just connections, hinges where we reach for each other and pull each other up”
Young love can be all consuming, obsessive and sometimes fleeting, but it IS love. The heartache of first love feels impossible. Can friendship and family survive mistakes and growing pains?
Is young love meant to last forever?

I can’t wait to re-read this magical book with my toes buried in the sand.

In Same Time, Next Summer we go back and forth over 25 years to when 2 kids met at ages 5 and 6 at the beach on vacation each summer. Sam and Wyatt are besties and fall madly in love at age 15 or so? Fast forward a few years after college and Sams falls in love with Jack. I loved all the characters and I think Wyatt was my favorite! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review. To be published June 2023.

I immediately seized the opportunity to grab <i>Same Time Next Summer,</i> because I loved <i>Nora Goes Off Script</i>.

"Same Time" did not disappoint.

As with "Nora", Annabel Monaghan's protagonist was relatable and likable. Sam felt like someone who would be your best friend... the level-headed, fun, kind friend who you go to for advice but who loves to have fun, too.

I don't normally love time-jump books or alternating character first-person, but it worked here. It was necessary because we needed to know Wyatt's thoughts and feelings. I liked that it wasn't swoony, sickening love, but real. Questioning, wondering, but not cloying.

I also appreciated the realness of there not being anything "wrong" with Jack. He wasn't a villain. There was no secret love child or horrible transgression--he just wasn't a good fit for Sam, and that was okay.

Was it predictable? Yes. Sure. But predictable isn't a bad thing. The "getting there" is the most delicious part. I was captivated and read the book in two days. I loved the characters, despite their flaws, and would absolutely seek out Monaghan's next work.

Thoroughly enjoyable!

Annabel Monaghan does it again! This is a sweet rom-com. This book instantly swept me in and didn’t stop until the end. The story of Sam and Wyatt feels like a real life love story. It is filled with love and humor. the plot is real enough to connect to and perfect enough to dream of. Sam is relatable, fun, and struggles with the balance of life that many of us also struggle with. I would read this over and over again!

Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam Books for this fantastic ARC. Annabel Monaghan has a way of writing characters that draws me into their world completely. This is now the second book I have read by her, the first being Nora Goes Off Script-also a great read. These are romance books first, yes, but not with perfect characters and perfect locations (well I did actually fall in love with the town in Same Time Next Summer). Things are complicated, people have issues, but we understand WHY they are that way. Monaghan leads readers into the past in this novel and shows the paths that made them that way.

The story of Sam and Wyatt starts with summer vacations on Long Island and how they go from friends to intense teenage romance. They grow up together and know each other better than anyone else. But an unexpected moment causes Wyatt to withdraw and leaves Sam to try to navigate her way out of a deep depression.

Fourteen years later, they are both different people…or are they? Sam is engaged to a handsome doctor and Wyatt seems like he has been on some meditative retreat when they meet again.

The tension is brilliantly handled. I found the ending a little rushed, but not enough to make me dislike the book. I was sad to see this book end because it was unputdownable!

Definitely a great escape book, a fun book, and also a book that makes you think: ah, I remember those teenage years. She brings the reader back to the joy and pain of first love in such a brilliant way. Pick up a copy and enjoy!

Sexy, cute, and fun! New author for me and was happily surprised with how much I liked this genre! Would recommend!

I’ve picked up and put this book down too many times. I’m sure it’s a lovely read if you’re into it but I cannot seem to. I gave it 2 stars because even though I DNF I really liked the plot and I feel like it’s a good book, just not for me as I said

If there’s one thing about me, it’s that I will EAT up any childhood friends-to-lovers, second chance romance, that is set at the dang beach during summertime. Same Time Next Summer really was such a treat for me. Sam’s internal dialogue definitely had me laughing throughout the story, and I felt like the *twist* in the plot was actually quite believable. Even though the MC’s had a ton of their past to still work through, I loved how they eventually found their way back to being in each others’ lives. I know they’re two totally different stories, but for me, I was SO much more invested in the love in STNS than in Nora Goes Off Script.

Huge thank you to Penguin Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

A charming & feel-good read!
Enjoyed this even more than the author's last.
Definitely partial to the "now" present day/grown-up part of the story.
Sweet family dynamics & dreamy setting.

With great thanks to NetGalley & Penguin Group Putnam for this e-ARC!

I may have found my new favorite author… the only issue is that now I have to wait for a year or more to read more of her. I loved Nora Goes Off Script, and I love this one equally. The Long Island beach setting is fantastic, the small town feel mixed with big city New York is the perfect vibe for this uncomfortable in your own skin, trying to find yourself story.

When Sam was sixteen, she loved Wyatt. Then their story ended, and it was harder than she imagined. At 30, she’s engaged, with a high-power career, when she returns to her parents’ beach house with her fiancé.

I shared this review on my Instagram, @purely_nora, and saved it to my "reads" highlight: I also shared on Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5414069455?book_show_action=false

Oh gosh. A second chance romance with perspectives from past and present written by the author of one of my favorite books last year? Of freaking course I LOVED this.

Monaghan’s writing is dynamic and smart and full of feeling. I thought it was brilliant how Sam’s perspective was in first person and Wyatt’s was in third person until the end. I loved the setting - NYC and Long Island (but NOT the Hamptons) - and the cast of characters. I found Sam to be incredibly relatable, intuitive and interesting. She understood so much about herself and her feelings…and yet. She struggles. Because love, man that shit is hard. This book is about love and heartbreak, yes. But it’s also about putting yourself back together, growing up, finding your truth and LIVING it.

My only wish is that there was a bit more of the past. But that’s probably selfish. It was just such a beautiful time and seemed to go by in such a flash. But overall I really can’t complain - this story sucked me in big time and I barely put my kindle down.

A big thank you to to @netgalley for my advanced copy. This book comes out June 6th and if you loved Nora Goes Off Script and count Every Summer After as a fave then it is ABSOLUTELY worth a pre-order!

4.5 stars

Sam returns to her parents house with her fiance to visit family and also look at a possibly wedding venue.
While there she run into childhood love and summertime neighbor.
Told in dual timelines and dual povs, we learn about their heartbreak, Sam finally setting herself free to who she really wants to be and a second chance at romance.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

Annabel Monaghan's first book, Nora Goes Off Script, was one of my top reads last year and I was thrilled (THRILLED!) when I heard she had another book coming out AND then received an ARC to read/review. While the bones of this story are strong: thirty-something Sam is stuck between living the life she thinks she wants and the life that reflects who she really is. Her fiancé is rough around the edges (not particularly likable) and ex-boyfriend Wyatt, is a bit mysterious and dreamy. I rooted for Sam and for Wyatt and enjoyed the small-town Long Island setting. But there was something missing -- maybe it seemed too unrealistic (no googling your long lost love?) and or just plain frustrating (please bop Jack and his condescension). All in all, Same Time Next Summer is a fine, quick beach read, just not terribly memorable for me. Thanks to the author, Penguin Random House, and Netgalley for the opportunity for an early read; these thoughts are my own. Four stars, rounded up.

Really enjoyed this one. This is a nice, easy, beachy read. Sam goes back to the childhood beach town she grew up in to look at wedding venues with her fiancé, only to run into her childhood love, Wyatt. The story alternates between the past and present timelines. 4 stars because I couldn’t fully get behind Wyatt’s character. Thank you to netgalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the advanced copy!

I couldn't read this book fast enough! I immediately fell in love with Sam and Wyatt and was rooting for them the entire way. This book is the perfect romance for when you are sitting beach side this summer.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

"There's something about the beach that changes the chemical components of everything around it. Wood feels damp, sheets right out of the dryer still smell of salt. And the coffee, it's just better."

Same Time Next Summer will be the book you'll be seeing on the beach all summer. We meet 30 year old Sam on her way to the beach with her fiance Jack. The family beach house she spent all her childhood summers. The beach house where the boy she grew up with becomes her first love. Through flashbacks to previous summers, the romance of Wyatt and Sam unfolds as Sam and Jack's week at the beach progresses. Wyatt shows up at the beach and Sam must confront their relationship and how it has shaped her as an adult.

Summer is my season. It is my identity. Summer is magic to me. I love the setting of this book and how the story is told through flashbacks and different point of views. It felt like the Summer I Turned Pretty series but in the future. It's not a super light book; there are some heavy topics but it will definitely leave you with that satisfied feeling as you come up for air after reading.