Same Time Next Summer is for those who love the childhood friends to lovers to strangers to lovers trope where the two main characters have such a strong love that it carries them on even after they're apart. It has a very similar feel to to TSITP, Every Summer After, and Love and Other Words.

However, as someone who enjoys books with this storyline, I personally would not say Same Time Next Summer ranks up to the top with some of those top titles. It felt like the story was missing the element of depth to really love Sam and Wyatt the way you feel the hurt for the main characters in some of those other books. Another weird thing was the way the point of view changed from 1st person to 3rd person whenever the story was told from the past and that really threw me off.

WIth that being said, this was still a good read and I really liked the way the book wrapped up. I even wish we got to read more about the two characters development in the second half of the book because their story was starting to come together well.

3.5 Stars

Initially, I was hesitant to start this read since the synopsis sounded incredibly similar to Love and Other Words and Every Summer After. Boy and girl fall in love as children, have a falling out and are reunited later in life, having realized those feelings never disappeared. I worried this would feel redundant and though I ultimately did end up enjoying the dynamic between the Sam and the guy she ended up with, but I just wanted more.

More romance, more character development, more angst! Certain elements of the plot felt rushed and lacking exploration and given that this book was on the shorter end of the spectrum, I couldn't help but wonder why more wasn't added to enhance the story.

This was a quick read that was overall successful, largely due to Monaghan's writing! This was my first read from her and there were several passages that took my breath away, passages that were so beautifully written and impactful. I would likely come back to her work in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam and Annabel Monaghan for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The two timeframe storyline was a bit hard to follow along at some times, but overall this was an enjoyable book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Unfortunately whenever books have a now & then timeline it’s usually a hit or miss for me and this was a miss…

I’m extremely sad about it because everything about it called to me but I got to the point where I just didn’t care about their past and it was getting heavy to read about it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up.

Nora Goes Off Script was such a great read, so I was super excited to receive this ARC! I do love a second chance romances and this book was hard to put down. I read it in two sittings and this author has definitely become a favorite of mine.

I rated down because I felt some parts and characters were underdeveloped and others, like the ending, were rushed. I would have loved to see a bit more of Wyatt's voice come through. The story alternates POV and I felt that he was under-represented. I realize that the publication date is still 9 months away, so I tried to overlook all of the formatting issues which made it harder to read and disrupted the flow. I think some more editing will really tighten this up and make it a great read. Even as it stands, it was really enjoyable and I can't wait for the author's next book!

This was a lovely story about second-chance love and remembering who you were and finding out who you were meant to be. I will say that the characters (like the fiancé who was supposed to be perfect had issues, of course, so that a familiar trope that we have seen in other books), but overall I really enjoyed this romance and I turned the pages quickly because I wanted to see how it ended. I would recommend this book.

A charming book about reclaiming who you are and what your values are. It is Sam, successful and engaged to a successful physician, whose visit back to her childhood home reminds her of the things that are truly important. Sam must make decisions that upend her career and plans, but with a supportive family, she reclaims her authentic soul.

I thought NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT by Monaghan was one of the best romance/woman’s fiction novels of 2022. While I enjoyed this, it was a bit too predictable. I especially liked Sam’s family. The author makes them a very interesting compliment to Sam’s story. Wyatt is not only an appealing character, but as an educator I was pleased by the depiction of his issues.

I think reading groups will enjoy this. It certainly leads to a lot of thought about who we are and how choices might have to be rethought.

Thank you Netgalley! Looking forward to to more books by Monaghan.

This book is a tough one to rate. Although I really loved the trope and the characters, the execution sort of felt lacking. It's hard to get the flip between past and present right, and although this book did a good job for the most part, I sort of felt myself losing interest because of it.

Also, the ending felt very rushed and that's something I had really been looking forward to. Overall, this was good but could have been better.

Thank you to the publisher for kindly providing me with an ARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

A cute novel that had me wnting to watch more hallmark movies with my mom and catch all of those summer sun rays.

This book was good, I love the tropes, but I don't think it was executed well. I read it in one sitting and was invested in the story and characters. I love a book that flashes back and forth between past and present but I felt like it wasn't structured well and the ending felt rushed. Sam felt pretty one dimensional to me and I wanted to understand her more. This book also felt pretty similar to a few other famous books I've read so it wasn't super unique. I really did love Wyatt and his story and who he became and how he handled his relationship with Sam in the present. It just overall fell a little flat for me but if you love the tropes (childhood best friends to lovers, second chance romance, singer/musician) like I do I think it is still worth the quick read.

I could not put this book down! I read it in less than a day and whenever I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. I enjoyed the progression of the story and finding out how the relationship between Wyatt and Sam began and abruptly came to an end when they were teenagers. I feel like Sam's heartbreak was very real and I could understand how that eventually led her to start dating Jack years later. It pained me that there was so much wasted time between Wyatt and Sam but I am glad they were able to make amends. I felt like the ending was slightly abrupt--I turned the last page expecting there to be more. Alas, I still really loved this book and feel like this will be such a good beach read next summer! It is definitely a book I will recommend to my friends.

Sam has a seemingly perfect life: doctor fiancée, great job and happy family. When she visits her family’s beach house to plan her wedding, she runs into her first love (who, of course, happens to live next door!) which eventually leads Sam to realize her life may not be as perfect as it seems.

This premise of this story is not new and it was very predictable. Additionally, some parts were a bit beyond belief (are we really supposed to believe that Wyatt was a hotshot producer/songwriter dating a huge celebrity and no one knew???). Nevertheless, this didn’t stop me from staying up until 3am to finish this all in one sitting! I really fell in love with Sam and was invested in her story. This is a great book for anyone looking for a light-hearted beach read ala Beach Read, The Summer I Turned Pretty and The Notebook.

Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam for providing me this ARC.

Not me sitting here misty-eyed after finishing this book???

“On some level, I hoped that if I came back to myself, Wyatt would come back to me too.”

Same Time Next Summer follows Sam from her time growing up on the shores of Long Island during the summer and falling in love with Wyatt to when she’s back on Long Island planning her wedding to Jack.

Sam is such a real character. An awkward, self-conscious teen, she falls in love with Wyatt quietly over the summers at the beach. Sometimes flashback scenes can bore me, but I really loved the flashbacks in the one. As we read about Sam in adulthood following the earth-shattering breakup on her young adulthood, the author does such an amazing job of writing what it feels like to be so utterly lost and confused about what you want your life to look like vs what it should look like. Watching Sam and Wyatt come back together after nearly a decade apart was literally perfect.

I loved each and every one of these imperfect characters. I didn’t even hate Jack. The author does such an amazing job writing flawed, believable characters that I couldn’t help but love.

My only complaint was the ending. I wish we got a little more of a grand finish. Buuuut as I said in the beginning, I closed this book with tears nearly in my eyes. I also wished we had more of Wyatt. This reads more like chick-lit as opposed to romance and at times I felt like I didn’t know Wyatt all that well.

Read if you like second chance romance, small towns, and an emotional beach read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin for this arc! It comes out June 6th, 2023.

3.5 enthusiastic stars!

First of all, many thanks to NetGalley and Putnam for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my objective review. I had just finished re-reading (and enjoying) "Nora Goes Off Script" for the second time when I received an email letting me know I'd been approved for Monaghan's newest book.

I enjoyed this book for many reasons. I loved watching the story unfold through the eyes of both main characters. The way that the story developed moving back and forth between the present and the past was intriguing. I especially loved watching Sam's journey to self-awareness of who she was truly meant to be. The ending was also very satisfying.

A smattering of profanity and PG love scenes.

Annabel Monaghan is now one of my go-to authors and I look forward to listening to this wonderful story on audiobook and re-reading it in the future.

Loved this author's first book, Nora Goes Off Script, and this one is just as fantastic. I could feel the ocean, identified with Sam, loved Wyatt. I have nothing but good things to say about this book.

Sam and Wyatt see each other every summer since they were young and fall deeply in love. Even at their young age they know this love is forever.

Having loved Nora Goes Off Script I was excited to read Same Time Next Summer but it started off reading too much like every other romance novel out there so I was tempted to skip to the end and be done. I’m grateful I didn’t because when something terrible happens to our two lovers the writing changes becoming compelling, more nuanced ,and the book shows it’s depth of feelings.

In this day and age of social media I also had to suspend belief to swallow that Sam or her family did not know what happened to Wyatt. That did not ring true.

All in all an enjoyable book.