I thoroughly enjoy Annabel Monaghan’s books. They are the perfect escape. She creates a beautiful world of characters flaws and all. They are filled with heart and she pulls at my heart strings every time and I wouldn’t have it any other way! .I enjoyed this book immensely and will recommend it to everyone.

I am a big fan of Annabel's romance books! She has relatable struggles and I adore that.

I really appreciated the topics on divorce, shared custody, dating, and finding a new life (as a mom). I loved Scooter/ Ethen but Ali bugged me in her inability to meet him halfway and he seemed to give more throughout the story? Their attraction was cute and very fun to read with an understandable reason to only have a summer fling.

This was an easy and fun summer read!
3.5 stars rounded up

I loved this book so much!! Generally I don’t like to read about failed marriages but this book gives a happy ever after. Ethan (nickname Scooter which is also my nickname from my dad!) is such a great MMC. So kind and sweet and willing to let Ali choose the way things go. I definitely resonated with Ali, having lost my mother and understanding her grief.

Can’t wait to read more of Annabel’s books!

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

4 stars
-summer romance
-best friends younger brother
-he falls first
-small 3rd act break up
-single mom
-death of a loved one
-found family

Book was so cute! Very fast paced. I find it hard to believe that Ali didn't know her best friends brother name was Ethan but I'll let it slide.

Ethan (Scooter) is in love with Ali as a kid and Ali never paid him any attention. But he's back in town for a summer romance.

In Summer Romance, we meet Ali Morris, who has had a rough time since her mom died two years ago. Then a year ago, her husband Pete left. She's a professional organizer who is struggling to balance her own 3 kids and a dog and her not-quite-ex-husband all while she's still grieving her mother.

In short, she's a mess.

As her friend Frannie likes to remind her, she hasn't put on 'hard pants' -- pants with a zipper -- in quite some time. But she's determined to move forward. She puts on a pair of hard pants (well, overall, but it's a start), and takes off her wedding ring. That very afternoon, she meets someone when her dog pees on his leg.

But wet sock and all, Ethan smiles are her and the spark of her summer romance has begun. As they get to know each other, Ali is reminded to be the architect of her own experiences.

There's so much depth and growth in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed Ali & Ethan's journey!

4.5 Stars!

This was a great beach read. I loved how the characters seemed very real and realistic. Their relationship was very cute and not forced. I also loved the divorcee storyline. Super cute.

I really enjoyed this book. I felt like it was an easy, simple read, and it reminded me of summer having the water lap at my feet. This romance didn't seem too goofy, and the characters handled complications and grief in a realistic way that didn't make me want to pull my hair out. The only thing that could make this book better would be me reading it by the ocean (and maybe the ending being wrapped up very quick). I will definitely give another one of the author's books a try! Thank you again NetGalley for the ARC to this book!

This book deserves more than 5 stars. I loved it so much, I hated for it to end. Annabel Monaghan creates such relatable female leads, and Ali Morris in Summer Romance is no different. Grief and parenting tweens are difficult topics, but this book handles them in such a gracious way. It’s just a wonderful book that I’m sad I’ll never be able to read again for the first time.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!!!!!!! I have read several of Annabel Monaghan‘s novels and LOVED them all!!!
I couldn't put the book down, devouring each chapter in one sitting. Overall, this was such a fun, enjoyable, and light read, and I would highly recommend!
Ali is still reeling from the death of her mother two years ago and her impending divorce when she happens to meet Ethan, a total angel of a human for which she starts a summer fling. But is it really just a summer fling or will it become something more? You must read to find out!
Thank you to NetGalley and
PENGUIN GROUP PUTNAM/ G. P.
Putnam's Sons for sharing this book's digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

How does Annabel Monaghan always leave me so sad that I've come to the last page of her books? Don't end, I want to say, keep the story going! As with Nora Goes Off Script, in Summer Romance, Monaghan has created characters you root for and want so much to get their HEA. Warm and infused with heart, Summer Romance is the 2024 must-add novel to any romance reader's TBR pile (though put it right at the top!).

Five stars. Annabel Monaghan does it again.

Ali is rediscovering herself as she navigates the loss of her mother, divorce, and single parenting; and along comes a second chance at love…

It’s called Summer Romance which feels sparkly and care-free, but summer always comes to an end, and I think the pain and longing of that was captured perfectly. In the same way, grief is beautifully woven throughout the story, “because that’s what life is–joy peppered by loss.”

I smiled, I swooned, and I ugly cried. Everything I could ever hope for.

I ate this one up in just a couple days, and the love interest was everything to me. This is going to be the beach read of the summer!

Thank you Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for the e-arc!

This book was so good. It was a little slow at the beginning but after Ali and Ethan’s first date it really picked up. I am def going to recommend this to all my customers and friends this summer. The perfect beach read.

I have to start with the fact that I can’t believe this is the first book of Annabel Monaghan’s I’ve read! I have two more of her books on my TBR list and will be moving them up! I liked the overall vibe of this book. A woman who lost herself to the titles of mom and wife. I feel like that is easy for a lot of us to relate to. To add in the extra layer of grief over losing her mom just sets to scene for what Ali’s life looks like. Enter her childhood friend’s little brother who has had a crush on her since he was a teenager. I didn’t find her not recognizing him as totally believable. The only thing that really bothered me about the book was how quickly she fell in love with Ethan. But that was the whole premise of the book so their story had to wrap up somehow. All in all, it was a great read! The story flowed and the characters were likable.

What a delightful story this is! We are still living our best winter lives and yet this novel transported me to the beginning of summer. Warm sun. Refreshing breeze. Cool water. And carbonated love.

Ali is a bit of a mess - feeling the grief of losing her mother two years prior and then the life she was once a participant in when her husband Pete tells her he wants a divorce. A newly single mother of three kids - Greer, Iris, and Cliffy - she meets a very attractive fella at the start of summer. It was supposed to be a cute summer romance. A getting back in the saddle affair. A reason to wear hard pants. But what happens between Ali and Ethan became more than that.

I loved the sensory experience- the backyards, pools, cookouts, picnic tables set with blue and white checked tablecloths, the lobster rolls, the smell of old books at Phyllis’s house, saltwater air, wet sand, pouring rain. This book *felt* like such an experience of its own.

Summer Romance reminded me of a high school love, summers spent as a carefree child, and how disturbingly easy it is to lose yourself.

I loved this book so much I finished it in a day. There was so much to love about every character, and the story made me want to see what happened between them all.

Also, Pete sucks.

I loved this! Such a sweet story! I relate so much to the main character rising out of an emotionally abusive marriage. The whole book is a great lesson on what type of person we should all strive to. be.

4.5 stars! Annabel Monaghan you’ve done it again! Even though this book touches on the woes of divorce and loss, I kept thinking while reading this book that it was just good, clean fun. I enjoyed this one from start to finish! Read this one. Annabel has become one of my auto-read authors!

Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan is my new favorite book!!
Seriously!!
The characters are so real and touched me on many, many levels. The relationships are even more real. There’s love. There’s loss. There’s raising good kids who sometimes learn the toughest lessons in life by just having their Mom hold their hand as they go through heartbreak.
And of course there’s an incredible, not fully predictable plot where all the great people get everything they deserve and the one not so great person gets what’s fair, but also gets a lesson on how to treat people.
Ali is such a real heroine and I want to be her when I grow up! She’s 38 and I’m 55 so we have to fudge the math a bit. Her love interest has paid attention to her for her entire life, only from the sidelines, unnoticed. But he knows her so well that he quotes her valedictorian speech back to her several times about being the architect building her own life.
On a very personal note, Ali lost her Mom two years ago. The author went through many of the emotions losing a parent throws at you. My Mom passed just over 2 years ago. Like the main character, I have real conversations with my Mom and a handful of times she has clear as day answered me. This is real and I loved how this was portrayed. I related deeply.
Then when the main character realizes her Mom is not only her heart, but she is her breath; she’s that close. I teared up uncontrollably at this part. My younger sister just passed away three weeks ago at 51 from stage 4 colon cancer. She fought for over four years. Her girls, my family are all hurting. One of the songs played at her life celebration mass was “Breath of Heaven.” This song now has an even deeper meaning for me. My sister is as close to me as my ownbreath.

This book is just perfect! It is romantic. It is very, very funny! It is most of all real. I easily got lost in it. It’s my third time reading an Annabel Monaghan book and she is definitely an auto buy author for me!

I will recommend it on NetGalley! Thank you so much for the Advanced Reader’s Copy! I will recommend it on Goodreads. I will recommend it in my book group Midnights Book Challenge and groups I belong to like LiterALLy BOOKiSh Facebook group which just surpassed 5,000 members!

It is a perfect 5🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 read and will be published on June 4, 2024.

I really enjoyed reading how Ethan’s and Ali’s relationship developed over the summer. I think the things I loved the most about this story was Ali’s journey of grief and how she learned to live through it and then her relationship with her daughter Greer. I was great seeing how she was able to connect with Greer more than before and how Ethan sort of played into that as well. I would have really loved to see some chapters from Ethan’s pov. I really liked the parts where Ethan joined Ali and her divorce meetings and just helped to see that she needed to stand up for herself and for her kids.

I am a huge fan of the author so was very happy to get to read her newest work! Summer Romance is the story of Ali, a woman who has lost her mother and gotten divorced in the few years prior to the beginning of the novel. She rekindles a connection with the younger brother of her friend which leads to romance. It is her story of finding herself again after her loss. I love that the story feels like it is about very real people in real situations. Highly recommend!