I loved the premise of this one. The absolute HEARTBREAK of being asked for an open marriage when you are under the impression that everything was fine? The road trips and the way that introspection corresponds with the land? Love love love. I appreciated the internal monologues, the emphasis on growth in your forties, the various locales.

I had some qualms while reading, which is what made this a 2.75 rounded up to a 3 star rating. Perhaps the biggest issue I had is the timeline. With such an emphasis on personal growth, it really bothered me that Logan had a crush on her in high school and had this decades-long unrequited love. I was really hoping that this would be a story of finding love in the present, which would have felt more realistic, but it wasn't. I found that wholly disappointing.

Other things that bothered me: talking about her walking along Lake Erie while she was in Chicago, weird timeline things like her claiming that FOB was popular while she was in high school, the constant reminder that omg this is called Cruel Summer and the summer is cruel!! (sarcasm for that last one)

But seriously. The first half, where she is learning and growing, is so much stronger than the second half where Logan and Sam get together. I'm keeping this a 3 star rating because the first half was that good and poignant.

Thank you to NetGalley and Canary Street Press for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars.
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I have to say this story started out so sad. Within the first several chapters, I was rolling in tears. With a start like that, I was questioning the author’s direction.

The entire book ended up being something I was not expecting. As the author unraveled this amazing story, it was hard to not feel emotions. It was hard to not look at your own life in a different way and examine the choices made. It was hard to wonder if you see yourself differently than how other people see you.

I love Logan’s progression through their travels and how he challenged Sam with the status quo. Was there an ulterior motive? Eventually, the truth comes through, and it is an amazing connection. Sparks fly between them throughout the story as it changes from challenges and introspection to a true match that is both emotional and steamy.

Cruel Summer is an intense deep dive into self-discovery. This one will make you feel something. It’s such an amazing story!

Cruel Summer
by Maisey Yates
4⭐️

I considered dnf’ed it right at the start when the husband asked for an open marriage but kept reading bc it was late and I needed to read at least 5 mins to keep my kindle streak alive. I got accidentally hooked and read half the book that same night. This was a leaning a little more towards women’s fiction rather than romance but I didn’t mind at all. This was such an amazing and beautiful journey. I loved Sam and I was rooting for her and Logan to get on the same page immediately!

Obsessed with the touches of Taylor Swift 🫶🏼 also this had a great past/present balance, most books with a dual timeline have too many back and forths and here it was executed well!

My only real issues were that there was a bit too much internal monologue/introspection and the whole we made a mistake re: high school pregnancy was mentioned way too much and made it sound like sex is bad when they were just irresponsible and didn’t use birth control.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this gifted arc!

I absolutely loved this book!!!

It now has a special place in my heart. I think as a woman you’re always expected to be a certain way and always think what others might say and always always ALWAYS put everyone else’s needs before you own, those are topics that are really highlighted in this book.

It was so relatable in that aspect as well as how messy grief is. How it shatters you. How you have to learn to deal with it, process it. How healing is not linear and some days are better than others.

This book also touched on allowing yourself to be as you are and be happy with just you.

Finding yourself again after you’ve allowed yourself to be lost in everyone else.

There was relationship love in this book but more than anything it was about loving you, falling in love with yourself and choosing yourself and your happiness because YOU MATTER!

Also highlights how healing love is and how you can become the best version of yourself when you’re loved completely as you are and as you transform into who you’re meant to be.

This was a wonderfully written book. I loved every bit of it. I see myself reading this again in the future. It was so beautiful.

The author’s note mentioned her real life battle with loss and grief and as someone that struggles with that, it was so palpable how realistic it was that I didn’t need to read that to know this author knows what it’s like to lose someone.

I could go on endlessly about this book but I’ll stop here.

Thank you NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, Canary Street Press and Maisey Yates for giving me an ARC of this spectacular book!

I'm a big swiftie so obviously, the title of this book pulled me in. It had nothing to do with Swift, so no relation there, but I will say the playlist Yates created to go with the book is a banger with lots of Swift songs.
This book was hard for me to get into at first because the concept was very out there for me but quickly I was pulled in and couldn't put my Kindle down. We are introduced to Sam who is asked by her husband Will of 20+ years, to consider having an open marriage. Sam is blindsided and they come to a compromise to spend the summer apart, if they want each other in the end, they'll stay married, and if they find that they are truly missing something in their marriage that needs something else, whether an open marriage or divorce they'll consider it when the time comes.
Sam spends her summer with Logan, Will's best friend, who works on the restoration of old cars and then delivers them to their new owners. As a distraction, Logan invites Sam along to be his second driver. Over the summer, they get closer and realize they both have been suppressing feelings for each other that they've had for awhile.
I thought the storyline was a bit cliche, the husband's best friend... but what Sam learned about herself and the growth she had so really what kept me reading.
I can't recommend this read enough, everyone go check it out when it's released June 24, 2025!
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Thank you, NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I'm sad to say, I did not enjoy this book. There was so much inner monologuing and introspection, it started to drag on and on in my opinion. Things she had reconciled with (or so I had thought) in the first half of the book were still being brought up in the last half of the book (mostly in her inner thoughts, mind you.) It was just too much. The characters go on multiple road trips throughout the United States and the most we got in terms of description, or even as a setting, was a sentence or two. Sometimes places they went to were exclusively off page. Given that that was a big part of what drew me to the book, it was a huge disappointment.

Wow what a story of reflecting on a life. I read the book summary and really thought about not reading it, but so happy I kept reading. What an amazing reflection of life, marriage, and love. Thank you for allowing me to read this.

Thank you for the arc. I loved that the FMC was older than your typical female lead and I loved her perspective on how she came into her life by trying to live up to others perspectives.

I had not heard of this author before but was drawn to the book title and cover. I am so glad I read it. It was well-paced with an interesting storyline and a likable lead. I will definitely keep up with this author now!

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC copy of Cruel Summer by Maisey Yates through NetGalley! Cruel Summer is a story about a woman in her 40s named Sam who is approached by her husband Will about potentially opening up their marriage. During a summer trial period apart, Will’s unruly and unpredictable best friend Logan invites Sam to join him on a few cross-country business trips. Sam didn’t anticipate the real journey was going to be one of self-discovery.

As far as my initial thoughts go, I loved it. I ended up reading the entire book in a day. Sam was very likeable. Her thoughts were entertaining, and I thought her inner monologue was relatable given the circumstances in which she finds herself. At first, it seemed like the writing was a bit disjointed, but as the story unfolds and Sam’s character grows, I realized it wasn’t the writing–it was Sam. Sam’s stilted perceptions and speech become much more fleshed out and confident as the book continues. I appreciated the style and tonal change as Sam becomes more confident in herself and starts to figure out what she wants out of life.

Will is.. Well, he’s a husband who asked his wife to consider an open marriage. He wasn’t painted as a villain, but he’s also not terribly likeable. I also didn’t much care for her friends Elysia and Whitney. But Logan…. LOGAN. Talk about someone who knows who he is and what he wants! That man did not back down from hard conversations and was the perfect man to push Sam out of her comfort zone. I loved the brief flashbacks we get throughout the book that show just how long and deeply Logan has cared about Sam. Big fan of his quiet pining and emotional intelligence. BIG fan. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone!

I have mixed feelings about this book while I am for the finding yourself and becoming free of caring of the expectations that people have of you is very important to any persons personal growth. I do have issue with the whole stepping out on the marriage.

While will is the first to ask for the open marriage I would have liked for her to truly find herself break things off and then go find Logan. Otherwise it didn’t hit too good for me.

Cruel Summer was a wonderful overall message to remember to live your life for you and not for anyone else. You deserve to make your own decisions without anyone else's input or approval. You deserve to find what and who make you happy. You deserve to allow yourself to not be okay all the time.

Will's sudden desire for an open marriage at the beginning, opened a floodgate. I do think with her children being older and motherhood becoming less of a hands on thing, as well as losing her own mother and navigating that grief, Sam was feeling extra lost during her journey throughout this book.

There was a lot of deep diving into explanations for Sam's feelings and realizations, which was completely reasonable, but at times it was too much. Us as readers weren't really given many opportunities to make our own assumptions to what was going on in her head because we were outrightly told every single detail.

Sam spent a lot of time thinking about the future which truly brings to light that we cannot focus on things beyond our control.

I did really enjoy this book and would recommend for anyone, most specifically women, feeling a little lost in middle adulthood.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. It contained a concept of marriage I don’t embrace.

Sam’s husband blindsides her with wanting to explore having an open marriage. Sam and Will married as teenagers due to pressure from their parents because of an unexpected pregnancy. Sam (FMC) thought that they had a good marriage. She devoted herself to being the supportive wife and good mother while sacrificing her desires in the process.

It was beautiful to be a part of Sam’s growth and the realization that she deserved better than she received within her marriage. I didn’t see the same growth from Will. In the end there is somewhat of a HEA story.

I enjoyed the author’s writing style and the pace of the story. I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an opportunity to provide feedback on this book.

A cute summer read but a bit repetitive and the characters were hard for me to connect too! I enjoyed the setting and the summer vibes it gave off and Samantha had a lot of potential but sadly I never fully got invested in this relationship.

Cruel Summer by Maisey Yates

The last thing Sam expected at the beginning of their date night was her husband’s request for an open marriage. With their kids all in college and not coming home for the summer, they agree to spend the summer apart, free to do as they please. Sam is devastated. Her husband's handsome best friend, Logan, invites her to help him deliver refurbished classic cars to his customers around the U.S. and Canada.

This is my fourth Maisey Yates romance, and I cried more reading it than any other, mainly in the first two chapters. This novel is friends-to-lovers, forced proximity, small town, and has several cool road trips. I appreciated that the passionate main characters are around 40.

Some recurring themes are dealing with grief; people-pleasing vs. living your own life; and you only have one life to follow your dreams, big and small. There may be zip lining!

This book came at just the right time for me, as I needed the reminder to live my life now, to the fullest. Maybe you need a reminder, too.

Isn't this the same author who writes cowboy romances?! This book is so fun and I would suggest it to all the college girlie's who think they are heartbroken and need to learn how amazing they are

Sadly, I did not care for this book. I did know the premise of the story, but definitely didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I could. I do enjoy this author. Her book Happy After All was one of my all-time favorites! But this one not so much. May appeal to some readers, she is a very good writer, but just not my type of story. Thank you for the chance to read it though.!

This a must for your summer TBR list! I ignored chores, kids, and even a workout or two while I devoured this novel! The main character gets into her head a little too much for me but I also think that was part of the point. That’s what we do as women, isn’t it? When Sam and her husband decide to separate for the summer, she starts to question her tactic of always making life easy for everyone around her, denying the hard things, and moving past the shame that has followed her for years. This is a delicious rom com story that takes place over FOUR crosroad trips one summer and I was here for all of it! I loved the backdrop of the small towns, kitschy hotels, and bars as these friends traveled and wish I had a road trip in my future! Read it, you won’t be sorry.

This book was about second chances. Samantha has been dealt a difficult hand! I loved the road trip aspect although at some points it was repetitive. Over all Samantha story was great, I loved the flashbacks.

Samantha's husband wants to see other people, Samantha asks for a summer break, she travels across the country. will she go home or start over?