Cruel Summer had me hooked right from the start. Samantha’s life, turned upside down by her husband’s unexpected request for an open marriage, felt real and raw. I loved watching her navigate the complexities of self-discovery while also facing her growing attraction to Logan. Their journey across the country was full of tension and self-reflection, and Logan’s prickly demeanor only added to the chemistry between them. I wasn’t sure how Sam would choose in the end, but the emotional depth and uncertainty of her journey really resonated with me. It’s a story about love, change, and finding yourself, even when everything feels uncertain.

WOW. Cruel Summer is a beautiful story of the complexity and uncertainty of life.

Sam has her life turned upside down by her husband after 20 years of marriage and spends the summer finding herself. Her cross country road trip and the adventures along the way make this a perfect summer read. This book felt like so much more than a love story, it was a new take on the "Eat, Pray, Love" phenomenon about putting yourself first as a woman after marriage and kids.

The pining, the yearning, the slow burn, it all was so deliciously written. Maisey Yates takes what you think about finding love and alters your perspective in a unique way that has you turning page after page until its 1am and you have to put it down.

Spoilers!*

Sam (Samantha iykyk) and Logan have the kind of love that feels inevitable. At first you are not sure what to expect from their time together, but the more Sam discovers and works on herself and her past, the more you realize they were building their connection for years. I do believe that you can't help who you love and the characters in this book all go about it in the right way.

The nostalgia of the classic car road trip around the U.S. added a romantic lens to the way that Logan and Sam fell for each other. I loved this book, I loved the characters, their kids, Sam's friends, and I love that we got the HEA in the end, at least for Sam and Logan. :)

I remember the first time I heard the expression - swingers. Candidly I imagine folks that like going out, drinking, and dancing. Yep. Naive that was me. Then I found out I actually know some who are “swingers.” My next thought was yuck. Never could look at them again the same way.
Well in CRUEL SUMMER Sam gets an earful from her husband Will of twenty-two years and sons later. He is looking for something more. Needs to feel free to try new things. After all he is saying he feels stunted by the fact that the two of them got married really young, after Sam wound up pregnant. Then had three boys, a home and business. Pretty much a successful shall we say normal life. And now all of a sudden Sam is ferreting out the truth. Will wants more. Oh he still loves her and his family. Nope, not asking or thinking of divorce. Just wants room to play on the side. Again the image of swinger?
You know the old expression, having your cake and eating it too. Is this what that really meant.
Maisie Yates writes about relationships. Always incorporating current issues that sometimes have an effect on people’s lives that stay hidden, until they don’t. In CRUEL SUMMER, the floodgates are officially in the open position. As in open marriage. I know I have your attention.
It turns out that Sam and Will have a more complicated relationship and marriage. Both take off in different directions during their decided summer apart vacation. There are definitely more than just miles between these two married folk. As Sam says in the start of her vacation, which involves miles and weeks on the road, he’s in Oregon and I’m on my road trip. Learn not to make waves, the lesson firmly taught by her mother. Sam was going to have to learn how to make waves in her search for her new life.
CRUEL SUMMER is a tough look at what would you do if. The blow back is caustic, but Maisie Yates deals out an alternative hand to folding. Poker is a game of risks. Sam’s life for now has all her cards on the table. Being on the road with Logan gives her a chance to take a deep breath before playing her next card. Maisie Yates alternates going down memory lane with travel on the open road with Logan. Perhaps making new memories or just taking a break before facing her new future.
Once again this talented author bats one out of the park. Always expect the unexpected with Maisie Yates and perhaps that is why she is at the top of my must-read authors. Try CRUEL SUMMER and she will definitely be on your list.

This book was wonderfully written seeing the change that Sam went through from the beginning of the book to the end was remarkable. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go when I first started but I was pleasantly surprised by how this book made me feel. It really made me think about my life as it stands right now. That was my favorite part of the book. I really wish i could go back and read this book for the first time again I loved it that much.

This book was not what I was expecting! The beginning was so sad I was curious what direction is was going to take. I was expecting romcom and what I received was so much more! This was a thought provoking story and I enjoyed seeing how it ended for Sam. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Sam was such a relatable character. How she was living this happy life and then was blindsided by her husband wanting to have an open marriage. But when she really took the time, she realized maybe it wasn’t such a happy life and how she had been everything to her family for so long that she forget to be anything for herself. I loved seeing her grow and have fun and do things because she wanted to. I loved how quietly Logan had been supportive of her throughout the years but I did not like how quickly they moved into love with one another. It seems like it should take more time than that to end a marriage and fall back in love.

Not really sure exactly how I feel about this story… I definitely cried within the first few chapters because I can somewhat relate.

Borrowed for the cover and the title (love a good Swift reference) but finished for the plot. This story started out so devastating! But by the end, our main character had found herself in so many different ways. I love the level of empowerment we see Samantha gain as she walks out her front door and through her summer adventures of self discovery.

This was such a heartfelt and heartwarming read that focuses on self discovery. This book started out sad so I really didn’t know what to expect, but this story really surprised me as to how relatable it is.
This book will teach you to put yourself first and to learn how to love yourself. I highly recommend this book

Such a cute romance for the summer. It was like reading a book by taylor swift, The characters are so fun and relatable! Love love love!

Cruel Summer follows Sam, a 40 year old woman, who's life is turned upside down as she and her husband go on a summer long separation after he asks for an open marriage. Not knowing what to do with her new found free time, she agrees to help her husband's best friend, Logan, drive classic cars to their owners.

I really enjoyed this book right up until the halfway mark. I thought Sam's self-discovery journey and learning about what she wants in life was great. I liked how she examined her life and realized how much she was living for other people. However, I thought Sam's internal monologue and struggles got really tedious. I'm sure it's probably realistic for someone who was thrust into the position she was in, but as a reader I wanted to yell at her "Okay I got it, let's move on!". I also didn't particularly enjoy the direction that Sam and Logan took, but I probably should have seen that coming and that is on me.

I have not read any of Yates other works so I cannot say how this novel compares to them. However, I would still consider giving the author another shot with a different premise than this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I love Maisey’s writing style. The female main character, Samantha, is married with children and then is blindsided when her husband asks for an open marriage. Samantha’s solution is to offer a summer of separation with no contact between the two. This was a beautiful story about self-discovery and really pulled out some emotions. I think every woman should read this as a reminder to trust herself and love ALL parts of herself. HIGHLY recommend!

Maisey! I enjoyed this book so much! I left a review on my Goodreads and making a post for my instagram soon. Thank you for allowing me to read and review your book!

I know this might be a formatting issue with it being an advance reader copy but I wanted to let you know it randomly gave me page numbers and the chapters didn’t start in new pages. Also everytime a word with “fl” appeared. It always had a space between the f and the remainder of the word. It was strange. A few other items I noticed was on page 84 the sentence had two “had”s. It said “Will had had any number of productive…” also around 59% can’t was misspelled. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to be okay again. There are just things you cann’t put back in the box, can you?”

Last but not least, a few times I recall see twentytwo instead of twenty-two.

Again thank you again for allowing me to read! I can’t wait for your book to launch. Going to recommend it to all my friends and peers!!

I wanted to love this book so much! The premise sounded really appealing and I wanted to know more about the characters relationship. Getting married young myself, this was really interesting to me. However, the Authors writing style was a bit strange. Every other sentence was stunted with “…” after varying words in conversations between the characters. I found this to be extremely distracting and made it very difficult for me to read. I’m very much a person that sees what they read and this just interrupted my train of thought constantly.

It was a turn of events that was a journey in this book. I really was fascinated by the main character and am happy I came upon this book. Thank you to the author , Netgalley for this wonderful book.

This book unfortunately wasn't my cup of tea. I tried to get into it, but after reading about 20% of the book it wasn't working for me.
The writing style is great, I think Yates has a lot going for her. I just couldn't get past how nothing really happened in the first 10% of the book. There was slight backstory, and then it was just Will talking about wanting to "experience more" and Sam having an existential crisis because her husband isn't happy. Then the next 10% was more existential crisis and anger. Wasn't something I could see myself enjoying

The beginning of the book hooked me in , but that was it I feel like Sam’s character started so strong and then her inner dialogue felt repetitive ! Idk it was wierd Will (her husband) best friend ran straight to her it felt like to Wisk her away and then finding out he had feels for her in hs idk wasn’t for me
Thank you to NetGalley and Canary Street Press for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It was better than I thought it would be. It reminded me how you're never too old to find love again. The ending was good as well. I'm grateful that netgalley and the publishers let me read this in exchange for an honest review.

“Cruel Summer” is by Maisey Yates. This book follows Samantha (Sam) over four months. The book opens with Sam being told by her husband Will that he wants an open marriage. Sam isn’t happy with this idea and together they decide to separate over the summer, vacating their house during that time. Sam is convinced that Will will realize that leaving Sam was the worst thing he could do and they’ll get back together. Will’s best friend, Logan, suggests that he and Sam (who regards him as both Will’s friend and a family friend) drive across the country returning cars to their owners (he’s a classic car restorer). There are some flashback chapters giving more background to Logan and Sam over the years. On the positive side, I liked Ms. Yates’s suggested play list to accompany this book. There are some Taylor Swift references, but if you don’t see them, don’t worry about it - only one that I caught was a lyric reference and if you miss it, it’s fine. On another positive note, I liked how Sam’s thinking changed over the course of the summer. However - the one huge downside for me - was all the thinking Sam did on the page - in lots and lots of inner monologue … and repeated information. I get introspection, but a) there’s a lot of it, and b) a lot of it is about shame, society norms, and presentation to others. I also found some of Sam’s cluelessness in some situations (looking at you bull riding scene) to be odd, especially since previously she was talking about “stranger danger.” I’m glad that at the end Sam was able to go in the direction she wanted to with the support from those she loved. For me, this was an okay read - though I’d read another book by this author. Solid 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

5 stars!

Maisey Yates is a new to me author and I loved every minute of her introspective writing! While I believe this was a romance story, I would recommend this to anyone who likes their romance to toe the line of women’s fiction. Beautifully written and full of emotion, I loved Sam and Logan and honestly would kill for bonus epilogues of them, though the epilogue we were given was a great ending. Consider me a dedicated reader of Maisey Yates moving forward.