Every Summer After is basically a warm, sun-soaked love letter to summer romances, childhood memories, and the bittersweet ache of “the one that got away.” It’s emotional, nostalgic, and deliciously angsty, in the best possible way.
The story flips between two timelines:
- Then (the past): Teenage summers in Barry’s Bay, a charming lakeside town in Ontario
- Now (the present): Twelve years later, after a huge falling out
Our main character is Persephone Fraser, everyone calls her Percy. When she was a kid, her family bought a cottage in Barry’s Bay, where she met Sam Florek, the boy next door. Sam is sweet, shy, bookish, and dreams of becoming a doctor. Percy and Sam bond instantly over swimming, late-night conversations, and the kind of teenage crush that grows into something deeper year after year.
Every summer, Percy comes back, and her connection with Sam only intensifies. They become each other’s best friend, secret-keeper, and first love. But, as with all great love stories, something happens that blows everything apart.
Fast forward to the present: Percy is living in Toronto, carrying the weight of heartbreak and regret. She hasn’t been back to Barry’s Bay in twelve years. Then she finds out Sam’s mother has passed away, and she can’t stay away any longer.
When she returns, Percy and Sam are thrown back together. Old sparks fly, but there’s tension, too, because neither of them has truly moved on from what went down all those summers ago. The story slowly unpacks the big secret about why they stopped speaking, and let’s just say it’s messy, painful, and very human.
By the end, Percy has to decide if she can forgive herself, and if Sam can forgive her, for the mistakes of the past. And whether love, even after all this time, is worth the risk of getting hurt again.
What I Thought
I absolutely devoured Every Summer After. It’s swoony, emotional, and gave me ALL the summer nostalgia feels. The lake setting is gorgeous, and Carley Fortune nails that bittersweet ache of first love and what-ifs.
Percy and Sam’s chemistry is off-the-charts, and the slow reveal of what went wrong kept me flipping pages like mad. It’s perfect if you’re a sucker for second-chance romances and stories that make you cry a little but leave you smiling in the end.
Highly recommend throwing this one into your beach bag, or your cozy blanket pile if it’s winter!
Craving a love story that’s both heartwarming and heartbreaking in the best way?
Grab your copy of Every Summer After and lose yourself in a story of summers, secrets, and the love that never truly fades.
