Carley Fortune

Lucy "Bee" Ashby and Bridget Clark are best friends. When Bridget misses her flight home to PEI to meet Lucy for a girls' weekend, Lucy heads out to dinner. She meets a young, cute oyster shucker, Felix, and there is instant chemistry. After an amazing night together, they realize that Bridget is their connection. Felix "Wolf" Clark is Bridget's younger brother and is "off-limits". However, year after year, when Lucy returns to PEI, Felix and Lucy reconnect. Lucy's life is in Toronto, where she owns a florist shop "In Bloom". Bridget is getting married and asks Bee to come to PEI before the wedding. The book recounts 5-6 years of their lives.
A different romance, built slowly and with the whole family involved.… (lisätietoja)

After seeing Every Summer After on the New York Times bestseller list for weeks and weeks, I finally decided to see what the fuss was about. This is a sweet story about growing up, first love and big mistakes in a summer lakeside setting. It’s no wonder it appealed so much in 2022 as most of the world was reawakening to travel and going out as COVID-19 restrictions lifted.

The story is about Persephone, a stressed-out editor in Canada whose life changes when she’s called by an old friend Charlie that his mother has died. Growing up, Percy spent many summers in the small lakeside town of Barry’s Bay and became close to Charlie, his mother Sue and brother Sam. The story then goes back and forth in time, telling the story of her growing friendship with Sam over the summers. In the current time, Percy goes back to Barry’s Bay for Sue’s funeral and sees Sam again since the betrayal that forced them apart. It’s a strong ride of emotions balanced out by the sweetness of the friendship and later love of their younger selves. The plot is simple – the history of Percy and Sam’s relationship, and the healing of old wounds as they find their way back to each other as adults. It is incredibly engaging and sweet.

Those who are fans of friends to lovers in romance stories will see a couple of similarities to Christina Lauren’s Love and Other Words – the summer holiday house setting and the growing up as friends, then lovers. For me, that’s where it stopped. Love and Other Words is seriously angsty, while Every Summer After doesn’t have you on the edge of your seat in that way. It’s overall more pleasant and nostalgic even for holidays where nothing more matters than having fun with your friends. I also liked that it was set in Canada, a setting that I’m much less familiar with as a reader so it was refreshing. Small details, like Sue making endless pierogi (aka varenyky) despite not even liking them, have stuck with me as has the depth of Sam and Percy’s relationship.

Sam and Percy are two very different people, both driven in their own ways although Percy is much less rigid about achieving those things. Between their teenage and adult selves, it was fascinating to see how they are compromised (or not) to live their lives as they chose. Sam’s rigidity gets his younger self in trouble, while Percy is more lax, which gets her in bigger trouble. The twist was however unexpected for me, and I think needed time and perspective for the two main characters to hash it out. The happy ending is still there, but it’s a bit bumpier towards the end after the sweet beginning.

I did enjoy the style of writing, it feels laid back and easy to read. I’m looking forward to reading more of Fortune’s work.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com… (lisätietoja)