Book Review: This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune

This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune

Published: May 7th 2024 by Penguin Books
Rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars)
Genres: Adult // Romance, Contemporary
Quick Thoughts: Breathtakingly beautiful, a summer dream where romance blossoms on every page. Carley has this uniquely mystical way of writing love stories. Another to deeply treasure, this effervescently intimate story has left a distinctly golden imprint on my heart.

This book was self-purchased

I purchased a copy of this book myself. There was no obligation to post/give this book a certain rating. All views are my own. I remain entirely impartial.

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Reader Information: View Content Warnings.

TW: this book contains mentions of family trauma, parental issues, miscarriage, death of a loved one, cancer, frequent references to sex and sexual relationships, including explicit content that isn’t suitable for young readers.

Literary Trope Guide

Summer Setting

Best Friend’s Brother

Vacation Romance

Found Family

About This Book:

A glorious and tantalizing new escape from #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune.
This summer they’ll keep their promise. This summer they won’t give into temptation.
This summer will be different.Lucy is the tourist vacationing at a beach house on Prince Edward Island. Felix is the local who shows her a very good time. The only Lucy doesn’t know he’s her best friend’s younger brother. Lucy and Felix’s chemistry is unreal, but the list of reasons why they need to stay away from each other is long, and they vow to never repeat that electric night again.
It’s easier said than done.Each year, Lucy escapes to PEI for a big breath of coastal air, fresh oysters and crisp vinho verde with her best friend, Bridget. Every visit begins with a long walk on the beach, beneath soaring red cliffs and a golden sun. And every visit, Lucy promises herself she won’t wind up in Felix’s bed. Again.If Lucy can’t help being drawn to Felix, at least she’s always kept her heart out of it.
When Bridget suddenly flees Toronto a week before her wedding, Lucy drops everything to follow her to the island. Her mission is to help Bridget through her crisis and resist the one man she’s never been able to. But Felix’s sparkling eyes and flirty quips have been replaced with something new, and Lucy’s beginning to wonder just how safe her heart truly is.

First Thoughts

I am no stranger to a Carley Fortune book (she is unequivocally one of my favourite authors after discovering her books way too late) and because I was behind on last year’s release, I decided to steal away a few days in between ARCs to devour This Summer Will Be Different over the bank holiday weekend. What I didn’t anticipate was just how special and meaningful this book would be, and how far it would surpass my love of her other books.

My Review

Five years ago, Lucy had never gone to Prince Edward Island before, but after becoming fast best friends with Bridget, a native, while living in Toronto, she plans to vacation there with her for a short time to meet her family and see everything the glorious island has to offer. Bridget’s flight gets delayed, and so Lucy is tasked with entertaining herself until she’s joined by her best friend. What Lucy doesn’t anticipate is Felix, the man she meets at a Shack on the island, making eyes at her behind the counter. Their connection is electric and instant, and after a back-and-forth flirting match, they’re back at his beach house, in his sheets. But when she discovers Felix is Wolf, Bridget’s brother—aptly nicknamed just as Lucy was Bee to Bridget—the stark realisation hits that they might have crossed an unerasable line.

Every year, Lucy tries to fight it, the pull toward Felix. Yet, it’s more apparent than ever that every time they are in one another’s orbit, it’s a dangerous mission to keep from entwining their limbs together. Lucy doesn’t want Bridget to feel as if history is repeating itself, her last best friend having vanished from her life after dating her brother, and so their connection becomes a buried secret, only awakened by summer, no matter how much more the other needs. But this year is different: Bridget is getting married, and yet flower-shop-owner Lucy is back on Prince Edward Island at her request, mere days before the wedding, under unclear circumstances. What isn’t Bridget telling Lucy? Felix wasn’t supposed to be there, complicating things further for Lucy, but now he looks at her with a difference that makes Lucy question if their illicit attraction is deeper than a fleeting moment. Heart on the line in what has become her favourite place on Earth, Lucy is faced with decisions she hadn’t expected to make, and when the truth is revealed, it’s going to take everything to keep her feet on solid ground.

Overall, This Summer Will Be Different was breathtakingly beautiful, a summer dream where romance blossoms on every page. Carley has this uniquely mystical way of writing love stories about characters that truly feel like they were made for one another, each chapter magnetic enough to keep me turning pages fast. I loved the flashbacks, rolling back summers and autumn moments with these characters that became a comfort. There was so much depth and meaning in Lucy’s story, and grief plays a huge part in the decisions she makes, true to the way loss changes a person. Felix might be my new favourite leading man from Carley, and I was utterly swept up by the bond he shared with Lucy. The Clark family were wholesome to the core, and I adored Bridget and all her eccentric ways, but especially the way she and Lucy loved each other. Their friendship was something to be truly treasured. And like I had predicted, this book itself is also another one to treasure from Carley. Lucy and Felix are my new favourite couple from her (sorry, Percy and Sam!) miles ahead with this effervescently intimate story that has left a distinctly golden imprint on my heart. Five everlasting stars.

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