Carley Fortune

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 problem: 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.

This Summer Will Be Different

ReadwithZanariah 

When we argue, it escalates fast, like we’re sisters with a lifetime of combat experience at our disposal.

Classic romcom - very good until the end starts to get a bit ….

Natalie 

Classic romcom - very good until the end starts to get a bit ….

Canadian author & set in PEI!

I could not put this down. It was funny, and sad, and so full of joy. I was nervous w the secrets but there was such a genuine representation of friendship and understanding. The courage to work towards your own happiness and bringing along your loved ones. This was truly such a spectacular read. 

Monserrat Navarro 

“Felix, I brought you here to tell you that you are in every one of my dreams. I came here to ask whether I’m in any of yours, too.”

“All of my dreams, Lucy. Every single one.”

The thing about Carley Fortune's books is that she will always paint beautiful imagery of the setting and make you miss places you've never been to before. I'm on the cusp of asking my partner if a vacation to Prince Edward Island one summer could be on the cards, because I fell in love with that place right alongside Lucy in this book. She also creates the most amazing feelings of nostalgia and unearths feelings inside myself that I didn't realise I had kept hidden. I could relate to this book in a lot of ways, I've never fallen for a friends little brother before, but got Lucy in the ways that she navigates life, relationships, work and friendships, and some of the plotlines mirrored my real life and brought me to tears. I really enjoy a good forbidden romance with a dual timeline and this book delivered on that really nicely. I was entertained by this book and felt it was very adorable and flirty, although I also felt like... not a lot happened. This book definitely relied on vibes more than plot.

Between mentioning oysters, shucking, moles and vinho verde in almost every single chapter, we watch Lucy put her life on hold to take care of her best friend Bridget, who appears to be having cold feet a week before her wedding and has fled to her home on PEI, and she won't tell Lucy the reason why. Without Bridget's stubbornness and miscommunication this book wouldn't really have a plot, except for watching two people "will they, won't they" over the course of five years when it is abundantly clear that they absolutely should. Lucy and Felix were very cute, their chemistry jumped off the page and really held this story together as they came together and fell apart each summer that she travelled to PEI or he came to Toronto. Their flirtatious banter and longing looks at each other was very endearing and I was cheering for them right from the start. The added difficulty of Bridget's rule "don't fall in love with my brother" was a lot of fun, and also very touching when we learned why she set that rule in the first place. Lucy and Bridget's friendship was also so sweet and reminded me of one of my best friends, and I really enjoyed the way this book talked about platonic love and platonic soul mates.

I do think this book had some good life messages about keeping secrets from the people you love and how that can snowball into something bigger than it actually is, and about ensuring you don't make only a small handful of people your "everything" - you have to exist as your own person outside of how your relationships with other people and your job define you, especially when the risk of losing those things can happen at any time. I wasn't a huge fan of how rushed Part Three felt in this book, we finally get their confession of feelings between them at about 80% in and they agree to officially begin dating, and then just as quickly as that happens they're already taking a breather and spending five or so months apart again. I understood why this had to happen, but I don't think it was handled as well as it could've been in the writing, and it made the last 20% of this book feel a bit like an after thought. We flashed through Lucy's healing journey in a handful of quick snippets, when I think maybe the first 3/4 of this book could've been shortened instead to accommodate a bit more of that journey within the plot of this book and on page.

 by Emily Henry and the little Easter egg made me grin, so I think if you enjoyed that book you will like this book too (just don't expect it to be quite as good, it's good but not Emily Henry level). Overall, this was an easy read, it wasn't perfect but it was a solid four star book for me. I think this book felt just a little bit flat in some places, but it also felt very cosy. It's definitely a proper slice of life story, but I do think this book needed just a little bit more plot or slightly stronger themes to really hit the way I think the author was hoping it would hit. But in the end this book has ended up being my favourite read of the three Carley Fortune books I have read so far, and I think I will continue reading her books because they're always enjoyable enough to keep me reading even if I don't always love the tropes or think they're particularly outstanding.

“I can’t be your escape route... I don’t want to be a stop along your journey. I want to be the destination.”

Genevieve 

“Felix, I brought you here to tell you that you are in every one of my dreams. I came here to ask whether I’m in any of yours, too.”
“All of my dreams, Lucy. Every single one.”

4 ⭐

The thing about Carley Fortune's books is that she will always paint beautiful imagery of the setting and make you miss places you've never been to before. I'm on the cusp of asking my partner if a vacation to Prince Edward Island one summer could be on the cards, because I fell in love with that place right alongside Lucy in this book. She also creates the most amazing feelings of nostalgia and unearths feelings inside myself that I didn't realise I had kept hidden. I could relate to this book in a lot of ways, I've never fallen for a friends little brother before, but got Lucy in the ways that she navigates life, relationships, work and friendships, and some of the plotlines mirrored my real life and brought me to tears. I really enjoy a good forbidden romance with a dual timeline and this book delivered on that really nicely. I was entertained by this book and felt it was very adorable and flirty, although I also felt like... not a lot happened. This book definitely relied on vibes more than plot.

Between mentioning oysters, shucking, moles and vinho verde in almost every single chapter, we watch Lucy put her life on hold to take care of her best friend Bridget, who appears to be having cold feet a week before her wedding and has fled to her home on PEI, and she won't tell Lucy the reason why. Without Bridget's stubbornness and miscommunication this book wouldn't really have a plot, except for watching two people "will they, won't they" over the course of five years when it is abundantly clear that they absolutely should. Lucy and Felix were very cute, their chemistry jumped off the page and really held this story together as they came together and fell apart each summer that she travelled to PEI or he came to Toronto. Their flirtatious banter and longing looks at each other was very endearing and I was cheering for them right from the start. The added difficulty of Bridget's rule "don't fall in love with my brother" was a lot of fun, and also very touching when we learned why she set that rule in the first place. Lucy and Bridget's friendship was also so sweet and reminded me of one of my best friends, and I really enjoyed the way this book talked about platonic love and platonic soul mates.

I do think this book had some good life messages about keeping secrets from the people you love and how that can snowball into something bigger than it actually is, and about ensuring you don't make only a small handful of people your "everything" - you have to exist as your own person outside of how your relationships with other people and your job define you, especially when the risk of losing those things can happen at any time. I wasn't a huge fan of how rushed Part Three felt in this book, we finally get their confession of feelings between them at about 80% in and they agree to officially begin dating, and then just as quickly as that happens they're already taking a breather and spending five or so months apart again. I understood why this had to happen, but I don't think it was handled as well as it could've been in the writing, and it made the last 20% of this book feel a bit like an after thought. We flashed through Lucy's healing journey in a handful of quick snippets, when I think maybe the first 3/4 of this book could've been shortened instead to accommodate a bit more of that journey within the plot of this book and on page.

This book really reminded me of Happy Place by Emily Henry and the little Easter egg made me grin, so I think if you enjoyed that book you will like this book too (just don't expect it to be quite as good, it's good but not Emily Henry level). Overall, this was an easy read, it wasn't perfect but it was a solid four star book for me. I think this book felt just a little bit flat in some places, but it also felt very cosy. It's definitely a proper slice of life story, but I do think this book needed just a little bit more plot or slightly stronger themes to really hit the way I think the author was hoping it would hit. But in the end this book has ended up being my favourite read of the three Carley Fortune books I have read so far, and I think I will continue reading her books because they're always enjoyable enough to keep me reading even if I don't always love the tropes or think they're particularly outstanding.

“I can’t be your escape route... I don’t want to be a stop along your journey. I want to be the destination.”

A cute romance! Not my favorite from Carley Fortune in terms of plot and there's a third act breakup, but I liked the location and the epilogue a lot.

Paige Leitner

I could not decide if I loved Lucy's love story with Felix, or her's with Bridget more. This Summer Will Be Different is another display of the ability of a romcom to soften the edges of the world for a moment. Fortune's love for the setting shines through the text. It was a delicious read.

daphne

I could not decide if I loved Lucy's love story with Felix, or her's with Bridget more. This Summer Will Be Different is another display of the ability of a romcom to soften the edges of the world for a moment. Fortune's love for the setting shines through the text. It was a delicious read.



Two separate love stories in one book; one a romantic love between and man and a woman, one the deep, intense love of friendship between a woman and her best friend. Emotional, unexpected, and  fraught. 

Alyssa deRaad

Easy, romantic, girly read with a few cringey bits sprinkled throughout. 

Kaitlyn Wendler

This is by far my favorite Carley Fortune book. I was told it would be my favorite but after finishing it I was glad it was accurate. My rating system has grown since Every Summer After so I’ve determined I don’t think I would enjoy it again as much today as I did when I read it. Then Meet Me at the Lake was read with that growth of my rating system and to be frank I hated it. So I was scared of this one. I have despised the cheating tropes in the previous books but this one did not have it. Thank god! I loved how much research Carley said she put into with this book and tried to make it as authentic as possible which I really liked. But I really enjoyed the storyline of this one and was really excited to see how it was going to play out. I was actually trying to guess how it was going to end. It may have been a little bit dramatic at the third act breakup part but that could be because the FMC discussed her issues but I just don’t think it tackled them the way I would have enjoyed for it to all work. But again the best Carley Fortune book I have read to date. 

Priscilla Stanfield

4.25/5⭐️ • 2/5🌶️

This is by far my favorite Carley Fortune book. I was told it would be my favorite but after finishing it I was glad it was accurate. My rating system has grown since Every Summer After so I’ve determined I don’t think I would enjoy it again as much today as I did when I read it. Then Meet Me at the Lake was read with that growth of my rating system and to be frank I hated it. So I was scared of this one. I have despised the cheating tropes in the previous books but this one did not have it. Thank god! I loved how much research Carley said she put into with this book and tried to make it as authentic as possible which I really liked. But I really enjoyed the storyline of this one and was really excited to see how it was going to play out. I was actually trying to guess how it was going to end. It may have been a little bit dramatic at the third act breakup part but that could be because the FMC discussed her issues but I just don’t think it tackled them the way I would have enjoyed for it to all work. But again the best Carley Fortune book I have read to date. 

Absolutely loved the plot and the winding road it took us to the eventual (semi obvious) ending! It made me want to visit PEI and/or quit my corporate job to become a florist. And the friendship component - filled my heart right up! 

Sarah Wilson

Megan Helberg Keiser

Katie Avila

A delightful lil book. I loved the PEI setting and the slow burn, forbidden romance. The conflict was pretty silly but who can mind that when the 🌶️ is just right.

Amelia Hruby

This had a rough start; the beginning felt so juvenile and fast-paced I literally cringed multiple times. After part one, however, it really found its stride and I fell in love with the relationships between all the characters. Everything felt so wholesome and heart-warming, like the way you wish all your familial and romantic relationships and friendships could be. I haven't read another author's work based in PEI besides the obvious L.M. Montgomery, so it was fun to see it from someone else's perspective, particularly as this is set today rather than 100+ years ago. 

The romance in this was a bit steamier than I expected, but I felt it added to the story rather than detracted as a lot of spice does in an unfortunate majority of books I've read lately. I've taken to skimming over those parts but in this book I actually enjoyed them. Felix is so freaking dreamy.

Oh, and I want a friendship like Lucy's and Bridgette's. <3

Bethany

This had a rough start; the beginning felt so juvenile and fast-paced I literally cringed multiple times. After part one, however, it really found its stride and I fell in love with the relationships between all the characters. Everything felt so wholesome and heart-warming, like the way you wish all your familial and romantic relationships and friendships could be. I haven't read another author's work based in PEI besides the obvious L.M. Montgomery, so it was fun to see it from someone else's perspective, particularly as this is set today rather than 100+ years ago. 

The romance in this was a bit steamier than I expected, but I felt it added to the story rather than detracted as a lot of spice does in an unfortunate majority of books I've read lately. I've taken to skimming over those parts but in this book I actually enjoyed them. Felix is so freaking dreamy.

Oh, and I want a friendship like Lucy's and Bridgette's. <3

i really liked lucy and the way she valued the people in her circle, which is seen throughout the book in both obvious and subtle ways. i think books in this genre often dramatize the miscommunication trope and as the reader, you sit there thinking, “no one can be this bad at communicating with another human being.” while miscommunication is present in this book, it’s done well and realistically. at no point did i feel like i needed to yell at the characters to just talk to each other. by far my favorite part was the equal importance placed on lucy’s relationships with not only bridget and felix, but also herself. i feel like romance authors frequently paint the picture that someone loving you fixes everything, but the romance in this book is a bonus on top of lucy learning more about herself and nurturing that relationship. carley fortune’s last book was a miss for me, so i’m glad she seems to have found her voice again.

kels

Near the beginning of the book, I wondered why Bridget wouldn't just tell her the reason from the start and why Lucy wouldn't tell her about Felix on the first trip. It was an honest mistake if they didn't know it was each other, and the rule was not to fall in love with him, not to not sleep with him. But after getting over that, I enjoyed the book. I thought the third-act breakup made a lot of sense, and I'm glad Lucy got more comfortable and happier in her life. I really love Lucy and Felix together, looking forward to her next book!

Maggie Hotmer

i loved the friendship between lucy and bridget. made me tear up 

Addison

Maybe 2.5 ⭐️’s??? I don’t know I didn’t really enjoy it that much. I liked the setting of PEI and the way things were described but a the characters fell flat and I don’t know if I cared about anyone…

Amanda

Thank you to PRH Audio for the complimentary audiobook. 

So much could have been resolved if these characters just talked to each other but instead they just waited 5 years to do it. 

I really disliked the FMC’s friend. They are supposed to be BEST friends so little things would pop up and her friend would absolutely gaslight her. They seemed so incompatible to me. And yes this book is more about their friendship than the romance as I knew going in based on other reviews but I didn’t expect to dislike the “moral” of the friendship story so much. 

Felix was interesting and swoony I’ll definitely give the MMC that. I don’t understand this author’s decision to have some open door spice and some closed because per the premise you know they have a night together and it fades to black immediately after they meet and the FMC reflects the next morning that it’s the best of her life. That’s fine to be closed door albeit a harder feat to pull off when so much of the plot hinges on this one night we see none of and yet later on in the book there is on page intimacy but it’s too little too late as I was already feeling in the slog of the slowness of the middle section of this book unfortunately. 

The saving grace of this for me were the descriptors of PEI. Absolutely my favorite part and I do think the narrator did a great job. 

Abigail

Thank you to PRH Audio for the complimentary audiobook. 

So much could have been resolved if these characters just talked to each other but instead they just waited 5 years to do it. 

I really disliked the FMC’s friend. They are supposed to be BEST friends so little things would pop up and her friend would absolutely gaslight her. They seemed so incompatible to me. And yes this book is more about their friendship than the romance as I knew going in based on other reviews but I didn’t expect to dislike the “moral” of the friendship story so much. 

Felix was interesting and swoony I’ll definitely give the MMC that. I don’t understand this author’s decision to have some open door spice and some closed because per the premise you know they have a night together and it fades to black immediately after they meet and the FMC reflects the next morning that it’s the best of her life. That’s fine to be closed door albeit a harder feat to pull off when so much of the plot hinges on this one night we see none of and yet later on in the book there is on page intimacy but it’s too little too late as I was already feeling in the slog of the slowness of the middle section of this book unfortunately. 

The saving grace of this for me were the descriptors of PEI. Absolutely my favorite part and I do think the narrator did a great job. 

Thank you Carley for another amazing book and a wonderful group of characters. Prince Edward Island gives the perfect summer and coastal vibes. Felix and Lucy also known as Wolf and Bee have such a unique and beautiful connection that I aspire to have one day. I believe that everyone has someone that was made just for them. This is a masterpiece of a story.

Kelsey 🎀

Loved the my best friends brother trope never gets old

Pia 

Cute, simple & sweet read. Makes you smile

Katey Musall

This was my favorite book of Carley Fortune. I love a good flashback story where there is angst. I will revisit this book in the future. I loved both characters and I loved the side characters as well. Chemistry from the very first page!

This Summer Will Be Different

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