This Summer Will Be Different

 Lucy - or “Bee” - is Bridget’s BFF, the ‘yin’ to her ‘yang’. Bridget is a week away from her wedding when she calls Lucy from her parents’ house on Prince Edward Island begging her to come. She won’t say what’s wrong or if the wedding is still on - she just says she needs her.  Bridget’s brother Felix will be there too. Lucy discovered him during her first visit to PEI five years ago, neither realizing at first their connection to Bridget, and their sizzling chemistry has been drawing them back to each other secretly every summer since. 

Why the secrecy? Well, Bridget gave Lucy only three rules before that first visit to PEI, the third of which was:

Don’t fall in love with my brother.

Oops.

Lucy now finds herself trying to resist the magnetic connection she and Felix have, figure out what’s going on with Bridget, and hope she can get back to Toronto before a potentially huge new contract for her floral design business falls through.

Will she get back to the life she thinks she wants or will her heart lead her in a new direction?

One thing Carley Fortune has in spades is her ability to set a scene and write characters you enjoy spending time with. I could almost feel the ocean breeze and sand under my toes, smell the salt in the air or cozy up in the family home with the beautiful window views.  The PEI community was almost its own character, and all the characters were likable or relatable. Bridget’s unfiltered nature was a nice balance to Lucy’s sunny, polite disposition, and Felix was flirty, sweet and a little mischievous! I liked him a lot. I also liked his trivia-loving best friend Zach. These were all characters you could imagine knowing and being friends with.

Fortune’s use of time jumps in her books also gives a sense of nostalgia as she flashes back and forth, giving the reader a glimpse into the characters’ evolutions over time and a deeper sense of the years of investment they have in each other. It was particularly fun to see how Lucy and Bridget’s friendship developed and watching Lucy and Felix’s feelings grow and change over time. We also see Lucy’s aunt Stacy in these flashbacks and how she was such a big influence and support for Lucy’s dreams. 

That was the good part. I did struggle with a few things, though.

Repetition. The concept of the “electricity” between Lucy and Felix got a little old. I lost track of the number of times that word or “sizzle”, “current’, “spark”, “tingle”, or some other electrical analogy was used. Ditto for the sex, in general. If that’s your thing in books, then you’ve got a LOT of open-door spice to look forward to. At some point I wondered why they bothered putting their clothes back on! It was a noticeable increase from her previous two books, and in general I just prefer more being left to my imagination.

Plot. The book took WAY too long to reveal what Bridget’s issue was, and it was nearly impossible for me to believe that Lucy would’ve risked her career without putting her foot down and insisting on answers sooner. It made her look weak and Bridget look selfish for awhile.

Felix’s nickname. Wolf. Just … no. It didn’t fit him.

Also, this is no fault of the author, but this is my THIRD romance this year that features a main character who does floral designs. What is happening? Do all female MCs now love to work with flowers? I missed that memo.

Despite my frustrations, I did like the story overall and will continue to devour everything Carley Fortune writes! Those who enjoy a character-driven novel with strong scene setting, intense chemistry and an occasionally wide open door will love her latest!

★★★ ½ 

Thanks to Berkley Publishing, NetGalley and author Carley Fortune for this digital ARC to honestly review. It’s out on May 7, 2024.