Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan Published by Penguin on June 6, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Coming of Age, Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Women
Pages: 320
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley
“Bursting with the magic of first love, it’s everything I want in a summer romance.” —Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of EVERY SUMMER AFTER
Named a Best Book of Summer by Real Simple • Reader’s Digest • Country Living • The Skimm • BookBub • GoodReads
Beach Rules:
Do take long walks on the sand.
Do put an umbrella in every cocktail.
Do NOT run into your first love.Sam’s life is on track. She has the perfect doctor fiancé, Jack (his strict routines are a good thing, really), a great job in Manhattan (unless they fire her), and is about to tour a wedding venue near her family’s Long Island beach house. Everything should go to plan, yet the minute she arrives, Sam senses something is off. Wyatt is here. Her Wyatt. But there’s no reason for a thirty-year-old engaged woman to feel panicked around the guy who broke her heart when she was seventeen. Right?
Yet being back at this beach, hearing notes from Wyatt’s guitar float across the night air from next door as if no time has passed—Sam’s memories come flooding back: the feel of Wyatt’s skin on hers, their nights in the treehouse, and the truth behind their split. Sam remembers who she used to be, and as Wyatt reenters her life their connection is as undeniable as it always was. She will have to make a choice.
My Review
I was super excited to receive this book from the Associate Director of Marketing at Penguin Random House because, to be honest, I hadn’t even known that Annabel Monaghan came out with a new book. Seriously readers if you loved her last book Nora Goes Off Script then you have got to pick this one up. It was absolutely delightful in my opinion and well frankly it should be on everyone’s summer reading list if you love a good romance.
This is the story of growing up, spending your summers at the beach, and falling in love for the first time. We follow Sam and Wyatt two friends who meet every summer at their parent’s Long Island homes. Their friendship grows over the years until eventually they discover that maybe being friends isn’t enough anymore and they start a relationship. They spend their teenage years falling in love at the beach until one day when Wyatt is eighteen he makes a discovery that will change Sam and his relationship for years to come.
Present-day Sam is in her thirties working a corporate job while Wyatt is also in his thirties living what appears to be the same life he had as a teen. Sadly though they have not seen each other since that awful summer years before. Eventually, Sam ventures back to Long Island with her Fiance who happens to be a doctor named Jack. She plans on staying there only for a few days to plan some of their wedding with her folks. What Sam is counting on is that Wyatt will not be there but man is she mistaken once she hears him playing his guitar in the tree house next door. Suddenly she is transported back to her teenage self and the anxiety rises in her all while she is trying to appear cool and calm.
Her stay eventually leads to more days than she had expected which is great in one way and troubling in another. She is very much enjoying her time with Gracie her younger sister swimming at the beach, surfing and just walking along it. She feels like she might be getting back to herself and in doing so may have discovered that Jack does not know her as well as she had thought. Could this lead to trouble? She has also managed to get to know Wyatt again but this time as a thirty-something which may have been a bad idea. Sam has been faced with some serious decisions that she needs to make on where she wants her life to go.
Everything I have written here is entirely my own thoughts and opinions. Again I would love to thank Penguin Random House for this ARC because I absolutely loved the story and look forward to reading anything Annabel Monaghan will write in the future.