This Summer Will Be Different

Starred review from March 25, 2024
Fortune (Meet Me at the Lake) transports readers to beautiful Prince Edward Island in this emotional love story. Toronto florist Lucy Ashby didn’t realize that her vacation affair with island native Felix Clark was forbidden. Then they discovered that he’s the brother of her best friend, Bridget, who would not approve. After agreeing to keep their relationship on the down low, Lucy is mostly content to see Felix periodically over the next five years, hooking up with no strings attached when she and Bridget visit from Toronto every summer. However, stronger feelings begin to percolate when Felix and Lucy reunite to figure out why Bridget ran away to the island two weeks before her wedding. Fortune builds engrossing tension between Lucy and Felix, who is fully immersed in his local community as a holiday home renovator, by flashing back to their previous rendezvous on wind-swept beaches. The leads have undeniable magnetism, and Fortune avoids the pitfalls of a typical Hallmark ending, instead delivering a truly satisfying happily ever after. Romance fans will devour this. Agent: Taylor Haggerty, Root Literary.

April 1, 2024
A florist attempts to avoid her best friend's brother--and their powerful chemistry--on Prince Edward Island. When Lucy Ashby visits her best friend Bridget's family home on Prince Edward Island for the first time, Bridget gives her three rules: Eat your weight in oysters....Leave the city behind. And, most importantly, Don't fall in love with my brother. Unfortunately for Lucy, she sleeps with Felix basically the second her plane lands, unaware that he's Bridget's brother until it's too late. Lucy has never felt understood or accepted by her immediate family, and Bridget is one of the very few people she allows into her inner circle, so Lucy's desperate to abide by these rules. And so she and Felix try to avoid each other on every one of Lucy's visits to PEI over the years. And, of course, they fail spectacularly, always returning to each other when they're in between relationships. But it's never been anything serious...Lucy makes sure of that, backing off whenever her emotions feel too strong. In her "real life" back in Toronto, it's easier for Lucy to avoid thinking of Felix as she runs a busy floral shop, working herself into the ground. But when Bridget asks Lucy to come to PEI for an emergency girls' trip less than two weeks before Bridget is supposed to get married, Lucy drops everything to be there for her best friend. She doesn't expect to find Felix there, along with feelings that are stronger and more difficult than ever to ignore. Even more than jeopardizing her relationship with Bridget, Lucy is afraid that giving in to her feelings could ruin the life she's worked so hard to build. Fortune, the author of hits like Every Summer After (2022), gives readers another refreshingly summery story full of angst, romance, and sex scenes aplenty. The PEI setting is a beautiful backdrop for Lucy and Felix's secret hookups and Lucy's journey of self-discovery as she learns how to stand on her own two feet as a business owner, friend, and daughter. In addition to frequent (and welcome) Anne of Green Gables references, there are oysters galore and many sandy, windy scenes that transport readers straight to the island. A steamy, romantic summer read with a charming setting.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 15, 2024
Lucy and Bridget worked together and became as close as sisters. When Lucy quits her PR job to work at her aunt's floral shop, her parents are not supportive, so Bridget flies Lucy out to her family home on Prince Edward Island to relax. Upon arrival, Lucy meets and has instant chemistry with a bartender named Felix. Their hot hookup gets a splash of cold water once Lucy realizes that Felix is Bridget's brother, and she had strict instructions to avoid falling in love with him. Told in alternating time lines, past and present day, the book shows that while the pair try to keep apart, their attraction pulls them back together over the next five years. While this steamy love story is the major plot, readers also see Lucy grow as a person and business owner. When Lucy stops running to escape her reality--Bridget is getting married and moving to another country, and her beloved aunt dies suddenly--she begins believing in her dreams again. Fortune's latest (after Meet Me at the Lake, 2023) is an absolute delight. This sexy novel is filled with friendship, family, love, and heartbreak.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.