Book ~ "Every Summer After" (2022) Carley Fortune

From Goodreads ~ They say you can never go home again and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart.

Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek - the man she never thought she’d have to live without.

For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s restaurant and curling up together with books  - medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her - Percy and Sam had been inseparable. Eventually that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart.

When Percy returns to the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. But until Percy can confront the decisions she made and the years she’s spent punishing herself for them, they’ll never know whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.

Thirteen-year-old Percy and her parents lived in Toronto and bought a cottage about four hours away. Next door was Sue, a single mom with two sons, one (Sam) was Percy's age, who lived there all year 'round. Percy and her parents spent every summer there and Percy and Sam became best friends and eventually fall in love. They end up going to separate universities hours away from each other and eventually break up.

Twelve years later, Sue had recently passed away and, despite not having any contact with the family for all those years, Percy immediately headed to cottage country for the funeral. When Percy and Sam run into each other as soon as she arrives in town, the spark is still there. But because of something she had done that had broken them up, she didn't feel like she was worthy of the possibility of picking up where they had left off.

This story bounces back from present day to flashbacks to when Percy and Sam first met when they were 13-years-old (the chapters are labeled). It's written in first perspective in Percy's voice. As a head's up, there is swearing and adult activity ... it was cringy reading the details of teenagers Percy and Sam engaging in adult activity. Ew! 

I found it hard to believe that Percy and Sam, who haven't seen each other or been in contact with each other for 12 years (since they were 18), hadn't moved on emotionally and were STILL in love today at age 30 ... and that this love had dictated their relationships since they split up. It's like they still had the mentality of when they were 18-year-olds ... I would think their life experiences would have matured them more (she's an editor and he's a doctor). 

Book ~ "Meet Me at the Lake" (2023) Carley Fortune

From Goodreads ~ Fern Brookbanks has wasted far too much of her adult life thinking about Will Baxter. She spent just twenty-four hours in her early twenties with the aggravatingly attractive, idealistic artist, a chance encounter that spiraled into a daylong adventure in Toronto. The timing was wrong but their connection was undeniable: they shared every secret, every dream and made a pact to meet one year later. Fern showed up. Will didn't.

At thirty-two, Fern's life doesn't look at all how she once imagined it would. Instead of living in the city, Fern's back home, running her mother's Muskoka lakeside resort - something she vowed never to do. The place is in disarray, her ex-boyfriend's the manager and Fern doesn't know where to begin.

She needs a plan - a lifeline. To her surprise, it comes in the form of Will, who arrives nine years too late, with a suitcase in tow and an offer to help on his lips. Will may be the only person who understands what Fern's going through. But how could she possibly trust this expensive-suit wearing mirage who seems nothing like the young man she met all those years ago. Will is hiding something, and Fern's not sure she wants to know what it is.

But ten years ago, Will Baxter rescued Fern. Can she do the same for him?

Fern was graduating from university in Toronto when she met Will ... he was painting a mural one day in the coffee shop where she worked part time. She was expected to return to her mother's resort in Muskoka where she grew up. But she loved Toronto and wanted to stay but knew her mother wouldn't like that. Will was heading back to Vancouver the next day so offered to show Fern some of his favourite places in Toronto. They spend the day and night wandering around the city. 

Because they both had a lot going on in their lives, when they part in the morning, they make a pact to not contact each other and meet in a year's time at her mother's resort. Alas, when the date arrives, Fern is there but Will doesn't show up.

Fern had been fulfilling her dream of working and living in Toronto so rushes back to take over the resort nine years later when mother was killed in an accident. Unbeknownst to her, the resort had been having financial difficulties and her mother had hired a consultant to help her. Imagine Fern's surprise to discover all this and that it's Will. He's very different from the carefree fun artist she met ten years ago.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I thought it was just okay. I had a hard time believing that Fern had been carrying a torch for a guy she spent one day with ten years earlier and who didn't show up as promised a year later. Not a big surprise that there is a happy ending but I wasn't buying it considering the way he treated her after they reconnected. It is written in third person perspective in Fern's voice, plus there are excerpts from her mother's diary from before Fern was born. As a head's up, there is swearing and adult activity.

I liked that the story was partially set in Toronto. I've been to many of the places where Fern and Will spent their day ... Graffiti Alley, the AGO (art gallery), Kensington Market, eating nachos at Sneaky Dees, etc. Will has a buddy who lives in Liberty Village which isn't far from me.