Melissa (Sailing the Greek Isles)'s Reviews > Every Summer After

Outlier alert!
Let me start out by saying that there are many great reviews for this book, so if the synopsis appeals to you, go read those reviews and take mine with a grain of salt. One of the reasons this book didn't connect with me was that I just got finished reading another coming of age novel (Our Little World ) which I thought was much better and rang more authentic, so I couldn't help but compare.

This is a story told in two timelines: When Persephone is thirteen, her parents buy a lake house on Barry's Bay and she meets brothers Sam and Charlie, and they become friends. Sam and Percy develop a very close friendship over the years, which eventually turns to romance. Something happens that splinters the relationship and Sam and Percy haven't spoken for twelve years. Until Charlie calls with the news that their mother has died, and since she was like a second mom to Percy over the years, Percy returns to Barry's Bay for the funeral and to see Sam again.

The Canadian setting is fantastic and well described. I got a real sense of place with this book and would love to visit the places the author talks about.

What didn't really work for me:
So much of this book feels like a really bad YA novel. The dialogue is stilted and unrealistic, and I realize that teenagers are super focused on sex but some of the scenes involving those situations were just cringey to me. Instead of talking about their feelings, everyone is jumping into bed at the slightest provocation (even as adults).

I could never get a real sense of the time period. If the present day was really the present day, then Sam would have gone to college in 2010. Why was she calling him on the "dorm phone"--why didn't he have a cell phone? She mentions texting a little bit and email, but it felt off the with the way they were communicating with each other.

I called the "big twist" way before it was revealed, I know that others might like that the author waited until 80% into the book to reveal it, but it felt to me as if it was drawn out for longer than it needed to. Plus...anyone who has read my reviews knows how I feel about (view spoiler)[ cheating. Blah. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, I don't feel like I read the same book as everyone else who adored it. I didn't connect with the characters and got alternately bored and annoyed with them throughout the book. You may like this if you're looking for a beach read, and I'm definitely the outlier because many of my trusted reviewer friends loved it.


I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.