I adored this book! Meet Liv, home from from university and trying to save enough money to move to London at the end of summer. Then she meets Finn and what starts is one of her greatest loves. Until tragedy strikes, Liv stays in Cornwall and Finn goes back to LA after making a deal that if they are both single each summer, they will spend the summer together in Cornwall. This started six summers ago.

This summer however, she meets Tom who shows her that her heart can love without being broken every year. Faced with an impossible choice, what path will Liv follow?

The writing for this book pulled me in instantly, more so than I expected. I felt the pain that Finn felt every time that he had to leave and how Liv rarely put herself first. I loved Michael, Liv’s brother, with his brutal honesty towards each character. The sibling love between Liv and Michael was relatable and heartwarming.

I wasn’t sure about the ending however. It was a lovely ending but it also felt predictable as I could see how it was going to end from quite a few chapters prior.

This book pulled me out of a reading slump so I would highly recommend this for anyone needing a boast.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the eARC

Seven Summers is an absolutely gorgeous read that gets you all in your feels and takes you on an emotional rollercoaster. It's not your normal romance story, it's original and heart felt. Lingers with you long after you've read it.

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a massive fan of Paige Toon. I got into this author kind of late with The Last Piece of My Heart being my first. I finished reading this in the early hours with a lot of tears. Fast forward to 2024 I’ve started reading Seven Summers and I’m almost at a crucial stage in the beginning of Liv’s story when I meet Paige at an event and she tells me to brace myself as this will be so much worse. She gave me the warning to finish this book at home, I mean there were some tears on buses and in my staff room but I did in fact break down in ugly tears a few evenings at home and on the final morning when the story ended for me.

It’s funny as when I started reading this book I had an idea of how I wanted the story to turn out but boy was this an emotional rollercoaster.I almost instantly fell for Liv and Finn their friendship that blossomed on that summer had me giddy with excitement. The back and forth of their story and the life lessons in between were both heart warming and heartbreaking in equal measure.

With that in mind I thought I’ll never waiver what is Paige on about and in walked Tom. Tom is so mysterious and I loved the way Paige slowly introduced us to him. His character has so many redeeming features and there’s so much he doesn’t say that has both the reader and Liv thinking the absolute worst. I must have scrambled through these pages instantly hoping my worst thoughts weren’t true. Thankfully they weren’t but I was not prepared for what was to come queue the tears.

In Seven Summers Paige has created a set of characters you just love with some real life heartache almost all of these characters have experienced it. With Paige and Finn doing so at a young age and in Tom there was so much he had to get his head around hence him ending up in Cornwall.

Ultimately the friendships before the love stories really made this novel. I then have to mention Michael and Liv’s friends Rach and Amy. These characters add so much to the story and the diversity was profound. Michael needs his own mention he’s Liv’s older brother and he does get a sense of looking out for his baby sister, yet as he has Downs Syndrome it’s always felt like the other way around to Liv. I loved everything about this character and his relationship with his sister and those around her. So many little laugh out loud moments alongside a lot of sadness.

Paige Toon continues to write novels that teach, with different job roles especially in creative aspects like sculpture which was really interesting. To emergency services and just in general life lessons. Every time I read a Paige Toon novel I fall in love with the characters – she said this was her favourite and I was instantly thinking but and remembering the emotions of so many of her stories that have come before until I finished this one. Seven Summers will stay with me and I’m truly jealous of anyone who hasn’t read it yet as that first read feeling was everything and more. I didn’t inhale it as quick as I thought but man it floored me in the most beautiful of ways.

The tale of Liv and Finn, they lead such different lives that they can only come together once a year in the summer. The story spreads over 7 summers and is really heartbreaking at times, I did shed a tear several times! This is a perfect beach read or anywhere read TBH! Loved it!

Five stars this book was brilliant. I absolutely loved the main character and her development throughout the story. I laughed out loud and cried throughout and the Cornish setting was beautiful. The ending was unexpected but added to the story so much.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy of Seven Summers. I have read a few Paige Toon and really enjoyed them and I must admit this was a cover made me want it book. Its stunning!
And OMG I loved it!! Loved seeing the story through Liv's POV and fell in love with Cornwall! My heart is with Tom and I absolutely loved him!!
Without giving any spoilers, I loved this so much and everyone should read it!

There’s no question that in Seven Summers Paige Toon has once again written a complete tearjerker of a story. From the very first chapter we knew from the melancholy mood that Liv’s story was going to break our hearts. And it did. Paige Toon writes with such beauty and creates a vivid and poignant atmosphere that ensures the reader experiences exactly what she’s intended. Seven Summers is hard to read at times, yet it also embraces love, hope and dreams as well as the importance of forgiveness, compassion and understanding. The importance of family and friends.

Seven Summers spans years and we follow Liv’s story of life and love which encompasses such heartbreak, personal growth, emotional struggles, joy and second chances. Whilst we loved SO many aspects of her journey, we also felt -broken by and in two minds- of others where we felt it veered in a direction that felt like a character was sacrificed in order to reach a certain outcome. This feeling is completely on us and how our emotional hearts reacted to this character who completely stole our hearts. Despite this, by the time we turned the last page we absolutely did so with a sigh, a smile and full hearts!

Great story. Sad but joyful. A lot of truthful meaning about live. Very lucky to have 2 true loves of her life.

I read this whilst away on holiday thinking it was a light hearted summer read and it was but also had some very sad moments throughout.
This is the love story of Liv and Finn. Liv is the narrator throughout and I became quite attached to her. The timeline flicks between the past and present where Finn still features in Liv’s life, just in a completely different way.
Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

the first half of this book felt slow to me, but once i got over ½ way i started to connect to the stories a little. it wasn’t the most beautifully written, there wasn’t much plot but the repeating cycle of pain the mcs put themselves in is heartbreaking to witness. the ending made me much sadder than i expected, but a lot happened at the end it felt a little rushed. i felt a certain disconnect to the characters in some ways but really connected in others. the story was beautifully real and down to earth.

I love Paige Toon's books but this was dull, I really, really struggled, picking it up and putting it down. It was the back and forwards one way tennis match not going anywhere and then running out of road story.

Seven summers of woe and misery mostly, a young early twenties main character, Liv. I found that the deaths of Liv's parents is a real kicker and the reason that Liv put her life on hold until the epilogue. Of course, her friends and brother and workers at Seaglass lives still go on and that adds a little bit to the story..

Then all of a sudden the story flocks towards the ending with everything tied up nicely in the epilogue, with still a lot of loss and grief. I do think we could have got there with out Tom but I enjoyed his character.

It took Liv ages to get her life together always holding out for her first love but finally choosing her big love, Tom. After much sadness, I'm glad that she finally got her life going, got back into sculpting, marriage etc and travelling it's just such a shame all of that happened in the epilogue and not in the actual book.

The book seemed to flounder around, what is it about? Tragedy? Life on hold? Denial? Burden? Putting ones dream on hold? Grief? Love? Loss again? I couldn't put it together, it just seemed a lot of different pockets and all over the place.

Personally I wouldn't have put this down as a summer read, I felt tense with the "then" and "now". I felt the book only really started towards the end and that's the extra star otherwise it would be only 2 stars.

With thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in return for my honest review.

Well. This book has ruined me. Absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking. Liv and Finn have a summer romance, made all the more intense by a tragedy in her family. When he has to go back home, they know they can’t do a long distance relationship but make agree that if they are single when he comes back next summer they’ll be together again. And so they go on this way for six years.

I don’t even know where to begin - this is peak Paige Toon. I really don’t normally enjoy love triangle stories but the context of this one just so worked. I felt Liv’s pain and the difficult situations she found herself in. So many achingly sad moments amongst infectiously happy and romantic ones. Her relationship with Tom was just so perfect in many ways, which is a testament to the writing of Finn as mid way through I just couldn’t see how Liv would ever move on from him.

I loved the ending of the novel, even though it was difficult to read - an almost extended epilogue of the summers that follow the main story of the book, offering a heartwarming, and life affirming, closure to an epic love story; or rather stories.

What to expect:

- love triangle
- summer romance
- heartbreaking
- epic love story across 7 years
- little spicy

Liv and Finn met six summers ago while working at a bar along the rugged Cornish coastline, their futures bright with promise. After a passionate night ends in devastating tragedy, they find themselves inextricably bound. Despite this, Finn's life is in LA with his band, and Liv's is in Cornwall with her family. They make a pact: every year, if they are both single, Finn will return and they will spend the summer together.

This summer, Liv meets Tom, a mysterious newcomer to her hometown. As the wildflowers and heather bloom, they start to fall for each other. For the first time, Liv envisions a future where her heart isn't broken each autumn. Faced with an impossible choice, Liv discovers the shocking reason Tom left home, and she'll need to trust her heart more than ever.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I love Paige Toon, and this setting of this book was dreamy, but I'm sad to say it isn't a new favourite. I felt that Liv and Finn meeting, right up to him leaving for the first time, was very rushed - so I didn't care that much when he first left.
Later, however, Tom's introduction fell flat for me. We got to see Liv and Finn reunite every summer, star crossed lovers who just couldn't make it work, and by this point I was rooting for them. Enter Tom - I just didn't care for him like I did any of other characters, and I predicted what was going to happen early on.
There were some really lovely moments throughout the book - Liv's relationship with her brother Michael, and seeing some of the interactions within the friendship group being some them.
I also felt the ending, and particularly the epilogue, was quite rushed - whilst the eventual ending was the outcome I'd have liked, it all felt a little too convenient.

I have been a fan of Paige Toon since I first read Chasing Daisy years ago. I just checked the release date for Chasing Daisy and found that it was published 15 years ago this year which makes me feel ancient! Seven Summers is Paige’s latest release and all the same thing I loved about Chasing Daisy - the characters, the emotions and the setting - are all still my favourite things in her writing, and Seven Summers is not short on any of them.

Seven Summers is the love story of Liv and Finn. Liv is the narrator throughout so I became quite attached to her. The timeline flicks between the past and present where Finn still features in Liv’s life, just in a completely different way.

The past scenes explore the relationship between Finn and Liv developing from friendship to romance and spanning the length of time they’ve known each other they also follows the ups and downs and highs and lows of life. Liv experiences quite a lot of trauma early on in the book and that was really just an emotionally wrecking experience. A lot of the story focuses on her picking life back up from there, figuring out how she can pursue her dreams in this altered reality she’s found herself in, and figuring out how long distance can work between her and Finn.

In the present summer, Liv has figured out how to follow her passion - sculpting with clay - and is making it work from her hometown where she can be close with her school friends and her brother. A stranger comes in to her life and signals the start of another summer romance.

When you reach the epilogue everything is tied up nicely and all the characters are happy with the way their stories have unfolded. Until you remember it’s a Paige Toon book you’re reading and she’s not quite finished wrecking you yet. Cue another epilogue….

This was the first Paige Toon book I've read and I wasn't disappointed. I'll be reading many more!

I loved the characters, the storylines and had to keep reading to find out what was going to happen with Liv and Finn and Tom! Would she wait for Finn each year? Would she fall for Tom? Or would something else happen that was more unexpected - you'll have to read to find out.
I laughed and cried my way through this book, but a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Paige Toon has triumphed again with her latest offering. Toon has the remarkable ability to combine love and heartbreak and takes the reader on such a wide range of emotions through her writing.

Full of unpredictable moments and characters that will stick around in your head Seven Summers was a fabulous read that filled my heart with warmth but also left me in tears by the end.

I loved the different relationships formed in the story and Toon will make you fall in love with the characters from the first few pages.

Seven Summers hooked me from the start and when you throw in the beautiful Cornish setting this is a must read for romance fans out there.

Loved it! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 from me.

Thanks to the publisher for my early copy of this book. Tracking the history of Liv and Finn across 7 summers, it’s a great read. The setting in Cornwall is gorgeous and the characters are likeable. With love, humour and heartbreak it’s a book that hooked me from the beginning!

This book was an emotional rollercoaster. I really enjoyed watching Liv and Finn grow up as the book progressed. I found myself rooting for everyone even though I couldn’t see a way for everyone to be happy. But honestly the heartbreak was real.

This book is so slow, especially in the first half, I was losing interest long before it began to pickup, It is so grief laden, with heartache upon heartache that it was a real struggle to finish.
The writing style I found a bit irritating, short sentences, short chapters, and jumping back and forth in the storyline. This hampered the flow of the narrative for me, unfortunately. This is my first book by this author, I don’t think her style is really what I’m looking for in an author, but I’m sure this book will be enjoyed by many.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.