Same Time Next Summer

Of all the summer themed romance novels I’ve read, this one is the absolute best. It’s a breezy beach read with a fantastic cast of characters, and an addictive story of first love that’s utterly intoxicating from the very first page. I seriously struggled to put it down for even five minutes, and I loved it so much I’ve already pre-ordered a finished copy.

A contemporary setting with flashbacks to the past is my favourite way to tell a story like this, and I was automatically hooked when I realised Same Time Next Summer was going to follow this beloved blueprint. It alternates between main protagonists Sam and Wyatt as teenagers during halcyon summers, and Sam and Wyatt as present day adults in their early thirties, navigating all the hardships that accompany growing up.

Sam is a put together career woman, living in NYC and soon to be married to nice but uptight Jack. The wedding planning takes them to Long Island to see her parents at the family summer house, and when Wyatt also shows up, fourteen years after their relationship ended, she starts to realise that maybe the past doesn’t always stay where it belongs.

What follows is the true definition of a page-turner, in every sense of the word. Lives are re-evaluated, decisions are made, and Sam and Wyatt start to see each other for the people they are now rather than the people they used to be. It’s romantic, dramatic, and occasionally exasperating, but ultimately it’s uplifting, guaranteed to leave any reader smiling (and sighing wistfully, too).

Same Time Next Summer is the best adult book I’ve read so far this year, and it’ll be a difficult one to beat. I can’t wait to read Annabel Monaghan’s previous book, Nora Goes Off Script; I hope it’s even half as good as this, and makes me simultaneously sad and excited to reach the end. I’ve definitely found myself a new auto-buy author, and I’m already hoping she has many more novels like this in her future.

A fun light hearted read. I enjoy every moment,. Just the thing to get me out of a reading slump. Probably one of the top beach reads for this summer...I called it here first.

I enjoyed the juxtaposition of Sam and the storyline between her first love and her current love. I also thoroughly enjoyed her extended family and only wish there could have been more written about them.

A great read and equally as enjoyable as Nora Goes Off Script.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Group for approving me for an early copy.

I read Nora Goes Off Script earlier this year and really enjoyed it so I was excited to see what came next from this author. When I saw that it was a second chance, childhood friends to strangers to lovers, I knew that I had to read it!

This book is told in both the present day, when Sam is engaged and planning her wedding but runs into her first love Wyatt, and the past with flashbacks to the beginning of their love story. This really gave me a sense of Sam and Wyatt's feelings for one another in both timelines (I also liked that some chapters were from Wyatt's perspective so we understood what he was feeling too), and seeing them rediscover each other was really well written and sweet.

Beyond rediscovering a lost love though, Sam was also rediscovering her old self that she had lost along the way. This felt very relatable and seeing her reclaiming things that she used to love and made her who she was was really moving and you could really see her growth as a character.

Sam's family were great side characters and I loved the setting at the beach house - I can see this being a great read over the summer!

Overall, this was a sweet, nostalgic second chance romance that features great characters and also portrays rediscovering yourself really well.

Really enjoyed this book, loved the writing style and storyline. I adored the characters, such a fun summer read.

I loved Nora Goes Off Script, so I was excited to read Same Time Next Summer. I didn’t love it quite as much - I think maybe it was a bit more traditional romance than I usually like to read? But I did love it. Much like Nora, the characters and setting are wonderful. I fell a little bit in love with Wyatt, but more in love with the idea of summer at the beach. Oh and with Sam’s grandmother! Another smart, warm and witty read.

This is a great summer romance book. The structure shared similarities with Carley Fortune's Every Summer After, but I really enjoyed the more light hearted tone of this novel. As with Nora Goes Off Script, I love how Annabel Monaghan weaves humour into the pages, it's funny without having to try hard to be a romcom.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for ARC of this book.

I loved this book! I couldn't put it down, it was addictive. It's the best kind of beach read, full of gossip and scandal but not written in a syrupy way. I liken it to a modern Jackie Collins... it was full of the best detail about the white WASPY set but there was also a great mystery and a fantastic twist at the end. I will recommend this to everyone I talk to, it was brilliant.

I loved the last novel by this author and this one was another hit for me! Just brilliant!!

Sam's life is on track, with a fabulous job and a fiance she is about to marry. But when they return to see her family at the Long Island beach house she grew up in, they run into Wyatt, her first love. The man who broke her heart.

As Sam starts to remember her old life, being back at the beach house, she begins to question the new life she has chosen and those memories of summer with Wyatt return.

This novel transported me to the beach and those summers. She hasn't seen Wyatt for fourteen years and has convinced herself he was just an obsession - their love wasn't real. As the story goes on we see pieces of the past revealed and go on a journey of discovery with Sam. There were serious moments but also humour and there was just something so special about the setting and the characters. The author's writing really does make you feel like you are at the beach and it was such a wonderful escape.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for this gifted review copy.

Sam and Wyatt were perfect for each other. Having spent every summer next door to each other as kids, their friendship grew to love until one day, thanks to the bad behaviour of the adults surrounding them, their love was no more.

I loved Annabel Monaghan's debut last year, so I was eager to read Same Time Next Year. This book is about Sam's healing fourteen years after Wyatt breaks her heart. Having eschewed any long-stays at the same family holiday house or any communication about Wyatt (this becomes an important plot line), she returns to plan her wedding, after pressure from her family to stay.

Sam is a very different woman, where she was once a free spirit, she's now buttoned up and conforming her her fiance's very specific tastes. It's a slow-burn second chance, as I got closer to the end I honestly was unsure where the story would go, as Sam is reluctant to change from the rigid persona she's crafted as a result from her trauma. The chemistry is still there, but Sam is now engaged and her heart can't let herself be hurt again.

This book is like one of Wyatt's songs, it will break your heart, make you angry (both Sam's psychologist and fiance), but overall it will give you the swoons, especially after I you think all hope was lost.

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and One More Chapter and NetGalley for the ARC.

Almost as good as Nora goes off script. I really like the writing style and the characters in her books. It is just so much fun and makes me feel ready for summer!!! I loved the setting!!!

This is a second chance romance, friends-to-lovers book which are some of my FAVOURITE romance tropes. I was already anticipating the release of this book so when I was given an advance reader copy, I was super excited. It didn’t disappoint 🫶🏻.
This book NEEDS to be your summer read this year. It had me hooked; the characters are so real and wonderful. We have realistic dialogue, a story that is inspiring, relatable, and heart warming, and a couple that you can really root for. The writing was so clear and alive; Annabel Monaghan writes with a beautiful fluidity that kept me picking up the book at every opportunity. I can’t wait to read more of her work. 🤍