Loved this

I've loved this, the way it's written and how it's delivered in the audio version. I really enjoyed the explanation from the author at the end.

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Winning characters

I loved how this tale unfolded and wrapped around me like a cosy blanket on my travels. How the characters intertwined, how the heroine has my daughter’s name, how she missed her mother, how brave she was to risk her heart and give it to Will so completely.

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Poor compared with her debut

I’m being harsh because I loved Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After so much. I’m giving it two stars based on the standard she set, if I hadn’t read that I would probably give three stars. I liked the idea of two people meeting one day and then planning to meet again because of “wrong place, wrong time” to fall in love, And then the feeling of “what if”. I loved that idea and the description of the day Fern and Will spent together, However, the whole idea of Fern trying to save the family resort with Will swooping into help after all these years felt like a plot from a Hallmark movie (I like Hallmark movies but I don’t particularly want to read one!)… A big thing for me is that I found Fern rather obnoxious and difficult to root for. Will was a great character - sensitive but flawed. I would have considering the author’s note about her personal inspiration for Will’s struggles to have been told better and I think chapters from his perspective would have helped Fortune in raise awareness of the issue (no spoilers!) and broken up the monotony of the endless descriptions of life at the Resort. Also side characters were often stereotypes and Fern’s mother’s diaries needed more care. I’m being hard on this because it had so much potential, I had high expectations after Every Summer After. And I have nothing but respect for the author’s good intentions in raising many difficult issues and for again describing Ontario so beautifully. However, I want to warn readers with high expectations. I will read her next book and this does not take away from the fact that I think Carley Fortune is one of the most promising authors of contemporary romance. I again enjoyed the narration with the Canadian flavour and really like how Fortune is using rural Ontario and Toronto as wonderful backdrops for her novels. Far too much of this genre is set in London and New York in my opinion. Would I recommend? I explained my personal disappointment, this is a lot better than a lot of the competing books - despite my low stars, a good holiday or plane read. Carley Fortune is a great author and I would prefer even this to Emily Henry as she writes with more heart.

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1 person found this helpful