e-Audio, 11:49:35
Narrated by: AJ Bridel & Carley Fortune
Release Date: May 6, 2025
Published by: Books On Tape
Read from: April 30- May 1, 2025
Companion to Every Summer After
Source: PRH Audio App (I received a free e-ALC from the publisher’s audio app. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Medical Content, Death of a Parent, Grief, Car Accident, Pregnancy, Sexual Content, Chronic Illness, Cursing, Drug Use
For Readers Interested In: Adult, Audio, Contemporary Romance, Sparkly Covers, Most Anticipated, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Set Outside the US (Canada), Summer LovinA radiant, new escape to the lake from #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune
I never anticipated Charlie Florek.
Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life.
Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she’s been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry’s Bay. But as soon as they settle in, their peace is disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat, and the man driving it.
Charlie Florek was nineteen when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he’s all grown up—a shameless flirt, who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be seventeen again, when life was simpler, when taking pictures was just for fun. Sun-slanted days and warm nights out on the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice’s soul, but when she looks up and sees his piercing green gaze directly on her, she begins to worry for her heart.
Because Alice sees people—that’s why she is so good at what she does—but she’s never met someone who looks and sees her right back.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was so much fun to read. Although I wish I had re-read Every Summer After before this, I still enjoyed it. This was definitely a book that didn’t need to be written, but I’d like to thank the people for being so persistent and making sure that it got done lmao
I LOVED that this was a companion novel but this is also completely it’s own thing. Like even if you don’t know Charlie’s history, you’d still enjoy this. Yeah you get a really big spoiler, but I would say it would have made me more interested in trying to find out what happened and how they got there. But I mean, I get it if it doesn’t make you want to know more. This one is a tough one, because I know that hearing what happened might scare someone off, so I will say its understandable if you don’t want to.
In other news, I loved seeing Charlie’s story. I did NOT know how smooth he was lol And I’m talking about Alice AND her grandma. He was every bit of a flirt, but definitely still one of the sweetest humans. He annoyed me so much in the beginning, but I think it was because I was annoyed with the events from the last book. But as the story went on it got better and I was less mad at him. Now Alice?She was ok, but she seemed so strict and rigid. I get it because she was trying to take care of her grandma, but like she needed some fun. I was glad she found Charlie because they were so different.
Them finding each other was so much fun to watch tho. Charlie was so cocky and he just kept working on her nerves lol When they finally got together I was glad because she needed someone like him. He helped bring her out of her comfort zone and got her to realize that yes she was there to take care of her grandma, but she also needed to take care of herself too. I DID get mad at Charlie tho because he was doing too much trying to push her away. They both needed each other and I wished that we could see the things we saw in them.
The setting was still beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever read an author that made me want to be sucked into each book so bad. The way she describes the water, the boats, the sun, just everything, was so good. As someone who literally named her blog after traveling through books, this one really made me want to get to visit Canada.
I really hope to see more from this lake house. I know there’s so many more stories from others who visited before. I’m glad we got another story here, but I still want more!
Overall, I give this
