Book Review: This Summer Will be Different by Carley Fortune

I read the highly-anticipated debut novel by Carley Fortune when it came out, and enjoyed it. Her second book came out to much fanfare, but it didn’t seem to gain the same level of popularity her first had, so I never got around to it. Her third book This Summer Will be Different was released this past spring, and it surpassed her first book in accolades and sales. A friend of mine had lent me her copy so I could read it, and I decided to pick it up during a particularly severe deep freeze here in Calgary. It certainly warmed me up; full of summer heat, ice cream cones, and sandy swimsuits it definitely transported me to the island of PEI where it takes place, although I still have a few complaints to pick through.

Plot Summary

Lucy is living the exciting life of a single girl dedicated to her work as the owner of a florist shop, but also enjoys the incredibly close friendship of her best friend; Bridget. They met in Toronto a few years ago and have been inseparable ever since. Bridget is now engaged, and all is going well up until a week before the wedding. But then Bridget decides to take a very last-minute and uncharacteristic trip back to her hometown on Prince Edward Island, out of the blue. She begs Lucy to join her, which she does reluctantly, considering all the work that’s waiting for her back home (including doing the flowers for Bridget’s wedding). Another reason Lucy is reluctant is because back on PEI is a man named Felix, Bridget’s incredibly attractive younger brother who Lucy has had a few summer flings with during past visits. The problem is Bridget has expressly forbidden any friend from dating her brother after a bad breakup a years ago, so Lucy and Felix have kept these hookups a secret from Bridget. Hoping to figure out the the reasons behind Bridget’s strange behaviour while avoiding the temptations of Felix, Lucy is dreading this trip, but old habits are hard to break.

My Thoughts

You can see where the plot is headed, it’s clear from almost the beginning of the book how it’s going to end. But people aren’t picking up this book because they don’t know what’s going to happen, people are picking up this book because they KNOW what’s going to happen, and the scenes they are going to encounter between Lucy and Felix along the way (insert eyebrow raise here). The reveal behind Bridget’s sudden trip home is a sensible and believable one but it doesn’t come until 2/3 of the way through the book, which is what made this plot drag for me – the novel felt much too long at 333 pages. When the obstacles thrown up between Lucy and Felix feel artificial at best (who cares if Bridget doesn’t approve? talk to her for 5 minutes, she’ll get it), and most of the plot hinges on a miscommunication, my interest waned in the middle.

What saved this book for me (aside from the incredibly idyllic descriptions of island life on PEI) was the focus on female friendship and the importance of independence for young women. Lucy and Bridge’s friendship is actually the most promising relationship in this book; although sparks fly between Felix and Lucy and they seem well suited together, the intense commitment was most evident in the feelings Lucy and Bridget had for each other. As they moved through different stages of their life together, they always looked to one another to navigate these changes, and instead of a message that ‘everyone must grow up and go their separate ways’, this novel suggests that friendship is forever, and can be more important than any romantic or familial relationship one may already have in their life. I’ll admit this isn’t a ground breaking message to spread, but for a book that holds romance at its heart, it was a unique idea to position these various relationships in Lucy’s life next to one another. Even better, Lucy’s independence outside of Bridget and Felix was held up as most important above all, her relationship with herself being the one she needed to focus on first.

My final verdict on this book is as follows; I want to love it, but my complaints get in the way of me announcing this is a must-read. But keep in mind I’m one of the few who didn’t fall head over heels for this novel, so it could just be the dull days of winter that’s making me grouchy about it.