Book ~ "Every Summer After" (2022) Carley Fortune

From Goodreads ~ They say you can never go home again and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart.

Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek - the man she never thought she’d have to live without.

For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s restaurant and curling up together with books  - medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her - Percy and Sam had been inseparable. Eventually that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart.

When Percy returns to the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. But until Percy can confront the decisions she made and the years she’s spent punishing herself for them, they’ll never know whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.

Thirteen-year-old Percy and her parents lived in Toronto and bought a cottage about four hours away. Next door was Sue, a single mom with two sons, one (Sam) was Percy's age, who lived there all year 'round. Percy and her parents spent every summer there and Percy and Sam became best friends and eventually fall in love. They end up going to separate universities hours away from each other and eventually break up.

Twelve years later, Sue had recently passed away and, despite not having any contact with the family for all those years, Percy immediately headed to cottage country for the funeral. When Percy and Sam run into each other as soon as she arrives in town, the spark is still there. But because of something she had done that had broken them up, she didn't feel like she was worthy of the possibility of picking up where they had left off.

This story bounces back from present day to flashbacks to when Percy and Sam first met when they were 13-years-old (the chapters are labeled). It's written in first perspective in Percy's voice. As a head's up, there is swearing and adult activity ... it was cringy reading the details of teenagers Percy and Sam engaging in adult activity. Ew! 

I found it hard to believe that Percy and Sam, who haven't seen each other or been in contact with each other for 12 years (since they were 18), hadn't moved on emotionally and were STILL in love today at age 30 ... and that this love had dictated their relationships since they split up. It's like they still had the mentality of when they were 18-year-olds ... I would think their life experiences would have matured them more (she's an editor and he's a doctor).