This Summer Will Be Different

This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune

This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune begins with Lucy visiting Prince Edward Island, where a memorable night with a local man becomes more complicated than she expects. Felix is her best friend Bridget’s younger brother, a connection Lucy does not know about when they first meet. Their attraction is immediate, but recognizing his place in her friend’s life gives it consequences that extend beyond the two people involved.

Lucy returns to the island with Bridget each summer. Red sand beaches, oysters and vinho verde create the pleasures of a familiar escape, while Felix makes that escape emotionally difficult to manage. Lucy repeatedly decides that she will keep away from him, only to discover how little the decision settles. What initially looks like one night develops into years of concealment, with the friendship she values becoming part of what is at risk.

Lucy, Felix and a secret on Prince Edward Island

A familiar summer destination can make an unresolved attraction harder to escape. Each return brings Lucy back into the setting where her intentions have already been tested. The holiday’s easy pleasures contrast with the effort of keeping a secret, and the repetition gives the relationship a history beyond its initial chemistry. Felix is someone she continues to encounter, rather than a memory she can simply leave on the island.

After six years of secrets and lies, Lucy has tried to end their involvement. Bridget’s serious personal crisis changes the circumstances again: Lucy needs to help her friend return home, bringing the island and Felix back into her life. The new journey has a different purpose, yet the old emotional problem remains. Friendship and desire become inseparable questions, because caring for Bridget also means entering a place where Lucy has not been fully honest.

Summer romance, friendship and another chance

This English Penguin paperback is suited to readers who enjoy a best friend’s sibling romance, repeated summer reunions and relationships shaped by an atmospheric coastal setting. Prince Edward Island gives the book a strong sense of place, with its beaches and holiday rituals forming part of Lucy’s attachment to the experience. The setting is inviting, while the secret at its centre makes that invitation increasingly complicated.

Buy this book if you like contemporary romance in which the attraction must be considered alongside an existing friendship. Lucy’s chance with Felix depends on more than admitting that they want each other. The story asks what can happen after years of promises, evasions and decisions that have failed to hold. This Summer Will Be Different turns the return to a beloved place into an opportunity to reconsider a pattern, and to ask whether a different future requires a more honest account of the past.