Carley Fortune Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Carley Fortune is a romance award-winning journalist and author. She was the Executive Editor of Refinery29 Canada and worked at several of Canada’s top publications, including Toronto Life and the Globe & Mail. Her first novel is Every Summer After, published in May 2022.

Every Summer After
Most people opt to never go home after mistakes, and since Persephone Fraser made the hugest of her life about a decade ago, she has proved the belief to be true.

The book starts as thirteen-year-old Sam and Percy meet and become close friends spending summers and holidays together and thinking about each other anytime they are apart. They met after Percy’s parents bought a lake house cabin which was next to Sam’s parents’ house. They even start wearing friendship bracelets made by Percy, and Sam never takes his wrist off.

Percy is looking forward to becoming a writer one day, and Sam always reads whatever she writes while encouraging her to keep on writing. On the other hand, Sam wants to become a doctor, motivated by the cardio problems that led to his father’s early death.

Her independence and knowledge complement Sam’s sensitivity and intelligence, and they bond over her love for horror movies and her writing while working together at Sue’s restaurant.

However, something happened when they were eighteen, and they never spoke to each other again. If it wasn’t for what she did, she could be spending her summers on the lakeshore of her childhood days, but instead, she spends them in her apartment in the city and goes out with friends while keeping everyone far from her heart.

Life goes on until, one day, she gets a call that takes her back to Barry’s Bay and into the circle of Sam Florek, a man she once thought she could never live without. For six summers, Persephone spent the afternoons on the water while working in his family’s restaurant and reading medical textbooks for him.
She also read him horror stories for her, making them so close. Later, their friendship turned into something before things began going south. The love that took six summers to build ended in one moment. Everything was magical until things went wrong.

Now Sam has returned to the lake for Sam’s mother’s burial after twelve years, and they soon realize their chemistry is still strong as before they parted ways. It’s Charlie, Sam’s brother, who requested her to attend the funeral; after all, she loved her and took her as her second mother. She couldn’t decline, so she had to return to Barry Bay even if she knew she would meet Sam.

But Percy will have to confront some of the decisions she made, and the years she has been punishing herself for them; otherwise, both will never know whether their love is bigger than the most significant mistakes from their past.

Percy needs to apologize for what she did that led to her leaving him. The guilt has consumed her over the years, and she knows the only way to end this is to confess what she did back then. Percy wonders whether she might have destroyed the future they had forever.

The story is told in six years in the past and one weekend in the present showing the perspective on love and choices that haunt people forever. It starts from the present and then takes the reader back to over six years earlier when Sam and Percy were friends. The author shows how their relationship grew until the time it fell apart, leaving Percy helpless and unable to have a serious relationship with anyone.

The story has themes of family, friendship, and romance and the issues that come with them. The author shows how Percy could not let go of her past mistake. In the past timeline, the author captures the confusion, curiosity, and hunger of being young while seeing friendship change to something more. The present one explores what happens whenever love has to find its way back.

For fans who love emotionally evocative and well-written stories exploring what love feels like both in good and bad ways, then Every Summer After is the book for you. The characters are well developed, and the storyline is well thought of.

Every Summer After is told from alternating points of view so the reader can experience each Summer that Sam and Percy spend together before their fallout. There are lots of amazing and sweet moments between them, some of which will leave the reader smiling

The story is heartwarming and heartbreaking, and you might find yourself holding your breath in several scenes. The book has a unique and fantastic summertime setting narrated from two alternating points of view. Several steamy scenes will have you at the edge of your seat.

Carley’s book is full of heart and nostalgia, and the compelling Sam and Percy’s story makes the story fly faster than the summer months. It’s full of longing and lost love and will leave you satisfied in the end.

For readers who love stories about second chances in love, Every Summer After is the book for you. The story shows how the future people plan for themselves sometimes doesn’t turn out as imagined. Carley, how the summer love and the choices Percy made changed her forever.

The main characters navigate through broken promises, loss, and unreciprocated love. She explores through the push and pulls kind of relationships that carry the burden of past misunderstandings and how choices play a part in it.

The story shows Sam and Percy’s growth both when they were together and parted ways. With summer settings that give an idyllic backdrop to each other. Carley Fortune centers the novel on forgiveness on redemption between the characters.

Characters are well developed, and the fantastic world-building makes the novel a great read. It’s a story about a best friend who fell in love as kids hurt each other as they grew up and avoided their issues in the past. Later they grow and come back together while trying to heal.