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Same Time Next Summer Book Review

Annabel Monaghan's Same Time Next Summer makes you feel like you're at the beach reading it—and the experience can only be heightened when doing just that! Exploring the heartbreak of first love and loss alongside Sam's present day heartache makes for a fulfilling, romantic, and powerful story of second chances in all of their complicated, important forms.

Annabel Monaghan is the author of Indie Next and LibraryReads pick Nora Goes Off Script, as well as two young adult novels and Does This Volvo Make My Butt Look Big?, a selection of laugh-out-loud columns that appeared in The Huffington Post, The Week, and The Rye Record. She lives in Rye, New York, with her family. You can find her online at AnnabelMonaghan.com and on social media @AnnabelMonaghan. You can find more of my reviews of Annabel's works here. 

Sam's life is on track. She has the perfect doctor fiancé, Jack (his strict routines are a good thing, really), a great job in Manhattan (unless they fire her), and is about to tour a wedding venue near her family's Long Island beach house. Everything should go to plan, yet the minute she arrives, Sam senses something is off. Wyatt is here. Her Wyatt. But there's no reason for a thirty-year-old engaged woman to feel panicked around the guy who broke her heart when she was sixteen. Right? Yet being back at the beach, hearing notes from Wyatt's guitar float across the night air from next door as if no time has passed—Sam's memories come flooding back: the feel of Wyatt's skin on hers, their nights in the treehouse, and the truth behind their split. Sam remembers who she used to be, and as Wyatt reenters her life, their connection is as undeniable as it always was. She will have to make a choice. 

Second chance romance is a tricky trope, and I believe Monaghan handles it beautifully. Not only do readers get to watch Sam and Wyatt fall in love real time when they were young, but these chapters are broken up by the present day narration from Sam herself, as she rediscovers the beach and who she wants to be. Wyatt also narrates chapters from the past, which provides great insight to his version of events as well. The organization of the story worked wonders for me as far as falling into the story—I wanted to know exactly what happened that fated summer within the first handful of pages. I had no trouble believing that Wyatt and Sam had fallen in love as teenagers, and that they needed to end up together by the end. Overall, this definitely had the feeling of belonging in a beach bag, and the perfect type of second chance romance read.

Sam's story isn't just about the romance—in fact, her romantic storyline is arguably just one element to a larger story about how we can always change course in our lives. Sam's decisions had been leading her down into a hole of a life that even we as readers can tell she isn't in love with, despite her repeated assurances to herself to the contrary. Sam's story is as much about reconnecting with Wyatt as it as about reconnecting with herself and with the life she actually wants to live. I think these are the most powerful types of stories, as they remind us that life is more than romance.

Annabel Monaghan cleverly combines romance stories with those about family as well. Just how Nora Goes Off Script looks at Nora's relationship with her children, Same Time Next Summer examines Sam's relationship with her family after a complicated situation comes to light and is resolved. The situation is, indeed, complicated, and plays into Sam's romantic relationship in a tricky way. I almost wish Monaghan had leaned into the strange feelings that must have arisen after that fallout, but I felt like that was glossed over in favor of returning to the romance. Which makes sense, as by that point in the story, I was more interested in figuring out how Wyatt and Sam would overcome their obstacles, but I still think it would have been interesting to dive deeper into those complicated emotions. It would have made the ending even more rewarding than it already was.

I will be keeping my eye out on everything Annabel Monaghan after this read, so stay tuned! Until then, you can find her online at AnnabelMonaghan.com and on social media @AnnabelMonaghan. You can find more of my reviews of Annabel's works here. 

*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*

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