Quick Synopsis – Liv and Finn meet six summers ago working in a bar on the rugged Cornish coastline, their futures full of promise. When a night of passion ends in devastating tragedy they are bound together inextricably. But Finn’s life is in LA with his band, and Liv’s is in Cornwall with her family – so they make a promise. Finn will return every year, and if they are single they will spend the summer together.

Song This Reminds Me Of – Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift (Also this book comes with a fun playlist at the end of the book)

Publication Date – May 21, 2024

Content Warning – There is mention of off page child abuse and parental death. There are some mild sex scenes and language throughout the book.

Spicy Rating – 🌶

Overall Rating – 2 out of 5 ⭐

Review – This book was not for me, I thought it was going to be a story about how shared trauma can bond you together, but sometimes those relationships aren’t healthy and you need to move on. But that’s not what we get. And the epilogue of this book was devastating for no reason.

Liv and Finn meet, have sex, and then Liv suffers a family tragedy. Seriously. One right after the other. This books pace almost gave me whiplash. We then follow Liv and Fin over 7 years of summer and how they carve space together to deal with their mutual grief. Finn is a musician that grew up with Liv, but now lives in LA. Honestly the first summer we get the most character development for both of them, but everything is pretty much stalled over the next 7 YEARS.

I felt like there was no character development at all except for Liv. But even with Liv we rarely see her improve her relationships with anyone. She grows throughout the story and accomplishes goals, but by the end of the book she’s still a bland character. I did like her relationship with her older brother Michael who has down syndrome. I thought that depiction was well done and respectful.

Everything the author sets up is completely undone by her epilogue. This could have been a beautiful story, but just fell flat for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and G. P Putnam’s Sons for the ARC. All opinions are my own.