Canadian summer romance queen Carley Fortune is taking her readers back to Barry's Bay and reconnecting her devoted readers with Charlie Florek who we first met in her debut, Every Summer After.
One Golden Summer picks up years later and centres around older brother Charlie Florek who has become quite the playboy with the women of the area. When the cottage across the bay has new summer tenants, he's intrigued by Alice, a young photographer who has returned to the lake for the summer with her Nan who needs help recuperating. Alice fondly remembers a summer she spent as a teenager in the same cottage where she took a picture that perfectly encapsulated that summer.
What You'll Get in this Book:
- short chapters
- an addictive, unputdownable read
- so much chemistry - this is swoony slow burn done right!
- summer vibes, unlocking my own cottage memories
- self-discovery in your 30's
- Sam and Percy make a few appearances - bringing this story full circle for me
- HEA (happily ever after)
- great relationship between Alice and her Nan (and Nan and Charlie!)
We all know Fortune brings summery vibes to life on the page - from loons calling, to the chill of the lake water, to having hours upon hours with nothing to do but relax because as Nan says, Good things happen at the lake. But in this book she hits it out of the ballpark with sexual tension, banter and a couple that will stay with readers.
Charlie is a swoony book boyfriend - funny, flirty, charming when he wants to be and juuuuust on the right side of cocky. Readers will get to know him well and some of his decisions in Every Summer After will be easier to understand **. Alice is quiet and reserved and I love how they bring out the best in each other.
Why not 5 stars? I have but three wee gripes.
1. Charlie's secret was easy to spot early on
2. the reason/tension of why they couldn't be together went on a bit long
3. the ending was satisfying but too abrupt
I was saving this book for a summery read and read it just before Labour Day weekend! This is my favourite book by Carley Fortune! What an amazing, swoony and delightfully flirty book to end the summer that had me immersed in the lives, loves and losses of two families on Barry's Bay.
** You don't have to read Every Summer After first but I'd recommend you do. I think knowing the back story will help readers see how far Charlie has come.
My Rating: 4.5 stars
Author: Carley Fortune
Genre: Romance, Canadian
Type and Source: Trade paperback, personal copy
Publisher: Viking
First Published: May 6, 2025
Read: August 23-28, 2025
Book Description from GoodReads: I never anticipated Charlie Florek.
Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer there at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life.
Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she’s been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry’s Bay. But as soon as they settle in, their peace is disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat, and the man driving it.
Charlie Florek was nineteen when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he’s all grown up—a shameless flirt, who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be seventeen again, when life was simpler, when taking pictures was just for fun. Sun-slanted days and warm nights out on the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice’s soul, but when she looks up and sees his piercing green gaze directly on her, she begins to worry for her heart.
Because Alice sees people—that’s why she is so good at what she does—but she’s never met someone who looks and sees her right back.
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