Every Summer After by Carley Fortune, read by A.J. Bridel (Audiobook extract)

A sweeping, unforgettably beautiful love story about one summer holiday and two people hoping for a second chance. 'A radiant debut' - Emily Henry, No.1 New York Times bestselling author of You and Me on Vacation Five summers to fall in love. One moment to fall apart. A weekend to get it right. A magazine writer has to make a choice when she returns to the lake she grew up on, and to the man she thought she'd never have to live without, in this achingly nostalgic debut. They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser that has felt too true for the last decade, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart. Until the day she gets a call that sends her racing back to Barry's Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek. For five summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family restaurant and curling up together with books-medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her-Percy and Sam had been inseparable. And slowly that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart. When Percy returns to the lake to attend Sam's mother's funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. Percy must confront the decisions she's made and the years she's spent punishing herself for them, in order to determine, once and for all, whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past. Told over the course of five years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping look at love and the people and choices that mark us forever. 'A sweet story about second chances, and how the future we imagine for ourselves is never quite what it turns out to be. - Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Two Ways and Wish You Were Here 'Carley Fortune perfects the nostalgia of young summer love and the choices that change us forever in Every Summer After, a smart and delightful novel that will tug on your heartstrings, and more than satisfy fans of Emily Henry. This is your next must-read beach-read from an exciting new voice. A total joy to devour!' - Ashley Audrain, #1 bestselling author of The Push 'Set in Ontario's idyllic cottage country, Carley Fortune's debut Every Summer After follows a couple-Persephone (Percy) and Sam-as they navigate loss, broken promises, and unrequited love. In a "then/now" narrative spanning nearly two decades, Fortune deftly explores the push and pull of a relationship burdened by past mistakes and misunderstandings, and how it's as much about choice as it is fate. Evocative and nostalgic, this novel is perfect for those who covet steamy summer dock days and second-chance love stories. I devoured it!' - Karma Brown, #1 bestselling author of Recipe for a Perfect Wife 'Just like summer, I didn't want this epic, nostalgic tale of youthful romance all grown up to end. Set in Ontario's cottage country, one of my favourite places on earth, this tantalizing debut is a perfectly gorgeous summer love story fans of Jojo Moyes and Emily Henry should add to their wish lists immediately!' - Marissa Stapley, bestselling author of Lucky