One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

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.

Why I Picked It Up

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I really like Carley Fortune, alongside her many other readers across the US and Canada. She writes romance or women's fiction, caveat being that women's fiction is a silly descriptive term. Her books are sunny, bright, and not cloying—textured, still, which is a trait embodied by other favorites like Emily Henry. There's a line between daydream and Hallmark that's tricky to strike.

My first book of hers was This Summer Will Be Different, and it's actually (fun fact!) also the first review I wrote and mocked up for the new edition of the blog with my developer. Inspired by the book, my friend Ali and I tried vinho verde last summer around the same time. Not for us.

I didn't necessarily love her first book, Every Summer After, which I ducked back to read. I thought it was just okay, but plenty of people adore it. I think part of why—beyond not really connecting all that much with a plot I found straightforward—was because I found the "meant to be childlike" Percy voice grating rather than young, but I'm also picky about adults writing kids' voices. I'm passionate that we treat teenagers with as much respect for voice and seriousness as we give ourselves. A lot of people, when they try to write young, end up going simplistic instead. (I think kids are anything but simple, and a teen can have the same capacity you do to be at times both brilliant or a little stupid.)

Anyway, while Every Summer After didn't really do it for me for several reasons, One Golden Summer knocked it out of the park. I absolutely loved it, and it may be my favorite if not tied with This Summer Will Be Different. It was exactly what I want from a summer camped out around a Canadian lake—exactly like in the book—so I have plenty of fondness, sense of place, and nostalgia baked into that as well.

Plot & Chemistry

First, I had a lot of love for how the plot hinges on Alice taking her grandmother back to the cottage for a summer after she was morose after a fall. I was tight with my own grandmother, so I appreciate the comraderie. Again, sometimes we default to treating the elderly without the dignity and complication they deserve. (This past weekend, my family reflected on when my own grandmother secretly adopted a puppy without my mom's knowledge.)

So Alice & Nan head to the cottage, where they had a genuine friendship and relationship that wasn't solely, always affectionate either. They got on each others' nerves at times. They had such close moments at other times. Loved.

Immediately, I adored Charlie: our love interest. He comes in hot—in all senses of the word—immediately teasing Alice about being a little uptight, without crossing a line. He was fiery and respectful and adoring, and their awkward moments at the beginning were hilarious rather than cringey. Again, hard to do!

Normally a trader in Toronto, Charlie's back for the summer and helping fix up the cottage/prepare for their arrival. He's playful, charming, and can challenge Alice. I don't normally find book characters "sexy" per se (parasocial attachment or whatever) but I just loved the proportion of everything Charlie did, and how he started getting close to Alice.

For context, my appreciation for their slow burn is probably because friends-to-lovers in this sense is totally how I'm wired too. Whoever I end up with for a (hopeful) lifetime, I'd expect them to be fundamentally my best friend—just with chemistry. Stripping it down, I'd like a partner to be a favorite person in any context (good company, I suppose), whereas some romance novels focus so much on the seduction part that they forget to build the friendship that makes you feel like two people could exist together. I end up frustrated with the characters, going "y'all do not know each other that well."

There's a difference between being intrigued by someone on a surface-level and loving them (although both are necessary at various stages) and One Golden Summer did an excellent job actually building out a relationship, but still preserving Charlie's flirty, outgoing charm. He could be persistent while maintaining that pace and integrity—a tough line to walk, as plenty of writers can't execute both traits in combination.

Voice & Style

Above all, I want vividness from a story like this. If it's too vague—too cardboard-cutout "summer" then it doesn't feel rooted in the specificity that pulls me in (and there are studies behind this too in terms of writing craft: there needs to be enough novelty to spark the right combinations within your brain, versus authors doing romance MadLibs.)

I loved a lot of One Golden Summer. There were some corny but good moments. I'm a little over a bucket list plot, for one; often, it's used as a way for a couple to have adventures (see: Emily Henry) but then ends up totally getting dropped by the end anyway.

Alice's confusion over what to do with her photography felt cliché (kind of the equivalent of the "let's show real girls having fun!" of 13 Going on 30—wow, so groundbreaking) but I resonated a lot with the struggles of freelancing and taking work that paid the bills.

Like, I think the description of her being a person who "sees people" and wants to be seen back in the plot synopsis is way more syrupy than how it comes across in the book, although there are still a few lines to that effect that feel overly familiar. Still, I would say if the execution of her passion for photography felt saccharine too, and it doesn't go too far. I thought the sentimentality of her getting back to the emotion of what she does was corny but that the logistical considerations—like when to push back and what to say or when to yank a piece from the gallery—made a lot of sense for balancing the art/business side and were helpful to see spelled out. It emphasized the stress and contour of her character in such a realistic, more dynamic way.

And then let's talk about Charlie. Charlie was sexy. I'll say it point blank. (Carley Fortune really does a remarkable job cultivating an aura of hotness; I don't know how better to say that, except that it's probably rare that I swoon over a love interest the way the heroine does. I just adored him.)

Alice was sweet. I liked them together, I thought them and Nan were funny, especially in triple. There were so many winning moments and clever bits of levity, and the sense of place was so utterly fantastic that I'll absolutely find myself reading this when I miss summers in Canada.

Overall Thoughts

If you're looking for a beach read or a stellar romance, just read it. It's sparky, and absolutely drenched in summer atmosphere (all paired with a ton of specific detail.) The relationship between a gal and her grandma was sweet without being condescending, and embodied the realistic conflict of being close to family; the relationship between her and the wisecracking handyman was even better, and I also understood the conflicts that came up. Overall—delightful, sizzling, fabulous.

This is a popular title, so any time any other reviewers or readers have asked me my thoughts, I'm seemingly incapable of articulate thought beyond going I love Charlie.

Devoured.

For fans of:

This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune; Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols; My Old Ass (movie, takes place on a lake in Canada); Beach Read by Emily Henry; In a Not So Perfect World by Neely Tubati-Alexander; Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson; The Fake Out by Stephanie Archer.