For me, Carley Fortune does summertime reads like nobody else. Lounging by a body of water with one of her novels in one hand and a cold drink in another—that’s a perfect day to me. But here’s the thing about a summer book: It’s good any time of year.
A good beach read is less about the season itself and more about the feeling of summer. And Fortune’s ability to capture these lovingly written lake towns encapsulates that feeling. I swear, you can practically feel the sun on your skin even if you read one of her books in bed after dark (like I do).
So no, you don’t have to read these books from a lounge chair on a summer day (but if you have a beachy getaway on the horizon? Her books are perfect vacation reads, too). Here are all of Carley Fortune’s books in order, plus my reviews and ranking of each.
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Who is Carley Fortune?
Carley Fortune is an award-winning journalist turned wildly popular author. Every Summer After is her first novel (and arguably her most well-known), and a series based on the novel is in production and set to release on Amazon Prime on June 10, 2026 (major The Summer I Turned Pretty vibes ahead!). The cast for the book-to-series adaptation, Every Year After, includes Sadie Soverall as Percy, and the Florek brothers, played by Matt Cornett (Sam) and Michael Bradway (Charlie).
Fortune lives in Toronto (which explains why her books are all set in Canada!) and released her fifth novel on May 5, 2026, Our Perfect Storm, which I also just finished reading.
Do you have to read the Carly Fortune books in order?
I would suggest reading Every Summer After before diving in (no pun intended) to One Golden Summer for sure. These are companion novels, and a secondary character from the former is the leading man in the latter.
Other than that, choose your own adventure. If I were new to Fortune’s books, I’d probably read Every Summer After and One Golden Summer back to back (even though Fortune released two novels between those two).
Are Carley Fortune’s books spicy?
Yes, but not gratuitously so. On a scale from “I’m blushing” to “what in the 50 Shades is going on here?”, I’d say they skew towards the milder end of the spicy book scale.
What is the release order of Carley Fortune’s books?
- Every Summer After (2022)
- Meet Me at the Lake (2023)
- This Summer Will be Different (2024)
- One Golden Summer (2025)
- Our Perfect Storm (2026)
How do Carley Fortune books rank?
5. Meet Me at the Lake
Fern and Will are complete strangers who form a sudden and epic connection. But when promises are made and broken, Fern decides she needs to move on—that is, until she returns to the lake nine years later, and Will is there, waiting for her.
Carley Fortune is absolutely an auto-buy author for me, and I’ve devoured every novel she’s written. But for me, this one is a very clear choice for the last-place spot.
It’s not because I didn’t enjoy it (I did!), but because I enjoyed all her other books so much more.
This book tells the story of Fern and Will, who spend an epic 24 hours together, form a connection, and agree to meet a year later. Fern shows up; Will doesn’t. Years later, Fern is managing her family’s lakeside resort and reeling from her mother’s death when Will shows up and makes her an offer she can’t refuse.
Fortune had such incredible success with the dual timeline/second chance romance in her first novel, and to me, it felt like this book was chasing the magic of Every Summer After… but just didn’t quite get there. It was a quick, easy, fun read, but ultimately? Not one that stuck with me.
4. Our Perfect Storm
Frankie and George are childhood best friends, but having grown apart in adulthood, Frankie isn’t even sure if George will show for her wedding. Then, she’s even more unsure where they stand when she’s left at the altar by her fiance. Frankie’s life is a mess, but George swoops in nonetheless with an idea to heal her broken heart—go on her honeymoon.
One week on the misty beaches of Tofino, British Columbia, together. But surfing and exploring rainforests quickly turns into an emotional rollercoaster, one where long-buried feelings will finally be confronted.
The premise of Fortune’s most recent novel has a lot in common with the book that started it all. Like Every Summer After, Our Perfect Storm is about childhood best friends who are very clearly not just best friends.
But Our Perfect Storm brings a different level of maturity: Its leading lady, Frankie, is about to get married when the novel begins. Her fiancé leaves her right before the wedding, and in an attempt to put her broken heart back together, Frankie and her best friend, George, decide to go on what was supposed to be her honeymoon…together.
You know where this is heading. We all do. But Frankie and George don’t seem to; even though everyone around them can tell there’s a real romantic love between these two best friends, Frankie (and to an even greater extent, George) fights it. But when you’re sharing a bed in a luxurious honeymoon retreat, you can only fight it for so long.
This feels the most adult of Fortune’s novels, and while I really enjoyed the gravitas here, I found myself missing the nostalgic, youthful quality of Every Summer After. Because they have such similar premises, it’s hard not to compare the two books, and for me, Our Perfect Storm didn’t quite have the same sort of magic.
With that being said, I really, really liked this book…I just found it frustrating (and unbelievable) at times that it took George and Frankie so long to face their feelings for each other. I guess there’s a case for timing, and this book proves that: Both of these characters had to live life separately before coming together, and I imagine that’s a reality for many couples who met as children.
3. This Summer Will be Different
While vacationing on Prince Edward Island, Lucy strikes up an instant connection with Felix. The two have simmering chemistry, but she doesn’t realize he’s her best friend’s younger brother. To protect her friendship, she vows to never repeat their electric night again. But can she keep that promise?
Girl meets boy, develops an instant attraction … and then realizes said boy is her best friend’s brother …and very much off-limits because of that.
Lucy and Felix meet on Prince Edward Island, and have a fun (like, really fun) night together. The chemistry goes hard, but Lucy quickly realizes Felix is her best friend’s brother and vows to stay away.
Spoiler alert: She’s not exactly successful. When Lucy’s best friend, Bridget, has a crisis just before her wedding is scheduled, Lucy drops everything and runs to Bridget and Felix’s family’s Prince Edward Island home, and well, forced proximity is a thing, you know?
I initially put this in my number two spot, but ultimately realized I just don’t remember the details of this one as vividly as I do my ultimate number two pick. What I do remember, however? Just how badly I wanted to book a trip to Prince Edward Island while devouring this read. And if you’re ever looking for a book with fall vibes, you’ll also love the flashbacks to autumn on the island.
2. Every Summer After
Told in a dual timeline, Percy travels back to her childhood lake town and into the orbit of her first love and childhood best friend, Sam Florek. Neither can forget the mistakes of their past, but they also can’t ignore the connection they still share.
Every Summer After is a book that sticks with you. It’s a first love, second chance, dual timeline read that tells the story of Percy and Sam, who are childhood best friends.
Every summer, Percy’s family returns to their lake house, which happens to be right near Sam’s home. They’re best friends (and maybe more), until it all unravels.
Ten years later, Percy hasn’t forgotten Sam. A tragedy brings them back together, and their story unfolds with a look at six childhood summers together, alternating between glimpses of their reunion.
Fortune’s ability to write about first love—and the awkwardness of it all—is really something, yet this story doesn’t feel juvenile at all. It’s one of those books you can read over and over again.
1. One Golden Summer
Alice adores the lake, even though she only spent one summer there as a teen. But when she returns as an adult, she doesn’t anticipate meeting Charlie Florek, who drives a familiar yellow boat she snapped a photo of as a kid. Charlie makes her feel young and carefree again, but can she let go and risk her heart?
In Every Summer After, we meet Charlie, Sam’s gorgeous, arrogant older brother. And here, it’s his turn to shine.
Alice is a photographer who visited the lake town where Charlie and Sam live when she was a teenager. While she was there, she took a photo that essentially changed her life: An image of three teens on a boat that showed Alice just how much potential she has behind the camera.
The teenagers, of course, were Sam, Percy, and Charlie.
You get to see a whole new side of Charlie in this book through Alice’s eyes (he paints his grandmother’s nails, if that tells you anything).
Maybe it’s recency bias, but I think I love this one just a little bit more than Every Summer After. Alice and Charlie’s romance felt just a bit more realistic to me, somehow, and the book itself had a level of maturity that Every Summer After (understandably, as it’s a first love story) just didn’t.
But regardless of which book in this universe you prefer, these two companion reads are absolutely worth diving into—lakeside setting entirely optional.
What’s next from Carly Fortune?
Carly Fortune has written a new book every year since 2022, so we can *hopefully* anticipate a new book to kick off beach read season in summer, 2027, although she has not yet announced a new title. In the meantime, Fortune fans can vicariously visit beloved Barry’s Bay by watching the Prime Video series Every Year After, starting in June.
Zara Hanawalt, Contributing Writer
Zara is a twin mom and freelance journalist with over a decade of experience covering parenting, women’s health, and culture. In addition to The Everymom, she’s written for outlets like Vogue, Marie Claire, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Parents, Shape, Motherly, The New York Times for Kids, What to Expect, and many others. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, cooking, travel, watching TV, and trying new restaurants.