I loved Annabelle Monaghan’s last book, Nora Goes Off Script, so I was excited to read her new romance, Same Time Next Summer. This is a second chance romance about Samantha (Sam) Holloway and Wyatt Pope, who grew up spending summers together at Long Island Beach. I loved the beach setting and the characters, but wished the book had gone on a little longer than it did.

When the story begins, Sam is bringing Jack, her fiancé, to her family’s beach house for a week to look at a possible wedding venue, The Old Sloop Inn. As they pull into town, she remembers the summers she spent at the beach growing up. She especially recalls all the time she spent with Wyatt, her neighbor and first love. The last she heard from him was twelve years ago when he called from Los Angeles where he was working on cars and trying to break into the music business. Now he’s back in town, organizing a music festival for up and coming musicians to be held at the Owl Barn in town and he’s full of surprises.

The story alternates between past and present. In the past, we see Sam and Wyatt’s early relationship as teens when they first fell in love. They spent their days swimming, surfing and exploring the beach for shells. Their special place was a treehouse in Wyatt’s back yard overlooking the beach where their time together was magical. It didn’t last. I won’t reveal spoilers here but after their break-up, Sam felt lost and spent her senior year of high school recovering with the help of her family and a therapist. Wyatt struggled with school and his parents sent him away to a boarding school where they thought he could get more support after he was diagnosed with dyslexia. A counselor gave him a guitar and signed him up for guitar lessons. Both were deeply hurt and had to work their ways back to happiness without each other.

Now, Sam works at Human Corp in NYC (her grandpa calls it Human Corpse) as a human resource consultant and her boss has asked her to take some time off after she causes a disaster. Sam thinks she might lose her job. I wondered what she did to cause this. I will only say that it involved a flash mob and had me laughing. Her fiancé, Jack is a successful dermatologist and very set in his routines. Their apartment is gray, white and chrome. (Sam’s grandma says she’s seen prisons with more personality.) Jack wants a white cake, white invitations and white linens for the wedding. Sam worries about what Jack will think when he sees her family’s beach house that overflows with art and craft projects (her parents are artists). But her life with Jack feels stable and secure and she is afraid to lose it.

But then Wyatt reappears in her life. He begins joining Sam, Jack, and her family as they swim, surf, boat and share meals. He helps her dad fix his car and even goes along when they eat dinner at The Old Sloop Inn, ostensibly to help to decide if it will work for Sam and Jack’s wedding. Slowly, the two realize they have to confront their past.

I was glad to see Sam finally get the courage to talk with Wyatt about what happened years ago with their break up but wished she had ditched Jack sooner than she did. It was good to see her find herself again and become more free and happy in her life. But the process took longer than it should have and I didn’t get to see enough of Sam and Wyatt as a healthy couple in the present. Additionally, I felt the book came to an overly abrupt end.

That said, this book made me feel like I was at the beach with the descriptions of the ocean breezes, smell of the salt air, the sounds of the seagulls, water lapping, and the music from Wyatt’s guitar coming from the tree house.  I recommend this quick breezy read for anyone wanting a beach getaway with some romance. It’s not perfect, but it’s a reasonable way to while away a summer’s day.