Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane
It’s true — I have my heart set on devouring everything Mhairi McFarlane writes. After falling head over heels for Just Last Night, I thought I would enjoy more of her books. Then I picked up Mad About You and it was confirmation that my instincts were correct. And now I have this whole wonderful backlist to delve into and I am over the moon excited.
Mad About You had a bit of a slow start for me and I did not read through it at the speed I had anticipated. This book was much more of a slow burn. However, turns out, I loved it just the same, even though it did take me a little longer to get into. This book is about Harriet Hatley who is getting engaged as the book opens. Only, she breaks off the engagement rather quickly and must find a new place to live that isn’t with her ex-fiance. She ends up letting a room from Cal, who it turns out, is the groom who got cold feet at a wedding she recently photographed. We then learn that Harriet has quite a past with some emotional trauma from a previous relationship. She learns her ex is about to get married and takes a risk to reach out to the new girl. It backfires spectacularly.
At the same time, Harriet finds that she feels so different from Cal, the man she is letting a room from. Yet, there’s this undeniable spark there. They develop a friendship, but it has such a rocky start and some more rocky moments. Harriet needs to heal before she can even consider moving forward in any kind of a relationship. But, the romance bits, they are just a side feature of Mad About You. The story is more about female solidarity. Whether that is solidarity given by her best friend Lorna (who I love and admire ardently) or solidarity given by Harriet to Marianne, her ex’s fiance, it’s about looking out for your fellow woman. It took me a little to warm up to this book, but by the end I was besotted with Mad About You and found myself wishing the story would go on because I was so emotionally invested.
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
When it comes to summer, I am a sucker for books with the word summer in the title. I am also a sucker for books that have all the hype. Right now, Every Summer After by Carley Fortune seems to be hyped up on my FYP on tiktok. And so, I was a goner when it came to reading this book. Every Summer After follows Percy Fraser, whose parents have bought a cabin on Barry’s Bay when she was a preteen. Turns out the cabin is next door to two brothers — Charlie and Sam Florek. Their mother owns a restaurant in town that serves pierogies. Flash forward to the future and Percy has not been to Barry’s Bay in years. She’s living her life in Toronto with a swanky apartment and a string of boyfriends. She hasn’t spoken to Sam, her first love and former best friend, in years. That is, until Charlie calls her to let her know their mom has died. And so, Percy returns to Barry’s Bay for the funeral and to reunite with Sam — as well as face the mistake she made many years ago.
Every Summer After delivered exactly what I expected. I do have to say — I think the comparisons to The Summer I Turned Pretty are merited. While I prefered Han’s trilogy, Fortune’s debut was no slouch. Percy feels real. She’s far from perfect and has made some big mistakes. However, there’s a way through and I appreciate that. Also, I loved reading the different summers and progressions through her relationship with Sam. I did like the past summer parts better than present day. The pacing of this book was slightly slower than I anticipated, but I have no complaints. This was a superb summer read.
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This book has been truly amazing! I’ve loved the whole arc of the story and fallen in love with Harriet and Lorna. Such a great ,truthfully told tale, of which makes me want to pass the book on to someone. Thank you so much