Books Like Every Summer After: 5 Summer Romances With History

As an Amazon Associate, Fractal Enigma earns from qualifying purchases. Amazon links below are paid links.

Every Summer After gives Percy and Sam a place, a first love and a past they cannot simply leave behind. Its alternating timelines make the early summers part of the adult reunion rather than a few lines of background. For a next read, that structure may matter as much as the lake or the season.

Love and Other Words is the closest obvious route, but the list also offers beach-house returns, a resort connection and an ex-couple’s shared holiday. Two choices stay with Carley Fortune while changing the central setup. Use the differences to decide whether you want another second chance or simply another romance where a summer place matters.

Choose your next read

• Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren — first love and an adult reunion told through past and present.
• Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan — a beach-house return and an old first love.
• Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune — another return, with a different kind of missed connection.
• This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune — a recurring summer escape with a different romantic obstacle.
• Happy Place by Emily Henry — a beloved holiday setting and a breakup nobody else knows about.

1. Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

Try this if you want: first love and an adult reunion told through past and present.

Macy and Elliot’s early relationship is interwoven with their later reconnection. That makes it the first recommendation when the dual timeline and emotional archaeology of Every Summer After were what held your attention. The specific history is different, but both books ask the reader to understand the adults through the younger people they were. Choose it for the experience of discovering why a relationship still matters, rather than simply for a similar seasonal atmosphere.

Search Amazon for Love and Other Words →

2. Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan

Try this if you want: a beach-house return and an old first love.

Sam returns to a familiar coastal setting where Wyatt, her first love, becomes part of the present again. The match is the relationship between a place and the version of yourself that once lived there. Her current plans complicate the encounter, making this a useful pick when you want the adult-life reckoning alongside the nostalgia. It moves from the lake to the beach without making the setting the only reason the two stories belong together.

Search Amazon for Same Time Next Summer →

3. Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

Try this if you want: another return, with a different kind of missed connection.

Fern and Will’s earlier meeting hangs over their later encounter at a lakeside resort. This is the same-author choice for readers who want more of Fortune’s settings and timing problems without repeating Percy and Sam’s childhood-summer history. Work and responsibility at the resort make the present-day situation important in its own right. Pick it for the question of what an unfinished connection can become when the people involved have acquired different lives and obligations.

Search Amazon for Meet Me at the Lake →

4. This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune

Try this if you want: a recurring summer escape with a different romantic obstacle.

Lucy’s attraction to Felix is complicated by his connection to her best friend and the place she visits. It is the Fortune option when you want to keep a vivid summer destination while stepping away from the exact first-love-and-years-apart model. The island setting and recurring visits create their own rhythm. Choose it if your main desire is another romance shaped by a place people return to, with friendship also affecting the choices available.

Search Amazon for This Summer Will Be Different →

5. Happy Place by Emily Henry

Try this if you want: a beloved holiday setting and a breakup nobody else knows about.

Harriet and Wyn return to a shared vacation with friends while hiding that their relationship has ended. This is the change-of-author route for readers who want memory attached to a place, but prefer an adult partnership being reconsidered. The friend group gives the couple reasons to maintain appearances, which changes the kind of tension. Pick it for the gap between how a relationship looks from the outside and what the two people inside it are carrying.

View Happy Place on Amazon →

Which one should you read first?

Choose Love and Other Words for the closest past-and-present first-love structure. Choose Same Time Next Summer for a coastal homecoming. If you want more Fortune, Meet Me at the Lake leans into an unfinished connection, while This Summer Will Be Different changes the obstacle and destination. Happy Place is the best fit when the holiday’s meaning to an entire group is part of the appeal.

Before you choose

Are these all childhood-friends romances?

No. Love and Other Words and Same Time Next Summer are the closest first-love routes. The other books have different relationship histories, explained above.

Do the Carley Fortune recommendations continue Percy and Sam’s story?

Meet Me at the Lake and This Summer Will Be Different center different couples. They are recommendations for the author and reading mood, rather than direct sequels.

More reading guides

• Books Like Beach Read — 10 Rivals-to-Lovers & Forced-Proximity Romance Reads (2026)
• Books Like Just for the Summer — 10 Emotional MF Fake Dating Romance Reads (2026)
• Books Like Great Big Beautiful Life — 10 Writer-Rival, Celebrity-Secret & Island Romance Reads (2026)

Find your next favorite book

Get more romance and fantasy reading guides from Fractal Enigma.