This Summer Will Be Different

I’ll admit, I rolled my eyes at the ‘one summer to change everything’ premise—until about 30 minutes in, when Fortune’s writing did something sneaky. She made me *care* about Lucy’s annual pilgrimage to Fox House not because of the romance (though AJ Bridel’s performance of Lucy’s internal monologue is *chef’s kiss* perfect), but because of how vividly she captures the ache of outgrowing a place that once defined you. The audiobook’s pacing mirrors a lazy summer day—long, meandering stretches of banter and memory punctuated by sharp, sudden revelations. Bridel’s delivery of Lucy’s sarcasm is so spot-on I laughed out loud during my commute, while Fortune’s narration of the male POV sections carries a gravelly intimacy that makes his flaws feel dangerously relatable. That said, the middle act drags like a sunbather refusing to leave the beach. Some subplots (a friend’s wedding drama, a side character’s career crisis) feel like filler between the Lucy-and-Ben tension, and the audiobook’s use of ambient sounds—while immersive—occasionally clashes with the narration volume. Still, the final act lands with the force of a slamming screen door. The production’s choice to let certain lines hang in silence? *Brilliant.* It’s the kind of audiobook that’ll have you parked in your driveway, unwilling to turn it off—even when you see the emotional wreckage coming from a mile away.