Steamy summer romance has drinking, nudity, heartbreak.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
Sex, Romance & Nudity
a lot
This slow-burn romance includes flirting, kissing, skinny dipping, caressing, nudity and detailed descriptions of various sexual acts, including oral and vaginal sex. Teenagers make out frequently. There are allusions to sexually active teens, but all graphic descriptions are of adults engaging in consensual sex. Descriptions include nipple play, oral sex, hand jobs, fingering and dry humping, as well as intercourse culminating in orgasms. Condom use is discussed and consistent. Vibrators and casual hookups are discussed. Male bodies are objectified, with comments about their muscular chests and nice butts. Characters go skinny dipping and are often in revealing swimsuits.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.
Characters drink to excess on multiple occasions, both as teenagers and adults, resulting in poor decision making, hangovers and vomiting. Most drinking is at parties or in social situations. Characters first drink in eighth grade, though the main character doesn't like beer.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.
Some name brands are mentioned, mostly for world building. Horror movies and book titles are listed, as are song titles.
Positive Messages
a little
Honesty is the best policy. Don't run from hard truths. Communication is key.
Positive Role Models
a little
Persephone shows some emotional growth over the course of the novel, moving from a self-absorbed, passive thirteen-year-old to a grown woman wanting to resolve past mistakes. She exercises to improve her mental health and is upfront about seeing a therapist for her anxiety attacks. There is mention of teenage bullying, which is looked down on by the main characters. Friendships are wrought with miscommunications and the need to impress. The parents are fairly supportive of their children, encouraging safe sex, open communication and mutual respect. However, the teenagers have plenty of unsupervised time at all hours of the day and night, which leads to sex and underage drinking. Overall, the characters don't show enough emotional growth, communication skills and maturity to be positive role models.
Diverse Representations
a little
Two of the main characters have Polish ancestors and work at a Polish restaurant. Main characters are White. One side character is Black and one is Asian American. Characters are all straight and described as attractive and physically fit. Two kids are being raised by a single mom, with a deceased father. One kid is an only child.
Brief descriptions of Polish food. One character is studying to be a doctor and describes some anatomy.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Every Summer After by Carley Fortune is a slow-burn romance written for adults, though the main characters are teenagers for much of the novel. After years of silence between Persephone and Sam, she's returning to the small town where they spent their summers together as kids, only to be confronted by Sam and thr love she never stopped feeling for him. The story includes flirting, kissing, skinny dipping, caressing, nudity and detailed descriptions of various sexual acts, including oral and vaginal sex. Teenagers make out frequently. Some teens are sexually active, but all graphic descriptions are of adults engaging in consensual sex and include nipple play, oral sex, hand jobs, fingering and dry humping, as well as intercourse, culminating in orgasms. Male bodies are objectified, with comments about their muscular chests and nice butts. There is little violence, with one character obsessed with horror movies, but no descriptions. Swearing includes "f--k," " s--t," "d--k," "t-ts," "ass," "hell," "clit," "balls," "bitch," and "God" and "Jesus" as expressions.
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What's the Story?
In EVERY SUMMER AFTER, Persephone Fraser is only 13 when she and her parents start spending their summers at Barry's Bay, a small town outside of Toronto. There she meets Sam, the boy next door who becomes her best friend. Each summer, they swim, work in his mom's restaurant, and spend endless hours together reading. As the years pass, Sam and Percy's relationship grows deeper until the spark between them is undeniable. But when 18-year-old Percy makes the biggest mistake of her life, she leaves Barry's Bay, and Sam, behind. More than a decade later, Percy returns to the lake town for Sam's mother's funeral, and comes face to face with the man she never stopped loving. Will Percy be able to make amends for the decisions that drove them apart, or will their love remain a thing of the past?
The mystery of why Percy and Sam stopped seeing each other is interesting enough to keep the reader invested as the story bounces between the past and the present. Between the slow-burn romance, the nostalgia of long summers by the lake, and the puzzle of what drove the main characters apart, Every Summer After has enough plot and character development to keep you reading. And yet, Carley Fortune's characters often make terrible decisions, and while some of the early choices feel age appropriate, as the characters age, their lack of communication and ultimate betrayals are disappointing.
The summer vibes in the early flashback chapters make for a fun beach read, but the plot becomes predictable in the second half, and the ensuing drama changes the feel of the story. Ultimately, neither character is dynamic enough to truly root for, and readers may feel a bit let down by the end. It's got enough going for it to pull readers to the inevitable romance conclusion, but it's also just an ok book.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the amount of drinking in Every Summer After. Do you think the character's decisions are affected by how much they drink?
How do you feel about the amount of graphic sex in a story that includes many scenes of the main characters as young teens?
How do you feel about how long it took Percy the courage to tell Sam the truth?
Do you think the parents should give their kids more or less freedom during the summer?
Available on:
Paperback, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
Last updated:
August 20, 2024
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
suggesting a diversity update.
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Sage Kahn
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