“Kirwan’s excellent debut brings charm, complexity, and plenty of heat…This mature, steamy romance will have readers swooning.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review "Noué Kirwan’s exquisitely-written debut left me breathless.”—Farrah Rochon, USA Today bestselling author of The Dating Playbook "Long Past Summer is powerful.”—Naima Simone, USA Today bestselling author It's hard to move on from a broken heart—and harder to move on from a broken friendship. Mikaela Marchand is living the polished life she always planned for: a successful New York lawyer, with a promotion in her sights and a devoted boyfriend by her side. She’s come a long way from the meek teen she was growing up in small town Georgia, but the memory of her adolescence isn’t far—in fact, it’s splashed across a massive billboard in Times Square. An old photograph of Mikaela and her former best friend, Julie, has landed on the cover of a high-profile fashion magazine advertised all over the city. And when Julie files a lawsuit, Mikaela is caught in the middle as defense lawyer for the magazine. Not only will she have to face Julie for the first time in years, Mikaela’s forced to work closely with the photographer in question: the former love of her life--and Julie’s ex-husband--Cameron Murphy. Mikaela needs to win the case to get her promotion--and as a junior partner, she has no margin for error. But unresolved feelings still exist between Cam and Mikaela, and jealousy always made Julie play dirty… With flashbacks to summers of first loves and fragile friendships, Long Past Summer looks at the delicate and powerful thread that binds and breaks friends and flames.
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Mikaela is a successful lawyer in NYC, working to be promoted to partner of the company. One of her clients brings some important people form her past back to her life: Cameron, her ex-boyfriend and only love, and Julie her previous best friend who ended up marrying Cameron.
The story is told through one POV, interspersing two timelines.
What I liked:
- The writing was engaging, and I was interested in the characters outcomes
- It was refreshing to read about an inter-racial couple
- Mikaela is very ambitious and driven and I could emphasize with her life choices
- The characters were flawed and real and I enjoyed reading about their journey to become who they are in the present. I hated Julie but she was real enough, I definitely had one of those in my past.
What I think it could have been done better:
- Personally, I dislike when the conflicts are solved on the last pages of the book as I don't get enough of the happy ending to give me the comfort I search when I read romances.
- I would have liked to see Mikaela reaching her professional goals. I'm a strong believer that it should be possible to have a career and a healthy and joyful personal life. Solving only the romance left me feeling the story was left incomplete, especially as the professional side was such a strong part of the plot.
Overall, this was a nice debut and I recommend it for readers who enjoyed Every Summer After.
TWs – Death of a parent, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Sexism
