Every Summer After

In this debut set in Ontario, Canada, Percy returns to her childhood summer home, hoping to make amends with Sam, the man she left brokenhearted. Sam has always loved Percy. After she spurned him, ending their long friendship and the romance that had blossomed between them, he has seemingly moved on, but his mother’s death brings Percy home. The two ignore their tragic ending, appearing to pick up almost where their friendship ended, before finally confronting their past transgressions. Switching between two timelines, AJ Bridel provides an excellent narration, embodying both the teenaged Percy and Sam and their adult counterparts and capturing the characters’ emotions as they mature into adults. Bridel raises the novel to a higher level as her performance immerses listeners into the story and pulls them into both the young couple’s growing friendship and their later reconnection as adults.