Release Date: Expected 29th June 2023
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton | Sceptre
Sam is spending her summer working in London for a marketing agency before she returns back to Stockholm. There's only a few short, sweet months left before she leaves the city - and Lucas behind.
She and Lucas weren't meant to be anything when they reconnected this summer, but their passionate relationship is a perfect, beautiful distraction from the fact their lives are going nowhere. For now, life is spectacular and exciting - a haze of romance, sex and wine. But the summer is almost over and Sam is leaving, and that means they're both going back to a life that is grey and boring.
Unless they're ready to do something about it, and find something between the good and bad. Something that matters, even on the okay days.
"'So either catastrophe or quite sublime. Or both.' I fully fill my lungs.
'I mean, it's a risk.', he says. 'But consider the alterative.'
'Which is?'
'Bland. Tolerable.'"
A blinding testament to the fact that we as people are ever-changing and ever-growing, this story follows two people as their relationship is built and dismantled. They learn about each other, and themselves in tandem, as they navigate this confusing modern world and deal with reproductive issues, body image, sexuality, societal pressures, heartbreak and the simple fact that life is hard sometimes.
The narration switches between Sam and Luc, counting down the days of summer and I loved them as narrators. Sam was deeply relatable, witty, and flawed - always running from her problems and not sure how to face them head on. And as for Luc, I loved the poetic, beautiful way he saw the world despite all the difficulties he'd faced in his life. Both of them were suffering with serious Imposter Syndrome, not sure how they ended up where they are in life and with no idea how to move forward. They were magnetic and dazzling, refreshingly honest at times about both their desires and their dysfunctionality.
The setting is stifling - a sweaty, sticky summer in a burning and bustling city that's made even more intense by the passionate, exciting newness of everything in Sam's life. Together we look back at the early days years ago where they met in University, seeing a version of themselves that wasn't quite so bitter and tired yet and flowing easily from moment to moment. It wasn't exactly a linear story, instead it felt like snapshots of two lives over years and countries, dropping in and out at moments that changed their trajectories.
Honestly there were certain parts about the end of this story that left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, some of the decisions they made felt like they went beyond compromise into behaviours that were unhealthy and unsustainable - all of the amazing self-discovery and learning seemed to fall to the wayside in those last few pages which left me feeling just a bit disappointed.
Sharp, sweet and steamy - this is a beautiful story about finding and losing ourselves.
⭐⭐⭐
I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.
cw: loss, alcohol, sex, injured animals, abortion, pregnancy, recreational drugs.
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