If your ideal summer day is having a book in hand in the sun, you should match the vibe and make it a summer romance book. A beach read makes you have the feeling of the summertime that lasts more than just June through August.
The novel One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune follows Alice Everly and Charlie Florek, who are experiencing their summer break at their vacation houses across the big lake from each other.
This novel enhances the summer lifestyle of getting to know one another by doing seasonal activities like cliff jumping and swimming in the lake that go with the aesthetic of summer.
There is a good family dynamic between Alice and her grandma (Nan). Alice ended up at the lake house because she wanted to spend time with Nan while she recovered from a surgery. While she is still taking care of Nan, she actually ends up spending her whole summer getting to know and being in the presence of Charlie.
Alice gets to know Charlie when he does work on Nan’s cottage, so Charlie and Alice spend a lot more time than they intended to during the summer.
The storyline includes the trope of an enemies-to- lovers – just not as intense, ending only a few pages in.
I liked the characters in this novel and how they were portrayed, how the romance played out between them, and all the fun activities they do together – like going jet-skiing and boating and other water activities.
My favorite scene in the book is when Charlie agrees to try to do Alice’s bucket list for the summer with her because he knows how important it is for her to get the summer experience she never did as a teenager.
The imagery in this book was one of my favorites I have read. The way the surroundings are described helps readers imagine exactly where they are – down to the time of day, what it smells like outside, the weather and what the scenery looks like.
The book starts off a little slow in the first 40 pages and is a little harder to get into, but when I pushed myself to read, the book and plot were very enjoyable, and It was an easy read.
This book excelled my expectations with being enemies to friends to lovers that enhances the summer feels with love filling up the air and goes with the aesthetics of summer.
