Every Summer After: The Honest Take on This Steamy BookTok Hit
The cover looks like a sweet YA romance, but the content is firmly adult—here’s the truth about the steam level and that central betrayal.
Every Summer After is not a Young Adult novel, despite what the "summer at the lake" aesthetic might suggest. It’s a nostalgic, emotionally heavy, and explicitly steamy "New Adult" romance that deals with deep regret and a significant betrayal. If your teen is asking for it because they saw it on TikTok, they’re looking for a high-intensity emotional experience, not a G-rated beach read.
TL;DR: Every Summer After by Carley Fortune is a beautifully written but explicit romance featuring "open-door" sex scenes and a plot centered on infidelity. It’s great for older teens (17+) who can handle messy moral dilemmas, but for younger readers looking for similar vibes without the graphic content, The Summer I Turned Pretty or Love & Gelato are better entry points.
Carley Fortune tapped into a very specific vein of nostalgia with this one. The book toggles between "then" (six summers of teenage friendship and blossoming love at a lake in Ontario) and "now" (a weekend in their 30s as they reunite for a funeral).
It hits all the tropes that make BookTok go wild: childhood friends-to-lovers, second chances, and the "forced proximity" of a small town. It’s genuinely well-paced and the atmospheric writing makes you feel the lake water and the humidity. But because the "then" timeline features characters aged 13 to 18, many younger readers assume the book is written for them. It isn’t. It’s written for adults looking back at their youth.
In the world of romance novels, there’s "closed door" (the scene ends when the bedroom door closes) and "open door" (you’re in the room for everything). Every Summer After is firmly open door.
There are multiple scenes throughout the book that are graphically descriptive. We’re talking about explicit language and detailed depictions of sexual acts. If your family’s baseline for "okay" is a PG-13 movie, this book blows past that in the first few chapters. It’s not erotica, but it’s definitely not a "sweet" romance. For a parent, the context matters: these scenes happen both in the adult "now" timeline and the late-teen "then" timeline.
The central mystery of the book is why Persephone (Percy) and Sam haven't spoken in a decade. When the reveal finally happens, it’s a doozy. It involves Percy cheating on Sam with someone very close to him.
This is the part of the book that divides readers. It’s a messy, "human error" kind of mistake that carries massive consequences. For a teen reader, this is actually the most interesting part to talk about. It moves the conversation away from "is this book appropriate?" to "how do you come back from a mistake that hurts the person you love most?" It’s a heavy look at forgiveness, accountability, and the fact that "good people" can do genuinely crappy things.
If your kid finished Every Summer After and wants more, or if you’ve decided it’s a bit too mature and want to pivot them to something else, here are the best alternatives that hit the same notes.
The "Summer at the Lake" Alternatives (YA Version)
- The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han: This is the gold standard for this trope. It has the love triangle, the beach house, and the years of history, but it’s written specifically for a YA audience. The steam is dialed way down, focusing more on the emotional ache.
- Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch: If the draw is the "summer in a beautiful place while dealing with grief" aspect, this is a fantastic, cleaner choice.
- Say It Out Loud by Allison S. Finkel: A deeper cut that handles teenage romance and complex family dynamics with a lot of heart and much less graphic content.
The "Second Chance Romance" (Adult/New Adult)
- People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry: If they are 16+ and looking for that "friends who grew apart and reunited" vibe, Emily Henry is the queen. It’s still "steamy," but often feels a bit more grounded and witty.
- Beach Read by Emily Henry: Another one that looks like a rom-com but deals with heavy themes like grief and infidelity in a family.
If your teen has already read it, don't freak out about the sex scenes. They’ve likely seen worse on a stray TikTok scroll. The real value in this book is the "mess."
The Conversation Starter: "Percy makes a choice that basically nukes her life for ten years. Do you think Sam was right to forgive her? Is there a difference between a mistake and a pattern?"
This gets them thinking about relationship boundaries and the weight of choices, which is a much more useful skill than just knowing which pages to skip.
The biggest friction point isn't just the sex; it’s the alcohol use. Since the book covers the characters from age 13 into their 30s, there is a fair amount of underage drinking and "party culture" depicted as a standard part of their summer experience. It’s not necessarily glamorized—it often leads to the aforementioned "mess"—but it is present and treated as a normal part of the small-town summer vibe.
Q: What age is Every Summer After appropriate for?
It’s written for adults, but it’s a massive hit with the 15-18 age group. Because of the graphic sexual content and themes of infidelity, it’s best suited for older teens (17+) who have a high maturity level.
Q: Is Every Summer After "clean"?
No. It is an "open door" romance, meaning sexual encounters are described in detail with explicit language. It also contains underage drinking and significant emotional betrayal.
Q: Is it similar to The Summer I Turned Pretty?
The vibe is very similar—summer houses, childhood friends, and love triangles—but the content is much more mature. Think of Every Summer After as the R-rated version of The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Q: Are there any trigger warnings for Every Summer After?
The book deals with the death of a parent (off-page, but the funeral is a central plot point), infidelity, and some scenes of heavy drinking/partying.
Every Summer After is a "guilty pleasure" read that actually has some decent emotional weight. If you’re okay with your older teen reading explicit romance, it’s a well-written example of the genre. If you’re looking for a "safe" beach read for a 13-year-old, keep walking—there are plenty of other best books for kids that hit the summer vibe without the adult content.
- Check out our digital guide for high schoolers for more on navigating the BookTok landscape.
- Browse our best books for kids list to find age-appropriate summer reads.
- Ask our chatbot for a "clean" version of this book's tropes
