Book Review: ‘Seven Summers’ by Paige Toon
I’m a huge fan of Paige Toon - so much so that I’ve waxed lyrical about her books here before! - and ‘Seven Summers’ is her 20th novel.
She’s back with romance, heartbreak, the gorgeous sunshine of a Cornwall summer, and a new cast of characters to fall in love with.
Six summers ago
Liv and Finn meet working in a bar on the rugged Cornish coastline, their futures full of promise. When a night of passion ends in devastating tragedy they are bound together inextricably. But Finn's life is in LA with his band, and Liv's is in Cornwall with her family - so they make a promise. Finn will return every year, and if they are single they will spend the summer together.
This summer
Liv crosses paths with Tom - a mysterious new arrival in her hometown. As the wildflowers and heather come into bloom, they find themselves falling for one another. For the first time Liv can imagine a world where her heart isn't broken every year.
Now Liv must make an impossible choice. And when she discovers the shocking reason that Tom has left home, she'll need to trust her heart even more . . .
I’ll be honest, I struggled to get into this one. While I was reading, I was in, but I also had no particular drive to pick it up when I wasn’t reading until about 60% in. Maybe I just knew that there was a high chance Paige Toon was going to make me sob…
But I also felt a little like the writing for the first few chapters was a little off and not quite at the usual level I would expect from her books and stories - it felt stripped back and a little less complex than usual and it made me a little concerned, but the writing did recover to the usual lever emotional complexity and immersion after a while. I did find myself held at a distance from that start, however.
Saying that, Liv is a really easy protagonist to like and I loved the set up of her life, her family and her friends in St Agnes and I fell in love with Finn as soon as he came on page. The chemistry and connection between them is electric and, as usual with Paige Toon, the romance lit up the whole novel and I was invested in their story immediately; I couldn’t imagine how there could be a second romance brought in that I would be equally engaged in. I was wrong.
For a while, I couldn’t decide what way I wanted the love triangle to go - Tom or Finn, Finn or Tom - what an impossible choice, but then when the decision was made my immediate disappoint made my secret feelings immediately clear…
SPOILER WARNING
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And then Tom died and Finn was back in the picture and I should have been excited about it, but it felt a little…obvious? Cheap? I’m not sure, but it was also something that had been done before in ‘Chasing Daisy’ back in 2009, with a whole lot more emotional impact. I was a little disappointed by that turn of the plot, but I ended up getting a little emotional about how Liv and Finn’s life ended up anyway - they were meant to be and I’m so glad that Finn especially got his happy ending.
Also: a mention of Jessie from ‘The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson’! I would love to revisit the Jeffersons in a future novel…
Paige Toon is a forever favourite and I’ve been reading her for nearly two thirds of my life, and I hope that long continues. Her love stories are full of heart-rending emotion and characters that will stay with you for years to come.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for the review copy.
