This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune

*Summary and Spoilers*

Main Characters:

Lucy (Bee)- Owner of the flower shop In Bloom, Bridget’s best friend 

Felix (Wolf)- Bridget’s brother 

Bridget- Has a nickname for everyone, she's Bee/Lucy's best friends and Felix/ Wolf’s sister  

Zach- Felix’s best friend

Miles- Bridget’s fiancé

Farah- Lucy's second in command at In Bloom 

Why you should read or listen:

This was my first book by Carley Fortune and I loved it! You can feel the electricity between Felix and Lucy. This book has it all. I laughed, I cried, and I enjoyed all the steamy scenes! This is a perfect summer read.

But if you don't have time or need a refresher, continue reading!

Quick & Dirty Summary:

*Contains Spoilers*

Bridget forces her best friend, Lucy, and brother, Wolf aka Felix, to have one last hurrah on PEI before her wedding. Bridget breaks the news to them that she is moving from Toronto to Australia. After years of secretly hooking-up, Lucy and Felix fall in love. They have some ups and downs but end up together.

---

Complete Summary:

FIVE YEARS AGO 

Bridget invites Lucy to her family home on Prince Edward Island. She gives Lucy 3 rules for the trip: 

1.     Eat your weight in oysters. 

2.     Leave the city behind. 

3.     Don’t fall in love with my brother. (Bridget’s childhood best friend fell in love with Wolf and broke his heart and Bridget lost her friend.) 

Lucy arrives a day early and is supposed to go to Bridget’s house but Bridget’s brother, Wolf, isn’t answering the phone. Lucy decides to get started with rule number 1. At the oyster bar, she meets the extremely attractive oyster shucker, Felix. Lucy goes home with Felix and has the best sex of her life. The only problem is, when she wakes up, she realizes Felix is Wolf, Bridget’s brother, and she has almost broken rule number 3. They agree that it won’t happen again, and they will never tell Bridget.  

NOW 

Lucy and Farah are busy at In Bloom preparing flowers for Bridget’s wedding in nine days, when Lucy gets a call. Bridget is on PEI and needs Lucy to come. Lucy can’t just leave her life. She needs to get the flower arrangements ready for the wedding and has a meeting with Cena, to get a contract for floral arrangements in their restaurants. Bridget explains that she needed to get away from the wedding planning and needs her best friend on PEI with her. Lucy entrusts Farah to get the wedding arrangements prepared and reschedules the meeting with Cena.  

Lucy flies to PEI because she is worried about Bridget and wonders if something happened with Miles, her fiancé. Felix and Bridget pick Lucy up from the airport. Lucy hasn’t seen Felix since last summer, when she ruined things between them. Bridget asks Felix to stay at their parents' house instead of returning to his. She claims that she needs her best friend and brother. Felix questions Bridget about Miles and whether things are good with them. Bridget shrugs him off and changes the subject.  

Felix heads to his properties to work and Lucy and Bridget start their PEI traditions. First, they go for a walk along the beach along Thunder Cove. On the walk Bridget starts crying. The teacup rock, that used to be there, is gone. The cow statue at the airport is gone too. Everything is changing and Bridget feels like things are slipping away. 

Felix returns to the house with groceries for them and decides to stay. Lucy knows that staying in the same house is going to be difficult. He still hasn’t forgiven her for last summer. They are drawn to each other, and she wants more of him but can’t do that to her best friend. Lucy needs to stay as far away from Felix and focus on supporting Bridget. 

FOUR YEARS AGO 

            Lucy is working for her Aunt Stacy at In Bloom and taking over bridal consultations. Stacy hires Farah to work alongside them in the shop. One evening, Stacy tells Lucy that she is closing the shop. She wants the freedom to enjoy her life. Lucy is devastated so Stacy buys her a ticket to PEI for a vacation with Bridget. 

            Lucy hadn’t seen Felix since the summer before and is nervous to see him again. She isn’t allowed to be with him but the connection between them is electric. On the final night of her stay, Lucy goes to shower but forgets her body wash. She retrieves it in only a towel and runs into Felix. She retreats to the bathroom, and he follows her. They agree to have sex one more time, just to get it out of their system, and it is incredible.

NOW

            Lucy and Felix are worried that something happened with Miles and maybe the wedding is called off. Every time they try to talk to Bridget about it, she changes the subject. Bridget, Lucy, Felix, and his best friend, Zach, hang out just like old times. Felix is preparing for an oyster shucking competition, so he practices while the rest of them help eat the oysters.  While they are hanging out, Bridget gets a text from Miles. Lucy questions her about it but she gets mad and puts her phone away. Zach asks Lucy why her and Felix aren’t together. She tells him that there is nothing between her and Felix, but they both know that she’s lying.

            Later that evening, the four of them play Trivial Pursuit. Zach is destroying the rest of them, as usual, when he asks Bridget if the wedding is really happening. Bridget gets upset but Lucy and Felix push for more information. Eventually, she tells them that she’s not ready to tell them what’s going on. Bridget runs upstairs and Felix follows her. They get into an argument. When Felix comes back downstairs, he grabs the bottle of rye and goes for a walk.

            After a while, Lucy goes to the beach to find him. Felix is drunk and doesn’t want to talk about his argument with Bridget. He asks Lucy about work, and she admits that she works too much. She doesn’t love it the same way that she used to. She hates the business side of In Bloom and misses just working with the flowers. Felix asks her if she still dreams of owning a flower farm. She admits that she hasn’t thought about it in a long time.

THREE YEARS AGO

            Lucy buys In Bloom from her Aunt Stacy and skips her annual summer trip to PEI to focus on the shop. She promises Bridget that she will visit the island over Thanksgiving, so that they can still have their trip. Felix’s flight is delayed, so there will be no chance of Lucy seeing him and them breaking their no more sex rule.

            Bridget and Lucy attend a party at Zach’s bungalow, and they run into Felix’s ex and Bridget’s ex-best friend, Joy. Zach introduces Lucy to Joy. Bridget finds out that Joy and Wolf are friends again and gets drunk. Lucy gets Bridget into the car and Joy follows them home, then helps get Bridget into the house.

            On Thanksgiving Day, Felix surprises them by arriving early. Everyone is excited, except for Lucy, who is nervous to see him again. That night Lucy can’t sleep and can’t stop thinking about him. She sneaks down to the TV room, where Felix is sleeping, and once again, they break their rule. Lucy falls asleep in Felix’s arms but wakes up in time to sneak back up to her room in the morning.

NOW

            Bridget bails on the visit to Green Gables Heritage Place, so Felix and Lucy are left on their own. Lucy complains about how sore her feet are from walking, so they take a break and Felix massages her feet. When they get back to the house, Lucy confronts Bridget about what’s going on. She asks her if she should order the flowers for the wedding and Bridget says yes.

TWO YEARS AGO

            Lucy starts dating a guy, Carter, shortly after Bridget moves in with Miles. He’s a nice guy, but he’s not Felix. A hurricane hits PEI. The rental cottages that Felix and Zach opened are fine, but the family home has some damage so no one can go there. Felix decides to fly to Toronto to visit Bridget. They all have dinner together and Lucy asks Felix to visit her at In Bloom the next day. He shows up at the shop after it closes. Aunt Stacy shows up to take Lucy to dinner, but after meeting Felix, she lets the two of them go to dinner instead.

            On the way to dinner, they stop at a book shop and Lucy tells Felix about her dream of owning a flower farm. They spend the evening talking about books and their lives. A week after Felix leaves, a packet of seeds and a book from Felix arrive for Lucy. She sends him a book in return.

NOW

            Lucy, Bridget, Felix and Zach arrive at the oyster shucking competition. They bump into Joy and Lucy is surprised when Bridget hugs her. Bridget tells Lucy that Joy reached out to her a while ago and they’ve been in touch. Felix doesn’t win the competition, but he gets 3rd place and they all celebrate. In the morning, Lucy decides that she can’t go back to Toronto until she finds out what is going on with Bridget and she tells Bridget the truth about her past with Felix.

ONE YEAR AGO

            Lucy’s life is falling apart. Someone shattered the front window of In Bloom and ransacked it, Carter broke up with her, and Aunt Stacy has cancer. Four weeks later, Aunt Stacy is dead. After the funeral, Bridget flies Lucy out to PEI to stay at one of Felix and Zach’s cottages. Lucy hasn’t seen Felix since his visit to Toronto, but the monthly deliveries continue. Every month, she receives a pack of seeds, and she sends him a book.

            On PEI, Felix gives Lucy a tour of the cottages and she’s amazed at everything Felix has done with them. Felix takes care of Lucy as she experiences grief. He gives her space to heal but is there when she needs him. After a couple days, they go to the beach, where they discuss life and past relationships. They finally admit that they want each other. In the morning, Lucy realizes that she could really love Felix, but she can’t do that to Bridget and her life is in Toronto. She freaks out and leaves his house.

NOW

            It’s storming on PEI and Lucy just wants to go back to Toronto. Bridget is upset because this trip is not going as she hoped, but she still won’t tell Lucy her reason for bringing her out to PEI. Lucy gets frustrated and walks out into the storm. Felix follows her. She yells at him for only wanting to hook-up with her and not wanting more. Felix tells her that he wants more and has always wanted more. There, the middle of a storm, they have sex in a cove.

            When they walk back to the house, Zach and Bridget are gone. Bridget left a note that she is picking up Miles from the airport and they will be back tomorrow. Felix and Lucy go on a proper date and get to know each other better. They both want more than sex, but Lucy needs to take things slow.

            Bridget returns to the beach house with Miles. She and Lucy go on a walk and Bridget finally explains what’s been going on. Miles was offered a job in Australia, and they are moving there after the wedding. Lucy tells Bridget that she has feelings for Felix and that they are going to try dating. Bridget admits that she knew the two of them hooked up a couple years ago and that her family has been trying to set them up for years.

            Everyone returns to Toronto for Bridget and Miles’ wedding. The wedding is perfect and makes Lucy realize that she wants more time with Felix. Her work schedule is overwhelming, and it will be impossible for her to go out to PEI. In fear of not seeing Felix for months, she blurts out that she should move to PEI. She wants to take time away from her job and find herself. This was the same thing that Joy said to Felix in the past and it causes him to shut down. He tells Lucy that they can’t be together until she knows what she really wants.

The ending

In October, a pregnant Bridget moves to Australia. In Bloom is doing well and Lucy hires a few more employees. Farah asks Lucy for more responsibility at the shop, so she slowly gives over tasks to Farah. Lucy reconnects with old friends and builds a deeper friendship with Farah. She keeps in contact with Bridget constantly though texts and calls.

One day she picks up a packet of flower seeds at a shop and mails them to Felix.  The next week The Secret Garden arrives in a package. She texts Felix to thank him. They continue sending seeds and books. Slowly they communicate through texts and then move to phone calls. Felix starts sending cookbooks and they prepare meals together over the phone.

Lucy tells Bridget about her dream to own a flower farm and Bridget has Zach scope out properties on PEI for Lucy. Without seeing the property, Lucy buys it. She returns to PEI in March. She takes Felix to the property and tells him that she bought it and wants to grow her flower farm on PEI. She tells him that she’s in love with him and wants to make their relationship work.

A YEAR LATER

Lucy lives on PEI full-time, and Farah is managing In Bloom. Lucy and Felix are hosting a housewarming party at their farmhouse on Lucy’s PEI property. Bridget surprises Lucy by coming with baby Rowan. The flower farm is not finished but it will be soon. Felix and Lucy are happy and building a life together on the island.