paige toon – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Paige Toon
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s
Release Date: April 15th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

One Day meets a contemporary Bridgerton in this high-drama, escapist wonder of a love story, Paige Toon’s best yet.

Three days to fall in love. Six years to try to forget.

Ellie didn’t expect to fall in love while interrailing through Europe. But she also didn’t expect to meet a man like Ash. Three blistering days in Lisbon is all it takes to form an unforgettable connection—a bond deep enough for them to scrap their itineraries and plan to meet again in Spain. But Ellie arrives late, and Ash is nowhere to be found.

Six years later, Ellie has landed her dream job working as a gardener for a viscount and viscountess on their sprawling five-hundred-year-old estate in Wales. She finds peace amongst the towering topiary hedges and colorful gardens, but her idyll is shattered when Ash crashes back into her life. And when it becomes clear why he didn’t show in Madrid, her heart breaks anew—for what the truth means for her, and for his fate.

But they have never been able to resist each another, and when the sparks of their attraction fly, Ellie’s life will catch flame. She will have to make a choice.

OH I’M ANGRY.

The more I think about this book the angrier I become (and I loved Paige Toon’s previous book…go read that one instead).

UGHHHHHH.

I got very sick and tired of the FMC, Ellie, CoNsTaNtLy telling Ash that they couldn’t be together, go be with that other woman, I don’t want my life to look like this, etc. ad nauseum. AND when she ran away (if I read another book with a woman who runs) FOR YEARS?????? OF COURSE HE’S GOING TO BE MAD AT YOU????? And with another plot point unthoughtfully tossed into the story to try to satisfy the reasoning just sent me over the edge.

He gave up way too much. Ellie is the red flag.

AND SURPISINGLY I loved the beginning??! I was totally behind the whirlwind travel romance.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: moderate
Romance: brief open door
Violence: mild
Content warnings: death of a sibling, sexual abuse

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 441 pages
Author: Seven Summers
Publisher: Random House UK
Release Date: December 2nd, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Six summers to fall in love. One summer to change everything.

Liv and Finn meet six summers ago 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 autumn. 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.

GOOD HEAVENS.

Alright, I’m going to be honest. I usually HATE these kind of books. And I think this will be a polarizing kind of read. Luckily this hit me at a good time because I was obsessed with listening to it and threw five stars at it because I was IN MY FEELS.

I’m going to try to stay vague because I think this book will be better enjoyed going in as blind as you can (I hadn’t even read the synopsis, I just saw one friend’s five star review). I loved the high levels of angst and tension. The dual timeline really worked here and I was smitten with the romance. And even when frustrated, I was INVOLVED. I love when a book has me in a chokehold. It took turns I wasn’t expecting, but that I feel worked how for how life truly works out sometimes. There’s good discussion points and the love story has a forever quality to it.

This had great summer vibes too if you’re needing a summer romance to read. I flew through it and definitely plan to read future Paige Toon books.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: low-moderate
Romance: 4+ fade to black
Violence: low
Content Warnings: loss of parents (car accident), loss of a spouse, depictions of grief