Review - - Cruel Summer

Cruel Summer

by Maisey Yates

Publisher: Canary Street Press

Release Date: June 24, 2025

Reviewed by PJ

There are no rules this cruel summer…

“I think we should see other people…” That one sentence unravels Samantha Parker’s perfect life. She has a loving husband, three wonderful kids and a comfortable suburban lifestyle. But on the brink of their long-awaited empty-nest chapter, Will asks Samantha for something she never dreamed of: an open marriage.

Desperate to keep her husband happy, Samantha proposes a summerlong separation with no contact. She knows she has to use the opportunity to find herself, but she also has no interest in being with anyone but Will. She’s confident when the season is over, they’ll get back together like this time never happened. 

Then Sam gets an offer of adventure from an unlikely source: Logan Martin, a classic-car restorer who happens to be Will’s best friend, asks Sam to help him drive across the country to make deliveries. Logan and Sam have never had an easy relationship. He’s prickly, aloof and a little too handsome. And as they traverse the winding roads and breathtaking backdrops of North America, her changing connection with Logan challenges everything she believed she wanted in life, love and passion. When her summer with Logan is up, will she go home to the familiar stability of her past…or choose the thrilling uncertainty of her future?

PJ's Thoughts:

Raw. Real. Heartbreaking. Healing. Empowering. Romantic. Unforgettable. Those are but a few of the many words that flowed through my mind while on the emotional journey that is Maisey Yates' Cruel Summer. 

Rarely do coming-of-age stories feature 40-year-old protagonists but that's exactly what happens to Sam in this book. She's settled in a comfortable, predictable marriage. She's happy - or thinks she is - but to be honest, she's never known anything else...until her husband blows it all to bits. Thus begins a summer unlike any she's previously lived. Crisscrossing the U.S. and Canada with Logan opens her eyes to places she's never seen and her heart to feelings and realizations she never considered. Realizations such as maybe her marriage was never perfect and maybe she's spent the past twenty-two years molding herself into what others expected her to be rather than fulfilling her own wants and needs. Realizations such as maybe what she wants for her future is something completely different.

I've been reading Maisey Yates for a long time. Cruel Summer, in my opinion, is one of the best books she's written. The lead characters are so vividly depicted, I forgot they were fictional and became wholly invested in them, their journeys, and their happiness. I appreciated their complexities, their emotional layers that were gradually revealed, and shared past experiences that took on new meaning as perspectives changed. And I cheered enthusiastically for the ending my heart was begging to see.

This is an immersive story of heartbreak, growth, healing, and forgiveness. It's also a heart-tugging journey of learning to value your needs, your worth, and your right to love and be loved for your complete, authentic self. I couldn't put it down.