The Summer We Fell

By: Elizabeth O'Roark

Narrated by: Samantha Brentmoor, Teddy Hamilton

An angsty second-chance forbidden romance.

He was my boyfriend’s best friend—and the bane of my existence. I wanted to hate Luke Taylor. I did hate him. I just never hated him enough.

Now, a decade later, tragedy has brought us back to the place where it all happened—my best times and my worst.

Our lives have changed, but that pull between us is just as strong as ever.

Only this time, it’s more dangerous too.

©2023 Elizabeth O'Roark (P)2023 Elizabeth O'Roark

Is “angst” really the word?

I like a bit of angst, but this was hard to listen to at times. The self-loathing and non stop hopeless, negative assumptions about how people may react drove me crazy. And I think the female narrator added to the effect - or did she just do a great job acting out a 9 hour pity party? I could have used a few uppers in this story to balance all of the “everyone is sexist”, “poor people need to kiss ass to get by”, and “Christians really aren’t great people” internal themes. I understand people do exist that are this jaded and traumatized by people’s past reactions, but it’s not enjoyable entertainment, unfortunately. However, this story was captivating and I liked Luke a lot. The forbidden love kept me trudging through the “woe is me” crap. Worth a credit? Probably, if you don’t mind a bit of victim mentality.

“Choose me, Juliet,”

I would recommend this book to romance readers who enjoy pain and suffering. KIDDING. If you loved all the angst that came with shows like Dawson’s Creek, then you will love The Summer We Fell. This story was honestly not fully what I was expecting. I knew there would be a bit of a triangle, but I did not expect so much to go on in Juliet, Luke, and Danny’s lives outside of just the romantic aspect. There are some heavy themes weaved into this story, and many of them had me emotional.

I read this one by following the e-book and the audiobook at the same time. Why you may wonder? Because I was highlighting so much of this book that taking notes in audible became impossible, but the audio narration was so engaging that I couldn’t step away from that either. I loved how the book is told in the heroine’s POV, past and present, but the dialogue was done by a different voice actor for the hero/heroine and side character parts. It just added another layer to the story and helped me really feel the story more because it didn’t sound like someone talking to themselves the entire book.

This is a story about surviving your circumstances, forbidden longing, feeling a sense of obligation and duty because of gratitude, and just a romantic angst fest. Adored and recommend the audio, but also just the story in general. Such a good angsty read.

Not Sure

I'm not quite sure how to feel about this.
The narrators were good. Not a lot of emotion but that seemed to go along with the writing.
As for the story, I'm waffle-y. I liked it but I didn't. She definitely n÷eeded a TON of therapy. Her self esteem was in the negatives.
All the he's in the story needed their rumps kicked for being jerks. masoginists, and manipulators. Even Luke was this way a lot of the time.
But overall, not a bad read and a HEA...finally!!

Young love

I enjoyed the recording of this story. I alternated between reading and and listening.
The story was angsty with a lot of twists and turns and something’s you didn’t see coming. I would definitely recommend

The tragedy IS the story embrace it.

What happened to Luke and Juliet back then? Why are they like this now?
Were the two questions that really hooked my attention at the beginning of this story. The suspense and mystery had me in a choke hold until the last few chapters. Danny’s mom is really the star of this story the woman has a gripping passion for her son and his friends. Even under harsh living conditions she really outshone them all in my eyes. That raw motherly love was heartbreaking in the end.
This audio is done in duet narration; Teddy Hamilton switched between male voices flawlessly. I was able to tell which character he was speaking for before they were mentioned in the scene. Samantha did a fabulous job as well with the fluidity in which she switched from characters. She brought the pain and heart ache along with the stoic persona of the woman keeping the demons at bay. I hope to hear both together again in a duet, it was wonderful.
If you enjoy love triangles, tragedy, and raw emotions I would recommend The Summer We Fell to you. I got swept away in this story and finished it within 2 days. I plan to look at more of Elizabeth’s books and add them to either my audios or physical copies!

A wonderful duet narration!

I listened to the audio version of this book with the duet narration by Samantha Brentmoor and Teddy Hamilton. I love duet style and of course the jobs done by those two narrators couldn't have been any better.

This book is so complicated as far as the relationship of the characters goes. Juliet has been taken in by Danny's family because she has nowhere else to go. She feels indebted and they take advantage of it. She and Danny are boyfriend and girlfriend, but even that gets complicated when Danny brings home his best friend, Luke, for the summer. The instant attraction between Juliet and Luke really makes things almost impossible, but puts them all in a state of a constantly lying to themselves and those around them.

The story is told in a dual timeline. The first timeline is when they are all growing up, from high school on. The other timeline is after Danny's father and Danny are both dead. It was a great, highly emotional story that I won't soon forget.

Thanks to Valentine PR for the gifted copy. All thoughts are my own.

Heartbreaking, wonderful!

This was a beautifully written, heart-wrenching story about love, loss, self denial, and learning difficult lessons in the hardest way possible. I struggled a bit with the angst, but that is more about me than anything to do with the story itself. The characters are multidimensional and you can feel the struggle of growing up under each of their very different complicated circumstances.

Narration by Samantha Brentmoor and Teddy Hamilton in duet was everything I knew it would be from these wonderful performers! The story is from her POV, but all male voices are performed by Teddy. Excellent performances, editing, prep work, and production!

Really good

I really enjoyed it. Great story and the narration awesome. I’m looking forward to more

EMOTIONAL

AT FIRST I HAD TO START OVER BECAUSE IT WAS A BIT CONFUSING UNTIL I UNDERSTOOD THAT IT WAS GOING FROM "NOW" TO THE PAST WHERE IT ALL STARTED - I LOVED THE DUO NARRATION. I WISH ALL READS WERE LIKE THIS. I FOUND MYSELF REALLY FEELING THE EMOTIONS OF THE CHARACTERS - I EVEN CRIED AT SOME POINTS. THE STORY WAS PERFECT AND SUSPENSFUL ... I REALLY LOVED THIS READ ..

Perfect Performance for a Beautiful Raw Romance

My god Samantha and Teddy are the absolute perfect narrators for this. Revisiting this story as an audiobook was the best decision. They deliver all the rawness and angst that I loved from Juliet and Luke.

——————-
"People talk about love like it's peaceful, but it isn't, at all. It's turbulent and anxious. It's euphoria and despair. It's the willingness to brave cold water and humiliation and stab the people who love you in the back. I'll do all those things for Luke."

Juliet Cantrell and Luke Taylor have spent the last decade apart, but now they're both back in Rhodes, in the same house, and forced to confront everything they left behind all those years ago.

When the Allens took Juliet in all those years ago she was just trying to get by, to fit in, and pretend like her boyfriend's best friend, Luke, didn't consume her. Then and now, lives were at stake, and giving into their feelings is dangerous for so many reasons.

___________________

This book stole my heart in a way I really wasn't expecting. This isn't a fun flirty romcom in the way other O'Roark books I've read are. This book takes some fan favorite tropes like second chance romance, and enemies to lovers, but adds so much heart and depth.

Getting the past/present chapters and dual pov allows for these characters and their storylines to have so many layers. There are so many great twists and turns in this book, which I loved having. There's also a decent amount of side characters. I *with every bone in my body* despise the Allens. Right from the start, we can see the way Juliet processes her feelings and the way their behaviors influence her self worth.

There's something beautiful about the way these characters are written. Juliet and Luke aren't written to be likable, or this cute romantic couple. They are very human in the way they behave. We get to see young versions of them, and see why they're making all these dumb, or even just frustrating decisions. The writing doesn't excuse their behavior, rather explains how they got there. We get to see how all their traumas shape them through different phases of their lives, and what that means for their relationships.

One of the beautiful parts of this book is the way the characters not only grow on their own, but with each other. Luke is constantly there to protect Juliet, and to support her. The fact that this all comes at a time when they are at odds is my favorite, because Luke really sees her. He pushes her to stand up for herself as well, and to let herself be happy. These two are truly soulmates.

This is such a fantastic read, definitely into my all time favorites. I can't recommend this enough if you want a book with real, raw emotions and characters. Plus, you will get some of the best tropes like second chance romance, forbidden love, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, "it's always been you", "who did this to you" and literally so many more. O'Roark knows how to keep readers hooked, and I already can't wait to go back and reread this.