Why we’re excited
Eleanor Florek reports for the local paper in Barry's Bay, where everyone knows her, including the six aunts. She finally buys a small lakeside A-frame, only for the cottage next door to be torn down for a huge house. Its owner disappears for years, then comes back, and Owen Kolstad is not the neighbour she wanted.
Carley Fortune's Every Summer After introduced Barry's Bay, and Meet Me at the Lake kept her on the lake theme. This is the third Barry's Bay book with a new couple, so it can be read alone. Readers who like a slow, small-town summer romance should wait for May.
On our most-anticipated list since 21 October 2026. See all the most anticipated books →
What to know about Only in Summer
Only in Summer is Book 3 in the Barry's Bay series. New readers should begin with Book 1, Every Summer After. The book just before this one is One Golden Summer, also reviewed on The Bookish Elf. We have reviewed 1 of the series so far.
Carley Fortune is a familiar name here: 3 of Carley Fortune’s books have full reviews, averaging 4.2 out of 5. Our highest-rated so far is One Golden Summer (4.5★); the most recent is Our Perfect Storm.
It sits at No. 4 on our May 2027 most-anticipated list, which ranks the month's books by how many readers have saved them.
From the publisher
Return to Barry’s Bay in the next sparkling romance from #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune.
Only on the lake. Only right now. Only in summer.
Everyone knows Eleanor Florek. Born and raised in Barry’s Bay and now a reporter at the local paper, she’s the town’s golden girl. Yet Eleanor dreams of owning her own cottage on the lake—a place far from prying eyes to let loose without judgment. (You try having a fling when the most gossipy of your six aunts lives one floor below you.)
When Eleanor finally saves enough to buy a small A-frame, she doesn’t anticipate the place next door will be knocked down to make way for a monstrous lake house and its handsome new owner.
Eleanor intends to give him a piece of her mind—tearing down a charming original cottage, what gall—but before she gets the chance, he vanishes, leaving the house next door empty for years. It suits Eleanor perfectly.
When Owen Kolstad suddenly returns, Eleanor is loath to share her secluded bay with this much too serious Viking in chinos. All she wants is solitude, but something about Owen keeps drawing her in.
Owen has his own reasons for escaping to the lake, and becoming friends with Eleanor is the absolute last thing he anticipated. A connection like theirs is impossible to ignore, but neither is ready to fall in love—not now, maybe not ever, and definitely not this summer.
Description supplied by the publisher.
We haven’t read Only in Summer yet. When our review goes up, it will replace this page.
