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Book Review: Seven Summers by Paige Toon
- Taylor
- Aug 5
- 3 min read
I am now Paige Toon's biggest fan! Will be adding all of her books to my TBR after this read.
Overview:
4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3/5 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Dual timeline, second chances, and love triangle.
Summary:
Liv comes home to Cornwall from her year abroad in Italy with dreams of moving to London to sculpt. With her dreams finally becoming reality, she runs into Finn, an old classmate who moved to America after school. Their relationship quickly becomes more than a summer fling as they share their hopes and fears with each other. When tragedy strikes, Liv finds herself needing to make some sacrifices that derail her plans. Over the next few years Finn returns to Cornwall and they fall back into their whirlwind summer only romance. That is until Tom enters the picture.
Spoiler-free Review:
This book got me! I have no clue how I let this one sit on my shelf for as long as I did. I don’t typically enjoy love triangles because there is always one obvious answer, but I felt myself flipping back and forth between who I thought Liv should be with. There are a lot of heavy discussions of grief and loss that had this book taking on a more serious tone at points, but it only added to the story. It was the perfect way to wrap up the summer.
*** Spoilers ahead! Read at your own risk :)***
Love Triangle:
Love triangles are one of my least favorite tropes and this might be one of the few exceptions. It was so well written. At no point did I feel like Finn or Tom had an upper hand on the other. I thought that Liv truly loved both of them which made this book feel more realistic. She had to make a choice. I was beyond happy that she chose Tom in the end, as much as I liked Finn, I felt like her and Tom made more sense.
When Tom died I was shook. Completely caught off guard. I had to reread the page a few times to process what had happened. I mean what?!?! They had finally gotten their happy ending and then it was ripped away. In the end, her getting to grow old with Finn worked really well and rounded out the story which was a satisfying ending. It didn’t make Tom’s death any easier though.
Themes:
Another plot twist that got to me was the death of her parents. Having the police show up at her door while Finn was there, right when everything was starting to line up for her was painfully perfect timing on the author's part. Everything was too good to be true. It was dramatic and soul crushing. The grief bringing Finn and Liv closer and creating that connection between them gave their relationship more depth which made Finn coming back every summer believable.
When I found out about Tom’s heart condition, it was yet another devastating blow. Can Liv not catch a break? She experiences even more loss with this news and inevitably through his death later on.
Dual Timeline:
I love a good flashback and the chapters were well spaced out from what was happening in the present and what was happening in the past. The bouncing back and forth was paced well and flowed seamlessly. I felt like I got to learn more about Liv’s reasoning for staying home instead of leaving in real time.
I also think this is what made the love triangle work so well. The book was not split into Finn and Tom, they were woven together. It centered more on what Liv was feeling and how those feelings evolved over the years.
Disability Rep:
I loved Liv’s brother Michael. He was genuinely one of my favorite characters in this book. He was lively, fun, and the perfect edition to this book. I loved how he was portrayed as independent and capable. One of Liv’s driving motivations to stay home in Cornwall was to take care of her brother. She was afraid that with his down syndrome he would need her home, but that wasn’t the case. Michael had a community of friends and people caring for him that he had built himself.
Overall:
Once again, Paige Toon does not disappoint. I loved this book, it was different and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The plot twists were intense and added the right amount of drama and intrigue. If you liked books like One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid or Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez then this book is for you!
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