Cruel Summer by Maisey Yates: My Review

Check out my book review of Cruel Summer by Maisey Yates to see what I think of her latest romance book that opens with “I think we should see other people.”

*Disclosure: This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Cruel Summer Summary:

“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?

Cruel Summer: My Review

This book had me at the opening line: “I think we should see other people…” This was my first Maisey Yates book because there was no way that I could pass up a book where the husband tells his wife of 20+ years that he wants an open marriage.

As someone in her forties, it’s so refreshing to read a romance with heroines and heroes of the same age. Sam and Logan are characters who have weathered a lot of storms in their life, including abandonment, loss, grief, shame and the list goes on, which I think makes them relatable in some way to readers who have lived their fair share of life.

The beginning of this book was so strong because I could understand both Sam and Will’s point of view, especially given the way their relationship and marriage started. Will loves his wife but isn’t happy and is strong enough to actually share that with his wife (versus having an affair, etc). And then there is Sam who loves her husband and her life and is devastated by his ask but who then embarks on a summer of discovery and introspection.

I was pulled into Sam’s history of shame and guilt given her teenage pregnancy and the societal expectations of her town, church and even her own mother. I think a lot of women may relate to that in some way even if they didn’t have a teen pregnancy but in how society looks upon women who own their own sexuality.

I enjoyed her initial inner exploration because it gave me a better understanding of where she was and how she might change. I even enjoyed how her girlfriends showed their own biases and judgements because I think that was so realistic.

Using the weeks for cross-country road trips was also the perfect set up to get her out of her own house and into forced proximity with Logan, Will’s best friend with whom they had history.

But while the story started off strong and intriguing – having me asking myself, what would I do in her position, I found the second half of the book a bit lacking. Her inner monologues got repetitive to the point I would skim them and I honestly felt like Logan’s complete turnaround at the end was very off character given how much he pushed her at the beginning.

I think I would have liked their romance more if they came to find their attraction and connection on the road trips as opposed to awakening something that had shown itself three years ago or that was there even longer for Logan. That just made their story a bit more “icky” which I don’t think it had to be. That honestly took away from her journey and growth and made it skirt the lines of “cheating” though it wasn’t.

Overall, this story brought up some really interesting feelings about societal expectations, personal growth, sexual awakening, and relationship growth while giving an opposites attract love story. I’m really glad that I read it for this very reason, I just wish the last half was as strong as the first.

*I received an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

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