Carley Fortune has been quietly ruling the summer romance space for years now, and every single announcement she makes sends her readers into an immediate, joyful spiral.
This week she revealed the cover of her upcoming sixth novel, Only in Summer, in an Instagram reel—and the reaction has been exactly what you would expect from one of the most devoted fanbases in contemporary romance. We are already counting down to May 2027.
Fortune is a New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling author of Every Summer After, Meet Me at the Lake, This Summer Will Be Different, One Golden Summer, and Our Perfect Storm. Her books have sold more than three million copies and have been translated into thirty languages.
Every Summer After is currently airing as a television series on Amazon Prime Video under the title Every Year After, which was renewed for a second season in June 2026.
Bustle calls her “the reigning queen of sun-soaked romance novels.” And she is heading back to Barry’s Bay.
What Is Only in Summer About?
Only in Summer is the third installment in the Every Summer After series, returning once again to the beloved lakeside town of Barry’s Bay, Ontario—the setting of Every Summer After and One Golden Summer, and the town where Fortune herself grew up.
The novel follows Eleanor Florek, known as Ellie, the younger cousin of Sam and Charlie from Fortune’s previous Barry’s Bay novels. This marks the first time a female protagonist in a Barry’s Bay book has been a Florek, rather than someone caught up in the family’s orbit.
The personal connection Fortune has to this story runs deeper than the setting. She shared in her newsletter announcement:
“Just before I began writing, I bought my own cottage on a lake near Barry’s Bay. Ever since we sold our family home on the lake, it’s been my dream to have a cottage of my own.”
Ellie shares that same dream. Fortune has revealed very little else about the plot so far, but for anyone who has read the previous Barry’s Bay books, the ingredients are already irresistible: a lakeside setting, a Florek at the center of the story, and a romance that will almost certainly be everything.
When Is Only in Summer Releasing?
Only in Summer publishes on May 18, 2027, from Berkley, Penguin Random House.
It is already available for pre-order, and given how quickly Fortune’s books tend to climb the charts the moment they land, getting your order in early is very much recommended.
The cover is now officially out in the world. May 2027 feels both very far away and, somehow, not far enough.