One Golden Summer Review and Recap

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What happens to Charlie Florek after Every Summer After? After releasing her debut novel, Every Summer After, back in 2022 (click here to find the full review and recap), Carley Fortune wrote and released One Golden Summer in 2025. Aka another novel set in the world of Barry’s Bay, except following Sam Florek’s carefree older brother, Charlie. One Golden Summer is peak beach read material. While I would recommend reading Every Summer After before One Golden Summer (in order to have the best experience with the characters), you technically don’t have to read one to understand the other (yay for interconnected standalones!). However, if you are going to read one book by Carley Fortune, MAKE IT THIS ONE I BEG OF YOU. So without further ado, let’s dive into the R&R post, aka my personal love letter to Charlie Florek.

Non-SPoiler REview

One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One Golden Summer is a peak summer romance. It’s got everything I love in a book: a strong, captivating FMC, a handsome smartass MMC, and a vivid lake town setting. One Golden Summer is an adult romance between Charlie Florek and Alice Everly when she comes to Barry’s Bay with her grandmother after a hip injury. The character development, side plots, and emotional side points made me want to skip with pure giddiness. I don’t think I have ever related so hard to an FMC. And may I just say… Emotionally intelligent MMC >>>> Even if Every Summer After wasn’t your favorite, this book is well worth it. My favorite summer read yet.

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SPoiler ZOne

Fair warning, you are now entering the SPOILER ZONE. As this is a complete summary of One Golden Summer, there will be spoilers for the entire book and plot ahead. It will also include spoilers for the ending of Every Summer After. Feel free to refer to my Every Summer After Review and Recap if you need a refresher. Spoilers incoming! You have been warned.

Alice Everly visited Barry’s Bay the summer she turned 17. Her grandmother, Nan, gave her a camera, and Alice managed to photograph three kids on a yellow speedboat zipping by. She titled the photo “One Golden Summer,” and it changed her life and kick-started her career in photography.

Some 16 years later, Alice is doing a swimwear photoshoot for a new magazine. She is getting ready to head home and hang out with her older sister, Heather, when she learns Nan is in the hospital. Nan shattered her hip during dance class (during Dancing Queen, to be specific), and Alice decides to take time off work to help her recover. 

Alice has been in a rut herself since her boyfriend Trevor dumped her. After pouring her time and energy into Trevor and their relationship, he broke things off, saying, “I don’t know how to make you happy, do you?” Naturally, this was a gut punch. So, with her newfound time off to take care of Nan, Alice plans a return to Barry’s Bay.

Alice is glad to be back at the place that ignited her inspiration for photography. She just got accepted into an art show that could do wonders for her career. However, she doesn’t like the photo they chose and doesn’t want it seen as a representation of her work. She wants to reconnect with her creativity. Sitting out by the lake, feeling the summer thrill, Alice responds to Charlie’s presumptuous note and texts him a selfie, letting him know she and Nan arrived. 

While making a run to the grocery store, Alice bumps into an extremely attractive man. Her jaw literally drops, and she stares at him for a moment too long. The next day, she decides to take the boat out and ends up on the water next to the old jumping rock. She decides she wants to have a 17-year-old summer, so Alice makes herself a list. While on her adventure, Alice’s boat gets stuck. She is left stranded until a familiar yellow speedboat comes swishing into view. And lo and behold, the driver of the boat is the same man from the grocery store and is non other than the infamous Charlie Florek.

Charlie graciously gives her a tow back to the cottage and hits her with the natural Charlie Florek Charm™. Alice doesn’t know what to make of him. One moment, he’s flirty, the next, he’s serious and asking what he can do to help. But just as they arrive and Alice is about to walk away, she drops her bucket list, and Charlie manages to catch a glance. Nan spots them on the dock and insists Charlie come up for tea. 

Nan lights up around Charlie, and it is the most Alice has seen her act like herself since her fall. In true grandmotherly fashion, Nan embarrasses Alice in the name of trying to hype her up. Alice continues to blush as Nan rambles on about her past relationship with Trevor, her photography career, and even invites Charlie to Alice’s birthday dinner.

Alice says it’s all right if he wants to join them for her birthday party. He says she can consider #3 her birthday present. Her siblings, the younger twins, Luca and Lavinia, and her older sister Heather, are all super intrigued by Charlie. Like true siblings, they want Alice to go after him, but she insists that Charlie is not her type. Besides, she’s not looking to get hurt by another relationship anytime soon.

Alice’s birthday rolls around, and she is sad to find that Luca and Lavinia cancelled last minute. They won’t be able to make it. Although, Charlie did text her happy birthday right at midnight. Determined not to let a setback ruin the day, Alice goes to the store to get ingredients to bake her own cake when she bumps into Charlie. When Alice tries to uninvite him, Charlie insists that they will still have a party. Even if it is just him, Alice, and Nan. He also declares that he will bake the cake. 

Alice makes lasagna and hands out tiaras and sparkles to Charlie and Nan for the festivities. True to his word, Charlie gave Alice a romance book/gag gift (to help her with the bucket list, of course). During their conversation, Alice learns that Charlie’s parents are both gone. He says that John and his now deceased wife Joyce were good to him and his younger brother Sam. Nan is prickled at the mention of John’s name. Charlie gently comments that John asked Nan to give him a call because he misses her.

While they are enjoying the fabulous chocolate cake Charlie baked with his mom’s recipe, a loud boat horn sounds outside. Turns out, Sam and his wife, Percy, have come to crash. Percy insisted on meeting the mystery girl across the bay that Charlie baked a cake for, since he wouldn’t even let his pregnant sister-in-law have a taste. Sam and Percy invite Alice and Charlie to watch the Canada Day fireworks with them from the boat, so they all head out to the middle of the lake.

Alice immediately clocked Sam and Percy as the other two kids from her photo, One Golden Summer. Nan mentioned that Alice spent a summer in Barry’s Bay as a teen, and Charlie says he’s surprised and would’ve definitely remembered her. Alice just laughs and says she is the turtle of her family: the shy one, when everyone has very big and bold personalities. 

The following day, Alice trudges over to the Florek house to give Percy a slice of cake and finds Sam and Charlie out in the yard building a treehouse. She overhears Sam saying that he doesn’t buy the whole ‘just friends thing.’ Alice has to remind herself that Charlie’s flirting doesn’t mean anything.

Eventually, Charlie asks Alice once more about her summer bucket list. She declares that she wants to have a 17-year-old summer. So, while out chilling on their floaties on the lake, Charlie opens up about when his dad died at age 35. Charlie admits that he felt a lot of pressure to fix things and tried to fill the void for his mother and brother in the aftermath. He says they should do the summer bucket list together. That he also wants another shot at a 17-year-old summer.

Alice is slowly realizing that she is feeling feelings for Charlie. But, she is doing her best to fight them, so she agrees to go out with Harrison. However, when Alice and Harrison are on their date, she can’t help but think about Charlie the whole time. At the end of the night, Harrison admits that he’s still not over his ex. So thankfully, there’s no hard feelings. That same night, when she gets home, Alice finds Nan high, courtesy of Charlie.

Nan asked Charlie to grab her something to see if it would help improve her sleep. Nan is upset that Alice is mad and doesn’t trust her and storms off to bed. On the other hand, Alice just feels like a jerk because all she’s trying to do is help, and apparently, that just upsets Nan. Charlie is in the midst of making his case, trying to defend himself, when he notices that Alice is wearing Harrison’s sweatshirt. He asks how the date went, and Alice is veryyyy smooth. She shrugs off the sweatshirt and casually mentions that she didn’t cross off #5.

They stare at each other for a heated moment, and Alice moves in. But right when it seems like they are about to kiss, Charlie shuts it down before anything can really happen. He says it’s better they stay friends, but they both just admitted that they like each other… Alice keeps thinking it over, feeling embarrassed that she practically threw herself at him. But at the same time, she can’t deny how much she liked it. And how much she wanted more.

When Charlie is out fixing the dock at the cottage, he spots Alice, who tries to make a run for it. However, he catches her in the boathouse, where she has set up her makeshift art studio. Charlie asks if she’ll sit down and talk. Instead of hitting her with the ‘just friends’ speech she was anticipating, Charlie confesses the story of his mom’s cancer. How Sam was here in Barry’s Bay and how much he regrets that he wasn’t. He says that he just wanted to help Nan since he couldn’t help his mom. Dude is caught in his feels and begins to cry, but Alice is there for him, and they walk out hand in hand to go for a swim.

One night, soon after Nan goes to bed, Charlie and Alice are hanging out, and he offers her some ‘low-key drugs,’ and she gets a little high. It’s in this state she shows Charlie the picture she took of him, Percy, and Sam, One Golden Summer. And Charlie is just like OF COURSE. He had seen the photo before in an office and had tried to find who took it, but he never could. 

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At the grocery store, Charlie is mulling over some cucumbers, and Alice offers to help him make his mom’s dill pickle recipe. He’s been spending his free time going through all his mom’s old recipes. So Nan and Alice come over to help Charlie. Alice is in her element with her camera: capturing the raw human moments and basking in how happy Nan is, how happy Charlie is, and how surprisingly happy she is. And when they finish, Alice says that she and Nan don’t even like pickles, BUT THEY HELPED ANYWAY AWWWWWWWWW.

Alice gets a text that Heather and her 13-year-old daughter, Bennett, can’t come up to the lake that weekend, as they had thought. Charlie is also disappointed because he finished building the treehouse early and was prepping it for Alice and Bennett to have a sleepover under the stars (#17). Alice is touched by how much effort Charlie put in and shows up at his house later, asking to see the treehouse, catches Charlie with a cuff on his arm, monitoring his blood pressure.

Alice points out that Charlie is a great brother and will be a great uncle. Charlie just fumbles, saying he doesn’t know if he’s done anything good in his life. So, she grabs his hand and heads to the treehouse, hoping to bring him back out of his shell. Alone in a mildly romantic setting, Charlie confronts their attraction again, checking that she’s sure.

Alice asks why he’s been holding back. But Charlie boy is nervyyyyyy. She sees that he has set up the treehouse beautifully for her and Bennett to have a sleepover, and Alice is continually amazed by his thoughtfulness. He confesses how much he thinks about her and how much he likes her, but says that she deserves someone better and that he’s not built for a long-term relationship. Alice reaffirms that she’s not looking for any form of commitment. She likes him, she trusts him, and she knows she won’t regret him. 

The tension finally SNAPSSSS and they kiss. And Charlie breaks apart, saying he wants to take things slow. They agree to just mess around like teenagers and end up making out and ending in a tickle fight.

In the aftermath, Alice vents that Nan wants to make her own decisions and that she needs to let Alice do it too. Alice fumes that all she wants is their support, and then she storms off. Charlie waits a few minutes, then follows her. He wraps her in a hug, saying that he’s there, and then offers to make some bad art with her (#7). So, they go out to the boathouse and do the silly challenge where they have to try and draw each other with one continuous line, and they can’t look at what they’re doing. It naturally ends in fits of laughter.

Charlie asks if she wants to talk about what happened. Alice confesses that she doesn’t like the photo but doesn’t want to let her mentor down by dropping out of the show, and Heather thinks she’s just being fussy. She continues that her job balance is out of whack. Even though she’s been working, working, working, Alice hasn’t been connecting with her work the same way, and feels like she’s just doing it for the paycheck.

Charlie relates that he likes being good at his job and having the money and stability it brings him, which he didn’t have growing up, but that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily proud of what he does. He says that the summer with her and Nan is like the summers he always wanted. As a teen, Charlie was always working to help his mom. He didn’t have that same chance for connection. He says that he’s only good for a good time, for fun. Alice struts right up to him and lets him know that he’s so much more than that.

When Alice returns to the house, she apologizes to Nan for raising her voice, and Nan apologizes for ambushing her. Before he went to find Alice, Charlie told Nan she was old enough to know better, and Nan was thoroughly impressed by how Charlie stood up for her. Nan finally confesses that she hasn’t talked to John in a decade. Several years after Joyce died, Nan and John went up to the cottage and kissed once, and Nan felt so incredibly guilty for kissing Joyce’s husband under her own roof. Since then, Nan hasn’t spoken a word to John, but Alice and Charlie encourage her to reach back out. 

Alice finally decides to drop out of the photography show and is surprised to find that her mentor is thrilled, glad that Alice is standing up for her work, and disagrees with her. After meeting Sam and Percy, Alice offered to take some pictures for them before the baby arrives, and so Alice attends the party at the Floreks, where Charlie will be unveiling the treehouse. She gears up in her full photography armor, tied back straight hair, glasses, and a snazzy business outfit.

Percy greets Alice happily, and they go out to find the boys. When Charlie catches sight of Alice, he breaks out into a big, fat smile. Alice is having the time of her life because, for once, she’s IN the picture. She’s exactly where she wanted to be when she was 17.

Charlie has to go to the city for a few days for an appointment, and Alice is sad that he’ll be gone, surprised by how much she’ll miss him. He wants to spend time with her before he leaves, so after he takes Nan to her card-playing night, he swings back around to the cottage, and they cross off #10. Charlie scrolls back through her Instagram account and comments on how good she is with photos. Alice follows him back, and before she goes to bed, she sees he posted a picture of her with no caption other than her name. 

The day Charlie comes back is also the day that Heather and Bennett arrive in town. Heather can’t stay the whole week, but Alice still manages to drag her out to the lake for a floatie session, where they are catching up. And then Charlie waves from across the bay…

Heather and Bennett are making Alice blush, and she insists that they don’t embarrass her. Charlie comes over, and they all go out on the boat with him, Nan included (because he carried her down the stairs and the dock to the boat). He takes the three generations of Everly women out for dinner, and OMG, HE’S JUST SO NICE AND CUTE AND CHARMING.

Nan finally did the scary thing and has been talking with John on the phone. John invited them all up for lunch one day, and Alice asked Charlie to go with them, and they’ll hang out with Bennett while Nan and John have their adult yap session. So they venture out, drop Nan off, and then go be little tourists, and when they come back, Nan and John are laughing like the good friends they are.

On the drive back to Barry’s Bay, Nan and Bennett overhear part of the front seat conversation between Charlie and Alice and start egging them to be a couple. Charlie instantly tries to backtrack, saying they wouldn’t be good as a couple, but before Alice can truly process how she feels about it all, the car crashes. Charlie swerved to avoid hitting a fox and then again to avoid an oncoming car. In the midst, Alice hit her head on the doorframe and momentarily blacked out to wake up in Charlie’s worried arms.

Thankfully, Nan, Bennett, and Charlie are all fine, and Alice insisted that Nan and Bennett go home. So Charlie takes them, sets them up with a frozen pizza, and then comes back for Alice at the Barry’s Bay hospital. She gets cleared to go home, and Charlie is taking her, but he feels so so guilty, thinking he could have lost her. But Alice can’t get past the fact that he said they wouldn’t be good together.

Charlie says he’s staying the night to keep an eye on her, but Alice doesn’t want him to. But Charlie insists and ends up lying beside her in bed, watching over her, and she falls asleep to the sound of his heartbeat. When Alice wakes up, she wants to relish the feeling of being there with him, but she still can’t get his comment out of her head. Because as much as she wants to deny it, Alice wants to be with Charlie, but now she thinks he doesn’t want to.

Meanwhile, Charlie just thinks she’s upset about the accident. So when Alice asks for some space, hoping to try and figure her head out, Charlie is doing everything he can to get back in her good graces. Having a heart-to-heart with Nan, Alice confesses that she’s falling for him. But she doesn’t want to mess it up because, more than anything, she just wants Charlie to stay in her life. With this revelation, Alice avoids Charlie for the next few days, giving him vague answers as to why she can’t hang out, until he busts in after conspiring with Nan and sweeps her away.

Charlie says he can’t commit, but Alice doesn’t buy it for a second. She knows he cares; She’s seen it. She knows him. Alice calls him a coward and runs out the door before she lets herself truly break down. And when she leaves the lake and Barry’s Bay, she doesn’t even say goodbye.

Back in the city, Alice works to find her new routine. She is inspired and taking action in her art again, but also heartbroken, missing Charlie, the connection, and the genuine friendship she had. Alice has been going to a local pool to keep up her swimming prowess and runs into Percy. Percy apologizes for what happened with Charlie and says she’ll keep working on him, and insists that they stay in touch because, with or without Charlie, Percy likes hanging out with Alice.

At home, Alice is sulking and sad, trying to convince herself she is okay. But she keeps tripping, falling down the rabbit hole, wanting to drown in her own misery. So she reaches out to her family before falling asleep on the couch. She wakes up to a squad of Everlys rolling up in support. All her siblings come bearing food, hugs, and laughs. Her dad gives her thoughtful reassurance, and when Alice sees her mom in the doorway, she dang near collapses.

After that night with her family, Alice feels more grounded. She begins putting together her own solo show featuring all the work she’s captured over the summer, excited for a new project. That is, until she get’s a call from Percy out of the blue and learns that something happened to Charlie. He is in the hospital under intensive care after having open-heart surgery.

Charlie had a genetic heart condition he inherited from his dad that flared up out of nowhere and could potentially be fatal. That past spring, Sam took him to the doctor, where they learned how serious the situation was and scheduled the surgery. Charlie had it planned all summer.

Alice heads straight to the hospital, where Sam and Percy fill her in before she bursts into Charlie’s room. He’s hooked up to a menagerie of monitors and tubes, and she goes right to his side. Opening his eyes, Charlie says she shouldn’t be there, and just retorts ‘where else would I be?’  

As Alice prepares to go to the hospital again the next day, Sam calls to inform her that Charlie doesn’t want her to come back; he doesn’t want her to waste her time. Alice says too bad. She’ll leave him alone for a few days, but then she storms right back in there and says he needs support. And she is one of his people. One of his friends. Someone who wants to support him. So she drops off a collection of photos from the summer as a reminder of ‘us.’

The day Charlie is supposed to get out of the hospital, Alice gets a call asking if she can take him home. Percy is in labor, and Sam is panicking and unavailable. And Alice is like no problem papa. The tension is palpable when Alice and Charlie return to his apartment. Just as she’s about to leave, he asks her to stay, but she says she doesn’t know if she can act as if nothing has changed. So Alice begins to walk back down the hallway, but Charlie springs out and stops her.

Charlie looked at the photos she gave him. He says he saw himself falling in love with her. That he thought he wasn’t good enough, and he wanted better for her. And then they say I LOVE YOU AND IT IS THE MOST PRECIOUS THING BECAUSE THEY LOVE EACH OTHER AHHAHISFHAOIJFJFA.

The next morning, they get a call that Percy has delivered a baby girl, Susie. Alice stays with Charlie, helping him get back on his feet, and they celebrate his 36th birthday. He has officially made it past his dad, which is emotional for a whole number of reasons. Charlie says that he’s in this for real. She knows it. He knows it. And they live happily ever after.

Epilogue time (aka one year later). Alice is opening her own photography exhibit, showcasing a menagerie of pictures that capture the heart of life and experience. Whe has One Golden Summer, the shot of Charlie falling in love, Percy pregnant at the cottage, and Nan and John’s reunion. Charlie has recovered excellently from his surgery, quit his old job, and has now joined a prestigious foundation that raises money for heart disease research. Alice and Charlie bought John’s cottage, their cottage, and are now right across the bay from Sam, Percy, and Susie. And as she is at the showcase, about to give her speech, she looks out at the crowd, sees Charlie, and One Golden Summer hanging in the background, and it’s so poetic and beautiful I could cry.

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Much love!