Carley Fortune Breaks Down New Romance & Says She’s ‘Deeply Touched’ by Harry & Meghan Adapting Her Novel  

This Summer Will Be Different

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Carley Fortune’s This Summer Will Be Different.]

Carley Fortune has become one of the most popular authors among beach read lovers. Her first two novels, Every Summer After and Meet Me at the Lake, shot to the top of The New York Times bestsellers list, and now she’s back with her latest romance, This Summer Will Be Different.

Readers will be transported to the gorgeous Prince Edward Island as Lucy and Felix forge an instant connection they can’t let go of year after year. Their relationship isn’t complication-free because Felix also happens to be the brother of Lucy’s best friend. This Summer Will Be Different is the perfect romance mixed with a coming-of-age story.

Fortune spoke with TV Insider about her charming and swoon-worthy third novel and the latest on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle adapting Meet Me at the Lake through their Archewell Productions hub for Netflix.

What inspired this novel after you wrote Every Summer After and Meet Me at the Lake? 

Carley Fortune: I traveled to Prince Edward Island, where the book is set, when I was in my early 20s with my best friend, Meredith. It was our first trip that we took together, and we drove all around the island. We decided to only eat seafood while we were there. We attended the national oyster shucking championship, and I just fell in love with the island. I grew up reading and watching Anne of Green Gables, and I had this very romantic idea of what Prince Edward Island was like, and it just exceeded all my expectations. When we were talking about ideas for the third book, I had other ideas I was pitching, but I just had this small idea, which was a best friends girls’ trip on Prince Edward Island, and it all kind of grew out of that.

What sparked the idea for Lucy and Felix’s romance? 

When we went to Prince Edward Island, the first thing that Meredith and I did was we went to Charlottetown. We sat at the bar of a seafood restaurant and ordered a dozen oysters from the guy at the bar, who, in my memory, was cute. He asked us where we were from, and I said Toronto. He said, “I’m sorry, welcome home.” And that moment really stuck with me. So if there’s a kind of inspiration for that, for Felix’s character, it’s that moment. But I also really like relationships that are very complicated and having Felix be Bridget’s brother just seems so inherently juicy and full of tension and stakes. I felt like it would be very dramatic to play out.

You really put an emphasis on Lucy and Bridget’s friendship in the book. How important was it to have a second love story in the book?

It was really important to me. I think that, with each of my books, I like to look at different kinds of relationships, not just romantic relationships. Of course, our romantic relationships don’t exist in isolation, right? We have many, many facets to our lives, and I hadn’t really explored a very, very close female friendship before. That was something I wanted to do, particularly in your 20s, where things really change. Between your early 20s and your late 20s, it’s kind of a different coming of age. Our friendships really shift with that, so I really wanted to look at that with Lucy and Bridget. I just love looking at relationships between women. We’re so complicated, and I think friendships are so important and aren’t really given as much airtime.

Did you toy with the idea of how Bridget would react to the relationship considering what had happened in the past?

Initially, I had an idea of maybe Bridget has known all along and is trying to push them together. With Joy being Bridget’s friend, that kind of came in later. She was always this ex. But as I was working on it, it just made more sense that the breakup wasn’t about Felix’s breakup with Joy, which is what it was in earlier drafts. His breakup with Joy was an issue for him, but the breakup with Joy was Bridget’s breakup. It was a friend’s breakup. I know in my own life friend breakups are more important. They have more weight to me than romantic breakups.

Felix and Lucy’s happy ending featured some twists. There was a bit of a breakup thrown in there. Lucy had to find her way back to herself before taking the next step with Felix. Were there alternate endings you considered? 

It went through many different versions, actually. Even how they come back together took different versions, too. But, for me, because the story is really about Lucy standing on her own two feet, it made sense to have her realize that this wasn’t the right time and that she needed to focus on herself before jumping in. Felix, for his own reasons, doesn’t want to jump into anything because of his past experience with Joy. I think I wrote seven or eight drafts of this book. There have been many different little twists and turns.

Have you considered sequels or spinoffs to some of your books?

Yeah, the book that I get asked about the most is Every Summer After. People have asked for either more Percy and Sam, but particularly Charlie. I’ve had so many people ask for a book about Charlie. I’ve been approached at events with pitches for who he should be with. All the time. Charlie’s book. It’s something I’ve definitely considered.

Have you started working on your next book?

I’m working on my fourth book, so I just submitted my second draft. I can’t say too much about it. It will be out next year. So it’ll be out in probably spring of 2025. It’s romance. It’s a gorgeous setting. It’s two characters who I’m having a lot of fun with. I think this is so far, knock on wood, been one of the smoothest writing processes I’ve had. I think readers are going to love it. I’m really excited about it.

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What is the status of the Meet Me at the Lake adaptation? Any updates? 

I’m very excited about where things are right now. I’m so thrilled about it, and hopefully, sometime soon, there will be more that I can share.

How did you react when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wanted to adapt your book?  

It was very surreal. I was deeply touched because the book was very difficult for me to write. It was my second book. I struggled with a lot of imposter syndrome writing it. I was also dealing with my own postpartum mental health issues writing it, and the book deals with some tough subjects. It deals with grief, it deals with mental health, it deals with finding yourself on a path that you never intended to be on, and two characters who have really gone through a lot. It meant so much to me to have it recognized in that way because it had been such a difficult journey. I’m enormously grateful, and I’m so happy about the partnership.

Are hoping that Every Summer After will get adapted and maybe even This Summer Will Be Different? 

Oh yeah, for sure. I would love that.