One Golden Hour Summer

Happy August! This month was far less busy in my personal life, yay! But I was reading some larger books which still made it a slow reading month. I’m now at 33 books read so far this year, so I’m still happy with that. One of those books was this month’s book of the month, One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune. And to accompany this month’s review, I made a Golden Hour cocktail.

Golden Hour Recipe

1.5oz Tequila

0.5oz Citron Vodka

1oz Pineapple Juice

0.5oz Lime Juice

0.25oz Turmeric Agave Syrup

2-3 diced wheels Cucumber*

1 wheel Cucumber

*This is an optional ingredient.

Rim a rocks glass with turmeric and chilli salt. In an empty cocktail shaker, add diced cucumber and tequila. Muddle. Add all other ingredients and ice. Then shake and pour (with ice) into rocks glass and garnish.

Notes: To make the salt add equal parts turmeric, chilli pepper, and salt. And to make the syrup, add 2:1 agave to water and mix in turmeric. I only made 1oz total, so I just added as much turmeric as I felt was right.

This cocktail was good! I chose muddled cucumbers as my special ingredient because Alice and Charlie meet over cucumbers at the grocery store, and it becomes a running joke between them through the novel. And I was quite happy with my addition for this one. I really enjoyed this drink, and I think the cucumbers added a little coolness to it that was nice to lessen the chilli in the rim. Unfortunately, I added far too much chilli into my rim and had to chug milk after getting a lot in one sip… but other than that, the cocktail was a really nice margarita-style drink!

One Golden Summer Synopsis

(from book cover)

I never anticipated Charlie Florek.

Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer there at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life.

Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she’s been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry’s Bay. But as soon as they settle in, their peace is disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat, and the man driving it.

Charlie Florek was nineteen when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he’s all grown up—a shameless flirt, who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be seventeen again, when life was simpler, when taking pictures was just for fun. Sun-slanted days and warm nights out on the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice’s soul, but when she looks up and sees his piercing green gaze directly on her, she begins to worry for her heart.

Because Alice sees people—that’s why she is so good at what she does—but she’s never met someone who looks and sees her right back.

Review

“Good things happen at the lake.”

Well, this was a cute, Canadian, summer read! I didn’t know this was a Canadian book before I started, which is surprising since the library put a big Canadian flag sticker on the spine. But clearly I wasn’t paying too much attention. One Golden Summer was the perfect read for the end of summer with its sweet, summer-y vibes. But it had some downfalls I couldn’t get past for a better ranking on this one.

The writing of One Golden Summer was fine. It worked well and the style suited the narrative in a nice way. But there wasn’t really anything special about it that drew me in. While Fortune is definitely a talented author, the writing wasn’t overly unique or impactful. But, for a summer romcom I don’t expect the most incredible writing, so I think it worked for the story and there wasn’t anything inherently wrong with it, so overall it was pretty fine. And I did think the dialogue was done quite well and felt realistic in a way that matched the themes nicely.

Our main characters were interesting for my tastes. I really liked Alice and found her relatable, thoughtfully fleshed out, and her character development drove a lot of the story for me, but Charlie is not my type of guy. He is pretty much the polar opposite of my husband. So, while I found him cute and charming I also found him a little abrasive, unrealistic, and cocky. And I know that is completely subjective, so if that’s what you like in a man you might find him more endearing than I did. And of course he did have many layers as a person, but he was not for me overall. However, I did really enjoy his and Alice’s relationship.

I felt the connection between Alice and Charlie worked well and their chemistry was believable. They seemed to balance each other out nicely and their dynamic in the novel was interesting. I do agree with some reviews I’ve seen that they got extremely close very fast, and while that did add some unrealistic vibes it didn’t ruin the story for me. I was more so bothered by the deep lack of communication. In many aspects I thought Alice and Charlie communicated well, but in regard to their relationship and situation the miscommunication was a bit played out. And miscommunication is definitely not one of my preferred romance tropes, so it did get a little frustrating at points.

My favourite thing about One Golden Summer was the nostalgic feeling it produced. I loved the theme of living for yourself and doing things that would’ve made your past self happy. That is essentially how I live my entire life (ie. Pokémon tattoos and a laser tag wedding), so I connected with the story quite deeply in this way. And I have seen others online saying it isn’t very believable that two 30-somethings would act like such teens, but I personally totally got it. If I got to have the entire summer at a lake with no work responsibilities, I would definitely be acting like a child 90% of the time. All that being said, the themes and feelings of this novel really stood out to me as relatable and heartwarming.

Overall, I did have some issues with One Golden Summer as some things really weren’t all that believable and it was very predictable. But the dialogue, Alice’s character development, and the themes made this a perfectly cute story. I was smiling throughout and even teared up at one point, so that’s saying something! And at the end of the day, it was a sweet, summer romcom that had me wishing I spent my summer at the lake. So, I’d recommend this one to any romcom readers who want a bit of nostalgia. But if you aren’t looking for a relatively predictable, fun, summer story this one might not be for you. But definitely give the cocktail a try no matter what (just be mindful of the chilli powder)!

My Rating:

Thanks for reading! And, if you read the book or try the cocktail let me know in a comment or on Instagram. Also, if you haven’t yet read my previous reviews, I recommend reading Happy Place, The Seven Year Slip, and Done and Dusted if you liked this one!

Teghann

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