This Summer Will be Different

The novel opens with 24-year-old Lucy “Bee” Ashby vacationing on Prince Edward Island (PEI). Lucy lives in Toronto and is supposed to be on a girls’ trip with her best friend and roommate, Bridget Clark, but Bridget’s flight has been delayed. The trip is meant to be a reset for Lucy, who has recently quit her prestigious but unfulfilling job at a public relations firm, a decision that disappointed her parents. Bridget’s parents, Ken and Christine, and younger brother, Wolf, live on PEI in a seaside cottage nicknamed Summer Wind. Wolf is meant to welcome Lucy in Bridget’s absence, but he is not answering her texts. Lucy recalls Bridget’s three rules for the trip: eat lots of oysters, leave the stresses of Toronto behind, and “don’t fall in love with [Wolf]” (7).

Lucy visits a seaside oyster bar called Shack Malpeque for dinner. She immediately locks eyes with a handsome, dark-haired man shucking oysters behind the bar. The man introduces himself as Felix, and they exchange flirtatious banter, though Lucy notices sadness beneath his smile. Felix brings Lucy a plate of oysters on the house and shucks them at her table.