Every streaming service seems determined to find its next great summer romance, and Amazon Prime Video may have found another contender with Every Year After. Adapted from Carley Fortune’s bestselling novel Every Summer After, the eight-episode drama arrives carrying all the ingredients audiences have come to expect from the genre — lakeside nostalgia, unresolved first love, messy friendships, devastating secrets, and enough longing-filled stares to fuel social media edits for months.
The problem is that Every Year After often feels like it’s borrowing from a playbook viewers already know by heart. Between its shifting timelines, emotional love triangles, and small-town summer atmosphere, comparisons to The Summer I Turned Pretty become almost impossible to avoid. Yet despite its familiar setup and occasional storytelling stumbles, there’s enough sincerity in its performances to make this binge-worthy, especially for audiences who can’t resist emotionally complicated romances.
A Love Story Interrupted by Time and Regret
At the center of the series is Persephone “Percy” Fraser, played by Sadie Soverall, a woman forced to revisit a chapter of her life she thought had been permanently closed. Years earlier, Percy and Sam Florek, portrayed by Matt Cornett, shared an intense bond that slowly evolved from friendship into first love. Then one impulsive decision shattered everything they had built together.
The two haven’t seen each other since they were teenagers.
That changes when Percy returns to Barry’s Bay following the death of Sue Florek, the mother of Sam and Charlie. The trip home becomes more than an obligation. Surrounded by familiar faces and memories she spent years trying to outrun, Percy is confronted with the choices that shaped her adulthood.
As the story unfolds, old feelings resurface alongside buried secrets. The series jumps between Percy’s present-day return from Seattle and the summers that defined her youth, gradually revealing how two people who seemed destined for each other ended up as strangers.
It’s a premise that works because heartbreak rarely arrives all at once. Sometimes it takes years to fully understand what was lost.
The Series Knows Its Audience — Maybe Too Well
Developed by Leila Gerstein and Amy B. Harris, Every Year After remains largely faithful to Carley Fortune’s source material while also planting seeds for future seasons.
Initially, the show finds its footing with confidence.
Each episode carefully introduces viewers to the key players inhabiting Barry’s Bay. The nostalgic atmosphere is established beautifully, presenting the lakeside setting as a place frozen in time. Returning there feels less like stepping into a vacation destination and more like reopening an old wound.
The first half particularly excels at building emotional investment. Percy and Sam’s teenage relationship unfolds gradually, capturing the awkwardness, excitement, and intensity of young love before adulthood complicates everything.
However, as the season progresses, cracks begin to appear.
The constant movement between past and present eventually creates confusion rather than intrigue. Because the actors look nearly identical across timelines, scenes sometimes blur together. Emotional revelations lose some of their intended impact because viewers are simultaneously trying to determine exactly when certain events are occurring.
What begins as an effective storytelling device occasionally turns into a distraction.
That inconsistency becomes more noticeable during the latter episodes, especially as additional romantic complications are introduced.
Sadie Soverall and Matt Cornett Carry the Emotional Weight
Fortunately, the cast understands exactly what kind of show they’re making.
Sadie Soverall delivers a grounded performance as Percy, capturing both the impulsiveness of youth and the lingering guilt that follows her into adulthood. The role requires her to balance nostalgia with self-reproach, and she handles that emotional tightrope impressively well.
There’s a quiet sadness underneath Percy’s choices that makes even her frustrating decisions understandable.
Matt Cornett brings warmth and vulnerability to Sam, avoiding the trap of turning him into an idealized romantic fantasy. Beneath his easygoing charm lies unresolved pain, particularly as he navigates grief and unanswered questions from the past.
Together, Soverall and Cornett generate enough chemistry to make audiences root for them, even when the narrative repeatedly places obstacles in their path.
Michael Bradway also shines as Charlie Florek.
While Charlie could have easily existed as merely another piece in the show’s romantic puzzle, Bradway injects him with genuine emotional complexity. His scenes dealing with family loss and strained relationships offer some of the season’s strongest dramatic moments.
Among the supporting cast, Abigail Cowen embraces the best-friend role with natural ease. Aurora Perrineau and Joseph Chiu serve important narrative functions, though their characters rarely evolve beyond exposition duties.
One disappointment is Elisha Cuthbert’s limited screen presence.
Given how central Sue’s death is to the story’s emotional engine, the series could have benefited from spending more time exploring her relationship with her sons. Those missing moments leave an emotional gap that the show never fully fills.
Familiar Romance Tropes Begin to Overstay Their Welcome
If you’ve watched recent young adult adaptations, you’ll likely predict where many of the story beats are headed.
Love triangles emerge.
Then another one appears.
And then another.
What starts as a moving exploration of second chances gradually becomes crowded with romantic complications that don’t always deepen the narrative. Instead, they occasionally make the characters feel trapped in repetitive emotional cycles.
The similarities to The Summer I Turned Pretty become increasingly difficult to ignore.
Both series revolve around nostalgia, complicated friendships, grief, attractive lakeside locals, and tangled romantic histories. The difference is that Every Year After begins with a stronger emphasis on reconciliation between former lovers rather than choosing between brothers.
Unfortunately, as the season continues, it starts adopting some of the same dramatic excesses that have already become staples of the genre.
That doesn’t make it unwatchable.
It simply makes it feel less distinctive than it could have been.
The Music and Atmosphere Save the Day
One area where Prime Video continues to excel is creating mood through music.
The soundtrack effortlessly elevates scenes that might otherwise feel ordinary. Featuring artists ranging from Dolly Parton to Harry Styles, the song choices help bridge the emotional divide between timelines and reinforce the bittersweet tone running throughout the series.
Streaming platforms clearly understand the value of music in teen and young adult storytelling, and Every Year After benefits enormously from that investment.
Combined with the scenic beauty of Barry’s Bay, the soundtrack creates a cozy, wistful atmosphere tailor-made for summer viewing.
Even when the plot occasionally circles familiar territory, the setting invites audiences to stay a little longer.
What Worked and What Didn’t
What works best is the emotional authenticity brought by Sadie Soverall and Matt Cornett. Their performances transform an otherwise familiar premise into something worth caring about. The nostalgic summer setting is beautifully realized, and the soundtrack consistently enhances the storytelling rather than compensating for it.
What doesn’t work quite as smoothly is the increasingly cluttered narrative. The timeline shifts grow muddled, while the abundance of romantic entanglements begins to dilute the emotional impact of Percy and Sam’s relationship. Several supporting characters also feel underserved despite their potential.
Still, if you’re the kind of viewer who falls for stories about missed opportunities, unresolved feelings, and the people who shape us before we truly know ourselves, Every Year After delivers enough heart to justify the emotional investment.
Just don’t be surprised when the season closes by dangling a cliffhanger large enough to practically announce that this story isn’t finished yet.
Rating: 3/5
