The Longest Holiday: Your New Favourite Summer Read

Hello hello! For my first ever blog post, I thought the best way to introduce my writing a little bit would be to share a mini-review of one of my most loved reads - enjoy!

Good news folks, the UK is FINALLY defrosting from its usual (but somehow still surprising) winter of bitter winds and endless nights. As we all crack open our sunglasses' cases, I've already started dreaming about reading in the sun with an ice-cold drink in hand *sighs*.

BUT whilst I don't know what my standout summer read will be just yet, I do know what yours should be.

May I present to you...The Longest Holiday by Paige Toon.

Now Toon is absolutely no stranger to accolades - but one more can’t hurt.

When it comes to reading, I can’t help but be influenced by my surroundings.

Come September I’m reaching for classics or dark academia, in winter I’m curling up with a Christmas tale, spring sees me with inspiring literary fiction - and then there’s summer.

As soon as May begins bleeding into June heat, I absolutely must read a summer romance in some capacity. Whether it’s friends to lovers, a heart-wrenching tragedy, or a coming of age, I require a small hint of romance at the very least, and the knowledge that it’s set in a sunny place for peak escapism. Bonus points if I get to read it on holiday.

Now this review in question is sentimental to me because I have leant into said summer drama not once, but TWICE on separate holidays, because I love it that much. It reminds me of bright days by a glistening pool and crimson evenings. Bliss.

Now that I’ve tried to sell you on the pure vibes it provides, I should probably explain a little more of what the story entails.

We begin with Laura, a twenty-nine year old woman jetting to the Florida Keys with her best friend, Marty, and a lesser known mutual, Bridget. However, this is not the holiday of dreams that it may sound like.

We soon learn that the reason for her jet-set is a devastating turn of events in her fresh marriage. Just seven months after marrying her husband, Matthew Perry (one for the Friends fans), she discovers via Facebook messenger that on his stag do, Matthew had a one-night stand in a club toilet – classy man. 

To Laura’s heartbreak, she learns that this particular fling has resulted in a pregnancy. With her home life now reeling with uncertainty, and with the non-negotiable demand from her best friend, a holiday to Key West is the only potential respite.  

Toon seamlessly captures the sun-kissed bliss of the Florida Keys, which act as a perfect catalyst for the later events and a huge contrast to Laura’s English life.

We see scuba dives, Miami trips, and hidden local spots woven throughout the novel which embeds the story in the space through the lens of a local.

This allows us to go far beyond the resort that Laura first arrives to, with its generic pool loungers and snack table. By the story’s close, Key West appears almost as a character itself, and this familiarity is largely due to Leo...

Now it wouldn’t be a summer romance book without said romance taking place in summer, and THAT is where Leo comes in. As this is only a mini-review, I don’t want to spoil too much of the plot, and I would urge you to give it a read yourself this upcoming sunny season.

But I will give a few reasons why I especially love this book:

• The romantic elements never feel forced or cliché, if you’re interested in tropes, I could argue that there’s an ounce of 'grumpy x sunshine', but it in no way feels formulaic.

  
  

• The plot genuinely threw me through a loop. Just when I thought I knew where things were headed, I was royally mistaken.

  
  

• It's not a perfect love story. As you can probably tell, it's an impossibly messy situation, and one of the prominent issues is just how many people force contradictory opinions onto Laura. But this tangle of characters is exactly what drives the story.

  
  

My above points haven't even scratched the surface of everything there is to love about this story, and whilst a summer romance is by no means hard to come by, I know this one will always be one of my favourites.