Review: Our Perfect Storm

I don’t have many auto-buy authors these days but Carley Fortune is firmly on that list. Our Perfect Storm is her latest, her fifth!, and, my friends, I think it’s my favourite. There was something magical about this story that grabbed my heart and has refused to let go. I loved it and I can’t wait for more readers to enjoy it, too.

Here’s the book’s description:

Frankie and George have been best friends since they were eight years old. Both passionate, impulsive, and headstrong—they’ve always clashed . . . and come back together. Until now. It’s the eve of Frankie’s wedding weekend, and she doesn’t know where they stand or even if George will show up as her best man.

Then, at the start of the festivities, in walks George. For one glorious evening, surrounded by her loved ones, Frankie’s life is finally perfect. But it all comes crashing down when her fiancé dumps her the next morning, leaving only a note as an explanation.

Crushed and confused, Frankie returns to her family’s home to wallow. But George has a different idea and a plan for healing Frankie’s broken heart. He wants her to go on her honeymoon. With him. For one week, to the lush rainforests and misty beaches of Tofino.

Frankie agrees, seeing the trip for what it really is: one last chance to repair their friendship. Even if it means unearthing secrets and long buried feelings neither knows how to handle. Even if it means falling apart for good.

I love a good friends-to-lovers trope. And when the friend is the boy next door, too? Oh, baby. I especially liked that Frankie and George had been friends for so long that they truly were friends before they ever thought of hormones and crushes. The story focuses on the present day, with Frankie and George in Tofino. But there are also flashback chapters that shed more light on their lives and their relationship. As Frankie heals, you start to realize that perhaps their friendship isn’t quite as platonic as they may think. I loved how it was told and it really helped make the novel stronger.

And the Little Women references? Be still, my heart. I liked that Fortune was obvious about it instead of writing a contemporary adaptation of Alcott’s novel. Frankie loves the book and the 1994 film adaptation. She compares herself to Jo, particularly comparing their shared hot-headedness. And Frankie had her own Professor Bhaer - her fiancé was 16 years older than she was, similar to Jo and the Professor. Not to mention, George was just like Laurie, the boy next door who got folded into the family. They were lovely little nods and made me appreciate the novel all the more.

Our Perfect Storm is not “just” a romance (honestly, most romances are more than two people falling for each other). Frankie and George may end up together at the end and I loved that but…I don’t actually see that as the most prominent storyline in this book. I found it to be more about Frankie coming to terms with who she is at thirty, after being dumped by her fiancé the day before their wedding. A fiancé she didn’t belong with anyway. As George tries to make clear, she made herself small, she was less than herself when she was with Nate. And that’s not ok. She may think that she was trying to be mature or become someone else, but she wasn’t being true to herself. And when you’re not true to yourself, your whole life is just…wrong. Their week away isn’t really about “getting over” Nate. It’s about Frankie remembering what makes her unique, what makes her tick.

Frankie’s a chef and isn’t feeling fulfilled with creating recipes for a food influencer (someone she does like and respect). She gets to find her career spark in this story and knows that she’s more than a romantic relationship. And the food! I was just talking to a friend the day I started this book about how we don’t find many romance novels written by white women that do food as well as some of our favourite authors of colour do. Fortune comes by food honestly, having parents who owned a restaurant and having been an editor of food and drink content when she was a journalist. The food scenes are glorious and will make you very hungry (even if you, like me, aren’t a seafood fan).

This novel is also a bit of a love letter to Tofino. You’ll feel like you’re right there with Frankie and George. Other romance authors have set their books in Canada before Fortune did. But something about Fortune’s have hit with readers and I think it’s so important that more romance stories are being kept in Canada instead of set in Big City or Small Town, USA. She chooses her settings carefully and with intention and I loved exploring a part of Canada I’ve never been to while reading this novel.

I mentioned at the top that this is now my favourite of Fortune’s. It’s both easy and difficult to rank books by favourite authors. Easy because your heart knows what it loves. Difficult because, for me and Fortune’s books anyway, you’re not necessarily reading them back to back to back. It’s just remembering a past book. But still, we rank them. I loved all the layers to this one and I really loved the romantic trope (friends-to-lovers). I do plan on rereading This Summer Will Be Different this summer (my previous favourite - best friend’s brother? PEI? Loved.) so we’ll see where the rankings land!

Our Perfect Storm is, well, basically perfect. Carley Fortune continues to write emotional, romantic stories with characters who could be your best friends. I loved spending time with Frankie and George in Tofino and know other readers will love it, too.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Viking (Penguin Random House Canada) via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*