REVIEW: Have A Great Summer by Francesca Cocchi

Have A Great Summer by Francesca Cocchi was a nostalgic summer romance about first love, female friendship, career crossroads, and finding your way forward when you’ve spent a little too long looking back.

After losing a journalist job with the downturn in newspapers, Lina Mariano ends up back in her hometown writing for a popular lifestyle website. Her job is to write up weddings in the local area. Her employer believes she has found a golden opportunity when Lina finds out her high school crush Sebastian is marrying a well known influencer. Lina is very tired of weddings and this will be difficult to face after fifteen years

When she was a teenager, Lina worked at the local beach restaurant, Bubba’s, owned and run by Sebastian’s mother. Lina had a huge crush on him for a long time until it was dashed and she has never really gotten over it.

She finds out Bubba is ill and this summer may be the last one for the beloved restaurant . She commiserates with her longtime friend when Sebastian’ s wedding falls through. Should she try to get Sebastian to help save the restaurant or will it be bought by outsiders? Can she learn more about the past so she and Sebastian can go forward?

Told in dual timelines, the background becomes more clear and how it affects the present. Many of us have memories of summers that seemed to be extra special. Living near the beach, as these characters do, would be pure joy.

Although this book is categorized as a romance, there are many other underlying themes: family, friends and community.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER was a nostalgic, funny, and heartfelt reminder that sometimes moving forward means taking another look at where you’ve been. I loved the Jersey Shore setting, the friendship at the heart of Lina’s story, and watching her figure out that the future she wants can’t be based on the life she thought she was supposed to have.

This is a debut novel that promises a continued following for this author.

Tropes & Vibes
💕 Teenage crush → adult lovers
🔄 Second chance romance
☀️ Summer romance
🌊 Jersey Shore setting
⏳ Dual timeline
🏡 Hometown romance
👯‍♀️ Strong female friendship
💍 Wedding journalist
💭 Old feelings
✨ Coming of age—twice

Book Info:

Publication: May 26, 2026 | Kensington |

Set against a vibrant Jersey Shore backdrop and bursting with summertime romance, hometown nostalgia, smart humor, female friendship, and millennial angst, TODAY Show journalist Francesca Cocchi’s dual-timeline teenage-crush-to-adult-lovers debut is the perfect beach read for fans of Anabel Monaghan, Carley Fortune, and Emily Henry.

If time is supposed to heal all wounds, Lina Mariano’s broken teenage heart never quite got the message—but 15 sunny, sandy, angsty Jersey Shore summers later, she finds herself unexpectedly facing her old crush, getting a new perspective—and maybe even a hopeful glimpse of the future . . .

Lina Mariano is stuck—in her hometown, in her job, and in the past. And after six years of writing up local weddings as a columnist for a popular lifestyle website, she’s wholeheartedly sick of nuptials. Worse, the next one on her list is none other than Sebastian Nikolaou’s.

Working high school summers with sweet, handsome Sebastian at his mother’s iconic beach restaurant, teenage Lina was totally wrapped up in the way he made her feel—until the night that everything changed. Even so, she’s embarrassed to admit how often she still thinks of him, and now, comparing their present lives is wrenching. It will take a careful look at her younger self, and some wisdom from the best friend who was there for it all, to see that making her dreams come true is up to her alone—whether or not those dreams still include Sebastian . . .

Poignant, engaging, and insightful, Have a Great Summer is an ode to the confused teenager in all of us, and a reminder of the blissful, excruciating, delicious days of summers gone by.