REVIEW: Star-Crossed Summer by Devon Daniels

Star-Crossed Summer by Devon Daniels: Ten years after their whirlwind romance ended in heartbreak, Scarlett Everhart and Ryder Perry find themselves back in the South Carolina beach town where they first fell in love while filming the movie that launched their careers. Scarlett has spent years building a successful life and convincing herself she’s moved on. Ryder is a reminder of everything she worked so hard to leave behind. Unfortunately, some stories refuse to stay in the past.

STAR-CROSSED SUMMER by Devon Daniels was an emotional second-chance romance about first love, old wounds, and two former co-stars who are forced to confront the relationship they never truly left behind.

To everyone around her, Scarlett is a successful Hollywood star with a carefully curated life, but beneath the spotlight she’s carrying the weight of old choices and feelings she never fully left behind. Watching her revisit a chapter of her past she’d worked hard to move beyond made this story compelling. I found myself rooting for her as she wrestled with whether protecting the life she’d built was worth keeping parts of herself hidden. Beneath Ryder’s confidence was someone who had spent years carrying his own regrets and unanswered questions.

What I loved most about Scarlett and Ryder’s relationship was that it never felt like they were trying to recreate the romance they had ten years ago. Instead, they were forced to get to know the people they’d become. As old feelings resurfaced and long-buried truths came to light, watching them navigate the gap between who they were then and who they are now made their story all the more compelling.

Tropes & Vibes
🎬 Celebrity romance
💔 Second-chance romance
☀️ Summer setting
🌊 Coastal South Carolina
💕 Former co-stars
🤫 Long-buried secrets
🎥 “The Notebook” vibes

Equal parts funny, heartwarming and romantic STAR-CROSSED SUMMER was a heartfelt reminder that some relationships leave a mark on us no matter how much time passes.
If you love second-chance romances, celebrity love stories, emotional reunions, and books filled with summer nostalgia this one needs to be on your TBR!

Book Info:

Publication: Published July 7, 2026 | Berkley |

When a Hollywood starlet is unexpectedly reunited with the costar who broke her heart, their chemistry has her questioning what’s reel and what’s real in this heartfelt summer romance about first loves and second chances.

It’s been ten years since the fateful summer Scarlett Everhart filmed The Lost Letter, the tearjerking romantic drama that catapulted her to worldwide fame and set her on a collision course with Ryder Perry, the movie’s intense, irresistible leading man. The pair’s fiery onscreen chemistry captured audiences’ hearts—while their whirlwind affair offscreen shattered Scarlett’s into a million pieces. Determined to move on, she made a vow: to focus on her career, leave Ryder in her past, and never, ever look back.

A decade later, Scarlett’s kept that promise. She’s become one of Hollywood’s most bankable leading ladies and is on the cusp of the biggest role of her career. And if she’s been unlucky in love, at least she’s managed to put her ill-fated relationship with her former costar—and the public’s obsession with the pair’s star-crossed romance—behind her. That is, until a sudden twist of fate thrusts her and Ryder back together in the seaside South Carolina town where they first fell in love, then fell dramatically apart.

As old sparks reignite, Scarlett is swept back into the love story that once defined her life, forcing her to reckon with the choice that tore them apart…and the devastating secret she’s been keeping since their breakup all those years ago.