Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune: a review by Kayne

This is a friends to lovers, slow burn romance with whales and beautiful scenery on Vancouver Island. Fortune’s last book, One Golden Summer was my favorite book of 2025 so I’ve been looking forward to Our Perfect Storm.  I went through a rollercoaster of emotions as I read this, but the last part of the book was so good, it made it all worth it.

Frankie and George have been best friends since they were young and when Frankie’s fiancé cancels their wedding at the last minute, she and George decide to go on the honeymoon trip to Tofino (on the west coast of Vancouver Island). The descriptions of Frankie and George’s time in Tofino were incredible – I could almost smell the ocean as they learned to surf, hiked in the rainforest, walked in tide pools and ate delicious meals.

Frankie is a chef working on a cookbook for a friend she knew in culinary school. When Frankie was young, her mother left for a year to help the whales and Frankie has a fear of being left behind.  She and George became close when George moved in with his grandma, who lived next door to Frankie. In present time, George travels the world as a freelance journalist writing about environmental issues and Frankie misses him. The story goes back and forth between Frankie and George’s friendship when they were young to the present. There were times Frankie seemed young, maybe even self-centered, but as she and George reconnected and enjoyed fun adventures in Tofino, she felt alive again, inspired to cook and enjoy life and love! She starts to notice that George is ripped and I was pretty sure where the story was going. The joy was in the journey to get there.

While Frankie and George can talk all night, they aren’t good at sharing their feelings and it was a slow build to their romance. I was also eager to find out why Frankie’s fiancé left her at the last minute with only a note. There is a twist at the end that I didn’t see coming and caused some drama. My grade fluctuated as I was reading the story, but by the end I was loving it and even shed a tear.

I loved One Golden Summer and I couldn’t wait to read Our Perfect Storm. While I think One Golden Summer is still my favorite, Our Perfect Storm is close behind. It was 4 ½ stars for me – I rounded up here to 5.

by Kayne Spooner