Every Year After Book vs Show: The Biggest Changes, Explained – TV Fanatic

Every Year After is this summer’s sunniest romance.

It has officially dropped at Prime Video, but with it comes some major changes to Carly Fortune’s novel — and source material — Every Summer After.

It’s the cross every book lover has to bear: the cost of seeing your favorite story come to life on screen inevitably means buckling up for changes, big and small. 

I’m not a book-to-show adaptation purist by any means.

What may seem like a small, even unnecessary, edit can certainly have significant impacts on the flow and continuity of the story, can round out a character for the screen, or shine a spotlight on new themes.

But it’s always refreshing to see creators stay loyal to the small details that make a novel so memorable.

The creative team behind Every Year After definitely knew which moments to preserve for its fans, even while they allow the show to blossom into something new.

I loved the preservation of small but sweet details, like the bright colors of Percy and Sam’s friendship bracelet, or the blue Gatorade Sam brings during their swim training. 

My personal favorite moment was when Weezer’s “Island in the Sun” played over a montage of teen Sam and Percy’s first day together, a subtle nod to the Weezer band T-shirt that book Sam wears in this scene.

Eagle-eyed fans may spot a number of small adjustments to the plot, such as changes to Percy and Sam’s relationship milestones, or Percy’s new job as an obituary writer (as a character who loves horror, this felt like a clever change).

But with the small tweaks came some big plot shake-ups, and not all of them landed with the same impact.

It was clear that many of these changes were made in hopes of extending the show into Season 2, but they left me wondering: did they sacrifice their characters to get there?

These three major book-to-show changes have the potential to permanently affect the show’s future… for better or for worse. 

Sam Doesn’t Know about Percy and Charlie

The show’s most significant change to the original plot is arguably in Percy revealing to Sam that she slept with Charlie as a teen, and Sam discovering this information for the first time in the present-day timeline.

However, when Percy confesses the truth to Sam in the novel, Sam reveals to Percy that he’s known for a while.

This is met with Percy’s immense relief, and she is able to get back together with Sam, knowing he’s worked to forgive her and his brother.

On the one hand, allowing the drama of the reveal to unfold on screen lets the viewer see Sam’s visceral reaction to learning of this betrayal, creating dramatic tension that propels the narrative of the back half of the season. 

However, Sam also takes this opportunity to flee Barry’s Bay, get extremely drunk, and incite a brawl at the bar.

In one particularly puzzling scene, Charlie later finds Sam sulking at the end of their dock, where he proceeds to mock his brother and refuse to pick up his deceased mother’s family at the airport.

The way Sam proceeds to relentlessly take out his anger on his brother paints him less as the mature figure you’d hope for in a romantic lead, and instead as a petulant child.

For a character whose core traits are supposed to be empathy, dependability, and pragmatism, these choices do a big disservice to adult Sam.

Couple this with the fact that these episodes oscillate between these moments and scenes of teen Sam brutally breaking up with Percy over email (yes, email!), and it makes it very difficult to root for Sam as a partner worthy of Percy, despite her mistakes.

While these changes tee up Season 2 to explore the healing of Charlie and Sam’s relationship, they do so at the expense of Sam’s integrity and, quite honestly, his likability. 

Every Year After, or The Summer I Almost Cheated?

The book portrays Sam’s girlfriend, Taylor, as a formal lawyer out of place in Barry’s Bay. In some ways, it seems Every Year After offloads some of her traits onto Chantal.

She is described as cold, possessive of Sam, and effortlessly beautiful in a way that is threatening to Percy, and Sam promptly breaks up with her when Percy comes back to town.

It’s a personal pet peeve of mine when “the other woman” is painted in a negative light, just so that the main character can have her “I’m not like other girls” moment.

The show wisely does away with this, instead portraying Taylor as a caring, thoughtful, independent woman in her own right.

While this feels fair to her character, it also makes Sam appear absolutely merciless when he breaks up with her. 

If there’s one thing Every Year After consistently depicts Sam doing, it’s breaking up with someone in the most brutal way possible.

While this change avoids the trappings of romance clichés, it unfortunately paints Sam in an even more negative light (when he can use all the likability points he can get).

That brings me to the Chantal of it all.

Like the book, the season opens at her engagement party, but we soon see Chantal quickly falling for Jordie’s charm and leaning in for an (almost) kiss.

And sure, while her fiancé, Drew, is presented as a dependent man-child, he’s also gracious and understanding of Chantal’s feelings when she tells him what happened.

We’re left with Drew crying alone in the bathroom, and that’s the last we see of him before we discover Chantal called off their relationship for good.

I’m not saying I don’t love the budding dynamic between Chantal and Jordie, but did this man need to be collateral damage?

I have a hard time believing that self-assured, independent Chantal would have lasted long enough in that relationship to get engaged to him in the first place.

Ultimately, the show did not do enough legwork to explore her relationship problems with Drew without compromising her character’s integrity.

Out of our main cast, I’m pretty sure the only one that’s not somehow associated with either almost or full-blown infidelity is Sue (rest in peace).

Charlie’s Entire Character (and That Cliffhanger)

There were times throughout the season when Charlie was presented almost as a caricature, rather than a character.

He leans heavily into a fratty, money-hungry finance bro persona, which at times feels almost like a watered-down version of White Lotus‘s Saxon Ratliff.

In somewhat of a pivotal scene, teen Sam, Percy, and Delilah are playing truth or dare, and Delilah dares Sam to kiss Percy. In the book, Charlie rushes in and plants one on Percy, teasing Sam good-naturedly for his hesitancy. 

This moment provides apt foreshadowing for what’s to come between Percy and Charlie, but also provides a much-needed look into the jealousy Sam suppresses for his older brother. 

However, Every Year After takes a different approach: Charlie leans in, just to rebuff Percy.

Wisely, the show does not portray a kissing scene with the younger actors. However, the overall tone of Charlie’s actions comes off much more mean-spirited and manipulative rather than misguided and playful.  

This seems to be somewhat of a theme throughout the season.

Instead of a flawed but lovable ladies’ man, à la Dean from Off Campus, Charlie is often portrayed as relatively transactional in his relationships with women, and he doesn’t treat his brother or Percy nearly as kindly as he does in the novel.

Perhaps in an effort to distance the show further from comparisons to The Summer I Turned Pretty (and the wider canon of shows with a love triangle between two beautiful brothers), Every Year After flattened his character to suspend debates about a love triangle between the three leads.

Charlie’s character changes could have worked to the show’s advantage had we spent more time with him.

While we get glimpses of the nuance beneath the cliché, Charlie is still presented as a harsher, yet flatter, picture of the character book lovers fell in love with.

While leaving the season on a cliffhanger was a bold move, it certainly supports the show’s goals for a Season 2 renewal.

Strayed Too Far or Opens New Possibilities?

Not only does it allow Sam to recognize the importance of his brother as his only remaining family member, but it also shifts the focus to Charlie’s arc, allowing us to benefit from a deeper exploration of his character.

It seems Every Year After is banking on Season 2 to explore Charlie’s book in greater depth.

But I’m left wondering whether they did enough to set him up as a convincing and compelling romantic lead.

Overall, Every Year After definitely scratched my itch for an escapist summer show.

The decision to bring the supporting characters Chantal, Delilah, and Jordie to the forefront, as well as to spend more time understanding the characters’ relationships with Sue, did nothing but strengthen the plot. 

But Every Year After Fanatics, what did you think of the changes?

Do you think they’ll make a for a good Season 2? I’d love to hear your thoughts on how Prime adapted the book, so don’t forget to hit the comments (and subscribe for more of our content!)

You can stream the full season of Every Year After on Prime Video.

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