In the highly anticipated final installment of the Oakwood Bay series—“packed with sizzling tension, heat, and sweet, swoon-worthy moments” (Peyton Corinne, USA TODAY bestselling author)—childhood best friends Parker and Summer agree to matchmake each other, to disastrous results, all while fighting the fact that they’ve been each other’s soulmate all along.
Summer Prescott and Parker Woods have been best friends since they were three years old. Now thirty, neither of them feels like they have a good handle on adulthood. While their friends are coupled up and thriving, they’re struggling through career crises and disastrous dates, and frequenting the same old bars and surf spots they’ve been going to for years—until, on a whim, Summer decides to hand over her love life to Parker. After all, who better to help find her soulmate than the person who knows her best?
But when the date Parker introduces her to goes from husband material to dead end in one publicly humiliating swoop, Summer is so devastated that she breaks up with both men. And she decides to embrace a fresh start away from home by entering a surf competition that’ll have her chasing waves around the world.
Parker soon realizes the troubling truth—he’s spent nearly thirty years by Summer’s side and has only just realized that he’s in love with her. Now he’s on a mission to win back not just her trust but her heart, before she slips away for good.
Summer Prescott and Parker Woods have been best friends since they were three years old. Now thirty, neither of them feels like they have a good handle on adulthood. While their friends are coupled up and thriving, they’re struggling through career crises and disastrous dates, and frequenting the same old bars and surf spots they’ve been going to for years—until, on a whim, Summer decides to hand over her love life to Parker. After all, who better to help find her soulmate than the person who knows her best?
But when the date Parker introduces her to goes from husband material to dead end in one publicly humiliating swoop, Summer is so devastated that she breaks up with both men. And she decides to embrace a fresh start away from home by entering a surf competition that’ll have her chasing waves around the world.
Parker soon realizes the troubling truth—he’s spent nearly thirty years by Summer’s side and has only just realized that he’s in love with her. Now he’s on a mission to win back not just her trust but her heart, before she slips away for good.
Title: If Only You Knew (Oakwood Bay #3)
Author: Ellie K. Wilde
Publisher: Atria Books
Expected Publication Date: February 17, 2026
Review:
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I've enjoyed the previous titles in this series and I was especially excited for this one as I love these two characters. My advice if you have not read the first two is to go back and do so before reading this. While this technically can be read as a stand alone, the previous books actually set up the relationship between the two main characters for this book as well as the relationships for two other couples. There will be spoilers for those other couples if you do not read the first two. If that is not important to you, then you could read this one by itself for sure.
Summer and Parker are best friends since they were three years old. Always there for each other when the other needed them. But what if they could be more? What if they know each other so well that could spill over into them being that person for each other? This story explores that theme.
Summer was probably my least favorite character in this book and what brought down my rating. While I understand her emotional issues of abandonment and not feeling loved, it was all she focused on. So much so she could not see the for the trees. Was she dealt the short end of the stick when it comes to family, she sure was. Did she have an experience at the beginning of the book which made her close herself off? She sure did. And I understand the blow to her confidence and how she may have thought herself unloveable but I also would have liked to see her gain more and more confidence throughout the book rather than having it all slam into her at the end. She was so stuck in her head for most of the book. And this also made her totally oblivious to what was going on between her and Parker. Parker, on the other hand, could not have been more open about his feelings when he finally chose to show them. I will say this was a little unrealistic for me. It took him 27 years to realize his feelings were that he loves her? It just didn't seem like that would happen and came off as kind of odd. His statements, his actions, his overall being made it obvious he was in love with Summer. It was impossible to miss it; yet she did. I really wanted to shake her for most of the book so she would open her eyes and see things for what they were. I don't mind a miscommunication trope for the most part but this one was so one sided it was almost painful to watch. I definitely enjoyed Parker's growth much more than Summer's throughout the book. But overall the characters were not developed and fleshed out as they should have been for the emotional weight the story was supposed to carry.
It was fun to see the couples and friends from the previous books, as well. I love when you have that kind of cross over. Plus, they were super supportive.
The overall pacing and plot of this one was just ok for me. I felt like the book dragged in a lot of places. Almost as if the author wasn't sure what else to put into the story to make it interesting so she kept harping on the same things. I was expecting so much more. I really wanted to see the chemistry between these two life long friends develop and grow but instead we had it blasted from Parker's side and totally cloaked from Summer's side. It was frustrating for me. And there were some plot lines that were alluded to but never fully realized (ie the "rumors" about Parker, which I'm still a bit confused about).
Finally, their friendship break just seemed to odd to me. Like, this is your person for all of your life and you have one thing happen and suddenly you toss them aside like they mean nothing? I just didn't find that relatable given the circumstances.
I wanted to love this one as much as the two previous books, especially since this was the relationship I was most looking forward to see bloom and grow, but it just didn't hit the way I needed it to. It was definitely not as strong as the first two books. Will I continue to read this author? I sure will. I like her her writing and the way she tells stories.
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