Characters This Summer Will Be Different Carley Fortune

Joy Character Analysis: The Ex-Fiancée Who Became a Friend

Overview

Joy is Felix’s ex-fiancée and Bridget’s former best friend. She is first introduced as a shadowy figure—the woman who broke Felix’s heart and shattered Bridget’s trust. Yet, as the novel unfolds, Joy emerges as a gracious, self-aware, and genuinely kind person who helps Lucy see the past with fresh eyes. Her presence complicates the simple “villain” narrative built around her and forces both Bridget and Lucy to reexamine their judgments.

Plot Role

Joy appears in three key scenes. At a Thanksgiving party thrown by Zach (Chapter 17), Lucy meets Joy for the first time. Joy compliments Lucy’s floral work, helps get a drunk Bridget home, and shows a warmth that contradicts Bridget’s bitter stories. At the Tyne Valley Oyster Festival (Chapters 24–25), Joy volunteers as a timer for the shucking competition. Her easy friendship with Felix and her casual kindness toward Lucy deepen Lucy’s jealousy and insecurity. Finally, near the end of the novel (Chapter 38), Bridget reveals that Joy is engaged to Colin Campbell, marking Joy’s permanent move into her own happy future. Joy’s arc shows that she is not a rival to be feared but a woman who made difficult choices and now lives peacefully with those choices.

Motivations and Traits

Joy’s actions reveal several consistent traits:

  • Honesty and self-reflection – She ended her engagement to Felix because she needed to “find myself” and “I don’t know who I am,” phrases that become inside jokes between Bridget and Lucy. But Joy’s later behavior shows she was genuinely trying to grow rather than be cruel.
  • Gracious toward Lucy – At the party, she compliments Lucy’s work and later asks about peonies. There is no jealousy or malice in her tone; she treats Lucy as a peer.
  • Effort to repair friendships – She reaches out to Bridget by text, slowly rebuilding the connection. At the festival, Bridget hugs her, and Joy reciprocates warmly.
  • Community rootedness – She volunteers at the oyster festival, knows Felix’s circle, and even jokes about being set up with a granddaughter. She belongs to the island in the same way Felix does.

The text explicitly shows Joy as kind and composed, but Lucy’s internal monologue reveals her own jealousy: Joy is “perfect and genuinely nice” and “makes me feel like a moose in a maxidress.” This contrast between Joy’s actual conduct and Lucy’s anxiety is a deliberate narrative device.

Chronological Arc

  • Past (seven years before the novel) – Joy and Felix date through high school and beyond. Felix proposes at twenty-two; Joy accepts but breaks it off a week later. The double breakup (with Felix and with Bridget) devastates both siblings.
  • Three years before the present – Lucy meets Joy at Zach’s Thanksgiving party. Joy helps put a drunk Bridget to bed and speaks kindly to Lucy, shattering Lucy’s preconceptions.
  • The present summer – At the oyster festival, Joy volunteers as a timer. She and Felix are at ease together. She has reconnected with Bridget via text.
  • Epilogue timeframe – Bridget announces that Joy is engaged to Colin Campbell. Joy is now happily settled, having moved on fully from Felix.

Relationships

With Felix – They share a history of genuine love and respect. Felix describes the breakup as painful, but they made a conscious effort to be civil because they “know all the same people.” By the festival, they are friends—teasing, hugging, and comfortable. Joy is the ex who remains part of Felix’s world because she never stopped being part of his community.

With Bridget – The friendship that ended after Joy broke up with Felix. Bridget felt abandoned and created a “good friendship origin story” with Joy as the villain. Yet, by the present, Joy reaches out and Bridget slowly lets her back in. Bridget’s emotional reaction at the party (drinking heavily, crying) reveals that she never truly stopped caring.

With Lucy – Initially an object of jealousy, Joy becomes a mirror that forces Lucy to confront her own insecurities. Joy is everything Lucy fears she is not: effortlessly part of Felix’s life, physically fit, and comfortable in PEI culture. But Joy’s genuine friendliness also disarms Lucy, subtly teaching her that the past does not have to be a threat.

Key Decisions and Consequences

  • Ending the engagement – Her most defining choice. The consequence was the loss of Felix and Bridget, but also the start of her own growth. She later reconnects with Bridget and becomes a supportive ex.
  • Reaching out to Bridget – A deliberate act to repair an old friendship. It works: Bridget admits she and Joy have been texting, and the reunion at the festival is emotional.
  • Maintaining friendship with Felix – Rather than cutting ties, Joy chooses civility and eventually ease. This allows Felix to move on without resentment and shows that romantic endings can evolve into platonic care.

Theme and Symbol Connections

  • Secrets and Honesty – Joy lives openly. She does not hide her history or her feelings. Her honesty contrasts with Lucy’s and Bridget’s secret-keeping. Joy’s candor about why she ended the engagement forces others to be honest about their own fears.
  • Forbidden Love and Loyalty – Joy was the “forbidden” topic between Bridget and Lucy. Lucy breaks Bridget’s rule by falling for Felix, but Joy herself never breaks a loyalty—she simply chooses her own path.
  • Belonging and Home – Joy embodies rootedness. She is part of the island in a way Lucy initially is not. Her presence reminds Lucy that belonging takes time and choice, not just romantic attachment.
  • Self-Discovery and Growth – Joy’s entire narrative is about self-discovery. She leaves a good relationship because she does not yet know herself. By the end, she is engaged to Colin, happy, and at peace—a quiet testament to the theme that growth sometimes requires losing what you love.
  • Friendship vs Romance – Joy’s ability to be a friend to Felix after romance ends is a model for how love can transform. Lucy eventually learns that friendship and romance can coexist, as she and Felix build their own partnership on the island.

Character Questions and Answers

  1. Why did Joy break off her engagement to Felix?
    Joy told Felix she needed to “find myself” and didn’t know who she was. The novel shows this was a genuine, if painful, move toward self-discovery rather than a rejection of Felix as a person.

  2. Does Joy ever become friends with Bridget again?
    Yes. Joy reaches out first, and they begin texting. By the oyster festival, Bridget hugs her, and later, Bridget announces Joy’s engagement without bitterness, showing the friendship is mending.

  3. Is Joy jealous of Lucy?
    The text gives no evidence of jealousy. Joy speaks warmly to Lucy, compliments her work, and asks for her opinion on peonies. Joy seems fully moved on and happy in her own life.

  4. What does Joy symbolize for Lucy?
    Joy represents the life Felix had before Lucy—a community, a shared history, and a woman who belongs. Lucy’s jealousy is a mirror for her own insecurity about fitting into Felix’s world.

  5. Does Joy ever appear after the oyster festival?
    She is mentioned offstage: Bridget tells Lucy that Joy is engaged to Colin Campbell. Joy’s life continues apart from the main couple, underscoring that both women found their own happy endings.

Further Reading