I really loved Carley Fortunes first book but I think this one just wasn’t for me sadly. I can’t wait to read more of her books in the future!

I enjoyed my time reading Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune. It didn't have the same spark for me like Ever Summer After, but the story was sill good. Loved the settings, the past/present storytelling format, and the writing itself.

Meet Me At the Lake took me so long to read and I can't pinpoint why. I think maybe I read it at a time I shouldn't have? Every Summer After filled the hole that The Summer I Turned Pretty left when the season ended and I think it paired perfectly with that sequence of events but Meet Me at the Lake did not have the same luxury.

I felt this dragged on a lot when I just wanted it to pick up the pace. I love that Fortune writes her books like they're a love letter to Canada but I did not really enjoy how this played out. I also need romance books to find a different plot device other than the third act breakup because it is always unnecessary and ALWAYS annoying. This one was both. We could've found another way to pull us over the problem/resolution arc and yet, here we stand, third act breakup.

I love second chance romances and I am genuinely surprised at how much I didn't care for it this time around. The past and present POV shifts were fine but I think by a certain point I just wasn't clicking with the story. The end was good so that saved us from an even worse review but overall, it missed its mark.

I enjoyed this one more than Carley's other novel. A story of two people brought together for one day and the repercussions that has for the rest of their lives. Fun characters and some steamy romance. A great beach read!

Due to Carley Fortune's success with "Every Summer After" there is a lot of hype and expectation for her follow-up. It was a surprise that this wasn't actually a sequel but rather a different stand-alone. This one did not live up to the first, and Carley herself (in the acknowledgments) says that it was a tough grind to write this book compared to the first which almost magically was written. The character development was lacking as was the chemistry. I found Will to be a very dis-likable "book boyfriend". One thing that I must commend was Carley as a narrator - she was fantastic as Fern.

The last thing Fern ever wanted to do was to take over the family business of running the lakeside resort. Yet, at age 32, after the death of her mother, Fern finds herself trying to revive the outdated and fledging resort beside her ex-boyfriend. To make matters worse, Will, a perfect stranger with whom she spent the most memorable hours with of her life nine years ago, checks in at the resort for a lengthy stay. Fern has spent the last decade thinking about Will, remembering the sting she felt the day he failed to meet her at the lake, like they had planned. Fern must face the pull of saving her mother's legacy, living the life she chose for herself, and navigating dealing with the presence of Will.

I really liked Every Summer After, so when I saw this author had a new book coming out, I was excited to read it. Unfortunately, this one wasn't as good to me. I do like reading second chance romances, but the way this one played out was not for me.

After spending 24 magical hours together during their college years, Fern and Will reconnect years later as much different people. She’s struggling to keep her mother’s lakeside resort going in the midst of her grief over her death, and he shows up as a consultant working to help her revitalize the business. I thought this book was a thoughtful take on a second chance romance, with the characters struggling with regret and life choices that led them down different paths than they imagined for themselves. The tension between them could be cut with a knife, and I loved seeing their relationship and trust build back up as the broke down each others walls.

A lovely romance by Carley Fortune, Meet Me at the Lake follows Fern whose life just hasn't turned out the way she expected. Suddenly forced to run her mother's lakeside lodge (that she vowed not to return to), Fern must manage a business, friendship and the opportunity to fall in love with a man she thought she would not see again.

Cute story of two people reconnecting after many years apart, told in two time periods, with a summer camp as the backdrop..

I thought I was getting an epic second chance romance novel. What I actually got was a bunch of messy crap with characters who can't make up their damn minds.

Flashing between the past and the present, this book tells the story of Fern and Will who spent one magical night together and then promise to reunite the same day the next year, only Will doesn't show up. Nine years after they were supposed to meet up, he shows up unexpectedly throwing Fern at an already hard time in her life.

I can't exactly put my finger on why this book didn't work, but the word "lackluster" is flashing in neon colored lights as I type this. Will was just such a weak hero (in terms of plotting) and Fern really had no personality at all. Why did these people like each other??? They were both hot? They both liked getting high? I don't get the attraction at all.

It made me sad I didn't like this book, because Every Summer After was actually really great. But this one missed the mark, it may have even missed the entire map.

i’ll read anything and everything written by carley fortune, she’s an instant buy author for me so i was incredibly excited to read this! i loved her take on the love at first sight trope. nothing compares to a lake romance either and she sure knows how to write it!

There’s been a lot of hype around this book, and lemme tell ya, it really did it for me.

I was a little nervous about going into this one after hearing all the hype but somehow I loved it even more.

This book is smelling sunscreen in June and realizing Summer is finally here… it’s staying up all night at a sleepover with your best friend, it’s carefully curated mix-tapes, it’s stolen first kisses under the bleachers, it’s your first heartbreak, your first everything.

This book hit me right in the feels and I already want to read it again. Thank you Carley Fortune for melting my heart!

I loved Every Summer After, so when I heard Carley Fortune had another summer romance coming out, I was sold.
Unfortunately, this felt a little rushed to me. Wes didn't feel fully developed as a character, he was unlikeable and never took accountability for his actions. His sister had to do so for him. I would have loved to see his character grow and be able to own up to his short comings or struggles. Otherwise to me, it isn't really believable that they would get back together.

Carley Fortune has done it again. I’m literally OBSESSED with her books, her characters, her writing style. I’m never disappointed. The feelings you feel in this book are so real I feel like I’m watching it all go down in person. Would totally re read.

I have seen online where people either loved or hated this book and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Carley Fortune has her own writing style were her heroine is discovering herself along with a little romance.

For me, this wasn't the kind of enchanting, heartwarming romance that prompts swooning.
Instead, it portrayed a realistic relationship between two individuals who encountered each other at an inopportune moment and needed to undergo personal growth before reconnecting.

I found this portrayal particularly compelling. Love, as depicted, is tangled and flawed, prompting moments where I wanted to shout in frustration at the characters. Yet, I also empathized with them and valued their imperfections.

Moreover, the book impeccably captures the essence of summer. It is elegantly written, adorned with a plethora of evocative metaphors.

I was expecting a lot more out of this after really enjoying Every Summer After last year. While I fairly liked the storyline, there was too much pot smoking and infidelity in this to thoroughly immerse myself in it.

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

Read if you like:
Second chance romance
Canadian authors/setting
Mixed tapes
Dirty Dancing references

Thank you @prhaudio for the complimentary audiobook through LibroFM and @berkleypub for the digital ARC through NetGalley.

I'm such a huge fan of Carley Fortune's last book that I went into this with very high expectations - and I was not let down! I loved everything about this, from the pretty cover to the second chance romance trope, to Fern & Will's characters. I loved the way they got to know each other and then found themselves separated, I especially loved learning more about Fern's mom, and feel like the chapters and sections from her point of view really added such a great layer of depth and emotional connection to the story. The descriptions were so good, I feel like there were parts of the resort described where I could picture it perfectly in my mind - I'd love this as a movie or TV show!!

Okay, listen. I'm all for a second-chance romance trope. But Meet Me at the Lake, by Carley Fortune, was not it. Main character Fern spends one day with Will (ten years ago). They meet by chance at the coffee shop she works at when he is hired to paint a mural there. They smoke a joint and take a walking tour of Toronto to see all of Will's favorite spots (he's a local - she's there for school). After talking all day about their lives and what they're each expected to do with their futures (she doesn't want to run the lakeside resort her mom owns and he wants to be an artist), they each write five things they want to accomplish this year and plan to meet back up at Fern's family's resort in one year to see how things have worked out. Cute, right? I thought so, too. But you can probably guess where this is going.

Ten years later, Fern's mother has passed away and left Fern in charge of the resort. She's working there with her ex-boyfriend, trying to decide to keep or sell the property when a tall, handsome man walks up to the check-in desk. It's Will, who thinks he's there to meet with Fern's mother and talk about the business side of the resort. Fern and Will reconnect, fall in love, and everything is happily ever after...right? Well, not really.

Told in alternating timeframes (Now and 10 Years Ago), we get to see how Will and Fern interacted on their one spectacular day together 10 years ago, and how Fern is dealing with the fact that Will never showed up at the resort nine years ago. We also get to hear entry's from Fern's mother's diaries from the time she realizes she's pregnant with Fern. I really, really liked those chapters.

I thought I'd love this, but I was so irritated that after ONE DAY together, Fern was so caught up with Will that she's still pining for him. I was irritated that Will still made her chase after him now, 10 years later. I was annoyed that he ran away instead of talking with her and even the reveal in the ending didn't persuade me to like this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.