Despite loving Every Summer After, this really did not hit for me. It dragged, none of the characters were likable, and by the end I was rooting for Peter to leave and start his own bakery - far, far away from Fern.

This book was absolutely STUNNING. One of the best books that I have read in a long time. The characters were amazing, the story was beautiful, and the setting was amazing. I cried when it was over because of how beautiful it was and how much that I am going to miss this world. I can't stop thinking about it.

Meet Me at the Lake is a second-chance romance.

Fern Brookbanks is dealing with the loss of her mother after a car accident. Her mother had left the resort she owned to her. Fern knows she needs help managing the property but she doesn’t know if she wants to do it. Her life is in the big city, of Toronto. She has been living there for the last few years. Then, as if losing her mother was not enough shock, she learns her mother had hired a company to help her stay in the black and the person who shows up is none other than Will Baxter, the man she met ten years before and who broke her heart.

Ten years earlier, Fern had the best day with Will. Will, who is an artist, is painting a mural in the coffee shop where she was working. As soon as they meet, a spark is there. Yet, both have a significant other but they make a pact to see each other a year later at the resort. A year later, Fern is there but Will never shows up.

In the present, Will is in front of her and she is still furious at him but she knows she needs his help if she wants to keep the business afloat or if she decides to sell.

Meet Me at the Lake had 3 timelines if we count Fern's mom's diary entries and one main POV.

It was easy to like Fern. I understood why she didn’t want to take over the resort after college. She wanted to do her own thing. I like Will except during the conflict. He didn’t act the way I thought he should.

Overall, I did like it and I would read another romance by Carley Fortune.

Cliffhanger: No

3.5/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Viking via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

For such a new author Carley Fortune has really cornered the beach/cottage read market. As a Ontarian I love the setting and can;t wait to read more from her!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

I liked but didn’t love Every Summer After, and was hoping Carley Fortune’s sophomore novel would be more to my liking.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case - this book/maybe this author is just not for me.
I did not feel any connection to the characters or feel like they had any connection or chemistry with each other. The plot just fell flat, I felt like random bits of information were introduced and then just forgotten about and never mentioned again. It had the potential to be an interesting story, but it just didn’t work for me.

I enjoy a good Canadian story and what could be better than one about cottage country in Ontario. This is the perfect summer read and i really enjoy all the references to my hometown. It was a warm and lovely read

I honestly cannot bring myself to write a single good thing about this book. I truly, truly did not like it and I'm upset I had to suffer through this.

Another great summer romance from Carley Fortune! While I didn't love this one quite as much as EVERY SUMMER AFTER, it was still a fantastic beach read (and can we talk about the gorgeous color scheme on that cover??)!

I really loved the angst and secret reveal of this book. Yes it is more Women's Fiction than romance but it has the summertime goodness. As always, Carley is a delight to chat wth you and I will continue to look forward to her summer romances.

i love the second chance romance trope and really enjoyed this one! the characters were very well fleshed out and three dimensional. i just had some issues with the plot and found some plot points to be highly unrealistic, which prevented me from fully being invested in the book.

Meet Me At The Lake
By Carley Fortune

I read Carley Fortune’s first book, EVERY SUMMER AFTER and was so emotionally wasted after that amazing book, that this book was a highly anticipated read for me, and wowsers – yes yes yes Carley Fortune just knows how to tug at heart strings with her poignant and emotional stories.

This is a story of Fern and Will, whose paths have crossed about a decade ago, and an unforgettable 24 hours together, with a promise to see each other a year after. But Will doesn’t show up. Fast forward ten years and Fern inherits the poorly managed lakeside resort after her mother’s death and Will shows up hired by Fern’s mother – but its not the same Will she knows from the past. As we peel the layers, and discover what happened along with Fern’s mother’s diaries,

I was emotionally gutted by this story. This sentimental and endearing story is beautifully told and had all of Carley Fortune’s heartwrenching and heartwarming signature style that I just adore.

📖 BOOK REVIEW

BOOK: Meet Me at the Lake
AUTHOR: Carley Fortune
FORMAT: Physical
GENRE: Contemporary Romance
DID I CRY: No
RATING: 4/10
⭐️⭐️

MY THOUGHTS

Woof.

After loving EVERY SUMMER AFTER, I had high expectations for this book despite seeing some not-so-great reviews, and unfortunately I join those with this one😞

I’ll start by saying that my qualms do not lay with her writing. Carley Fortune is a solid writer & for that reason I kept going until the end. If a book has bad writing, I’m immediately putting it down. I was pretty into this book for the first 25% ish, but from there unfortunately it lost me completely.

The tropes… i simply can👏🏼 not👏🏼 with the cheating trope. Literally ANYthing else but that. Immediate star reduction. Instalove 95% of the time also does not work for me and this book falls into that 95%, but combined with second chance is a recipe for disaster. I could not under any circumstance get behind these two characters meeting and spending one single day together, and 10 years later are acting like long lost lovers. No please! The characters IMO were immature and grew more irritating as the book went on. The conflict(s) / whole last 30% of the book… i was beside myself. Absolutely unfathomable. Not sure if I’ll continue reading Carley Fortune’s books after this one!

A satisfying romance that isn't afraid to tackle real issues like grief, anxiety, and the messiness of growing up.

"I like how space is so overwhelming, it makes you feel insignificant and alive a the same time. It basically forces you to take a deep breath."

Thank you NetGalley for granting me access to a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I need several deep breaths after this. I didn't like Every Summer After, and I didn't like this. The cheating trope will absolutely never be a hit. Sometimes you don't need to find your way back to someone. Sometimes you don't need someone to rescue you, or change you, or help you figure out how to live your own life... you need to do it yourself.

I don't know what else to say... again.

Carley Fortune knows how to make me fall in love with a summer book. This book didn't hit me quite as hard as Fortune's debut "Every Summer After" but it's a great read by a great author.

Didn't love this as much as I did Every Summer After, but it's still an entertaining, feel good romance! Of course it wouldn't be a Carley Fortune romance without some angst and pining, and I really enjoyed that. All in all, very solid, swoony read!

Excellent mental health representation in this second chance romance, once again set on a lake in Canada. The characters were relatable and believable and their problems seemed legitimate. I liked that the third act breakup was not really a thing.

After Fern’s mother dies, she ends up back home running the family’s lakeside resort. When Will arrives with goals of helping her mother turn the resort around, Fern is in shock. Why? Will was supposed to meet her at the lake nine years prior, and he never showed. Told through flashbacks, we learn about Fern and Will’s pasts - and their future?

To preface this review, I haven’t read Every Summer After, so I had zero expectations going into this - I’ve seen a lot of reviews that compare the two books. With that said, I really, really enjoyed this.

I know a lot of people didn’t like this one as much as the debut from this author, but I loved this one! I felt like I connected a little more with the MC from this one than the debut book. I could also empathize with the male MC a lot more. Definitely recommend checking this one out!!

This was such a fun read! I can't wait for more by this author. I would absolutely recommend! If you are looking for a book to get you back into reading. This is it!