Meet Me at the Lake
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER â A random connection sends two strangers on a daylong adventure where they make a promise one keeps and the other breaks, with life-changing effects, in this breathtaking novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After.
Fern Brookbanks has wasted far too much of her adult life thinking about Will Baxter. She spent just twenty-four hours in her early twenties with the aggravatingly attractive, idealistic artist, a chance encounter that spiraled into a daylong adventure in the city. The timing was wrong, but their connection was undeniable: they shared every secret, every dream, and made a pact to meet one year later. Fern showed up. Will didnât.
At thirty-two, Fernâs life doesnât look at all how she once imagined it would. Instead of living in the city, Fernâs back home, running her motherâs lakeside resortâsomething she vowed never to do. The place is in disarray, her ex-boyfriendâs the manager, and Fern doesnât know where to begin.
She needs a planâa lifeline. To her surprise, it comes in the form of Will, who arrives nine years too late, with a suitcase in tow and an offer to help on his lips. Will may be the only person who understands what Fernâs going through. But how could she possibly trust this expensive-suit wearing mirage who seems nothing like the young man she met all those years ago. Will is hiding something, and Fernâs not sure she wants to know what it is.
But ten years ago, Will Baxter rescued Fern. Can she do the same for him?
Fern Brookbanks has wasted far too much of her adult life thinking about Will Baxter. She spent just twenty-four hours in her early twenties with the aggravatingly attractive, idealistic artist, a chance encounter that spiraled into a daylong adventure in the city. The timing was wrong, but their connection was undeniable: they shared every secret, every dream, and made a pact to meet one year later. Fern showed up. Will didnât.
At thirty-two, Fernâs life doesnât look at all how she once imagined it would. Instead of living in the city, Fernâs back home, running her motherâs lakeside resortâsomething she vowed never to do. The place is in disarray, her ex-boyfriendâs the manager, and Fern doesnât know where to begin.
She needs a planâa lifeline. To her surprise, it comes in the form of Will, who arrives nine years too late, with a suitcase in tow and an offer to help on his lips. Will may be the only person who understands what Fernâs going through. But how could she possibly trust this expensive-suit wearing mirage who seems nothing like the young man she met all those years ago. Will is hiding something, and Fernâs not sure she wants to know what it is.
But ten years ago, Will Baxter rescued Fern. Can she do the same for him?
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Really sweet story, although was annoyed at the ending how the guy acts like a damsel in distress. But the novel goes back and forward to past tense and present tense.
As I sit here trying to write a review for Meet Me at the Lake, the second novel by Carley Fortune AND the author of one of my favorite books from last year, a long, slow sigh slips out from between my lips. Iâm starting to feel like a broken record when Iâm writing about the books that follow some of my all-time favorite books. My expectations are unrealistically high, and Iâm always longing for those same feelings I had when I read the previous books: the magic, the all-consuming angst. Itâs too much to live up to! I havenât found a good way to lower those expectations before I dive in. If anyone has any tips, Iâd love to hear them.
Sometimes a few negative early reviews will do the trick. Theyâll lower my expectations a bit. But I hadnât seen any for Meet Me at the Lake before I started reading. BUT I also try to avoid too many reviews in fear of spoilers. Itâs a no-win situation for me.
And already itâs sounding as if I didnât enjoy this book, which is SO not true. I did. But it wasnât the five-star gush fest I had with Every Summer After. I have a lot to unpack with Meet Me at the Lake, and unfortunately, I donât think I can do it without being spoiler-y. But I wonât spoil the ending!
Probably the best way for me to handle this review is just to talk about what worked and what didnât work for me.
What worked:
The setting. Fortune is phenomenal at placing her characters in a setting that has a life of its own. I loved the lakeside resort with the small cabins, Ă la Dirty Dancing. I also loved Fern and Willâs day spent in Toronto that was the setting of the alternate past chapters.
Fortune also creates wonderfully flawed and layered characters. I donât always agree with their choices, but Iâm okay with that, because itâs true of people in real life, as well. Her side characters are usually fleshed out, too, giving their presence in the story gravity and meaning. I adored Fernâs motherâs story with Peter. While I didnât think it was necessarily very plausible, I appreciated the romance of it.
I loved, loved, loved how she included mental health issues in this book, especially an issue thatâs not well-known or talked about much. It was brave to include something she has personally experienced, and I can only applaud her for it. I would love to see more of that from her. There was a plot point in how she delivered this issue, though, that I thought could have been done better or made more realistic. More about that in a bit.
What didnât work for me:
I know some readers were not a fan of Every Summer After because one of the most-hated tropes was included, and came as a major surprise in the book. Itâs not a trope that personally bothers me. Real life is messy and I like that to be included in my books, as well, but I can completely understand why it would be a trigger for many people. So, I know many readers were concerned that it would be a trope that made an appearance in this book, as well, and while it is different, I was surprised the author even went anywhere near that trope again. Maybe (hopefully) sheâs completely unaware of how strongly some readers felt about it in Every Summer After, but I read the first half of this book unable to relax into it, worried about readers gathering their torches for her again. And while there is a difference between physical cheating and emotional cheating, I would think readers who have a problem with cheating would say theyâre both unacceptable. I need to go search out all those reviews I avoided before I read the book and mull over the general consensus.
While I knew Fern and Will were the main love story of the book, I couldnât help being pulled toward Fernâs ex Jamie, with a small part of me hoping Fern chose him in the end, although I knew it wouldnât really happen. I think Fortune made him too likable. He needed some flaws or we needed to know more about him in the now parts of the book. I needed to hear a conversation between him and Fern giving me closure. I needed to know that he got his happy ending, too. Maybe she has a book planned for him and thatâs why we didnât get more?? I would be okay with that.
And now the mental health plot issue that I mentioned above: We find out Will deals with anxiety and specifically postpartum depression/anxiety/OCD. Iâm not really sure if it was one or all of the issues. In the copy I have, the author included a discussion about this very personal issue in the âBehind the Bookâ section at the end of the book (which you can also find in the Book Club Kit). She stated that she kept Willâs thoughts and issues a bit vague, and I completely appreciated that. The plot issue I had was that I wish it would have been his own child instead of his niece. Not that he wouldnât have those anxiety issues with a niece, but I felt like it would have been more effective, as well as throwing a more meaningful wrench into why he didnât reach out to Fern after their first meeting. The reveal just wasnât as impactful for me. It was a much harder stretch for me to sympathize with or understand, which took me out of the story.
Lastly (and much less serious), in this book Fern talks continually about making playlists. Right from the very beginning. I fully expected to find one at the back of my Barnes & Noble copy with all those fun extras when I flipped though to the end. I flipped through once, twice, then more slowly with one eye open not wanting to get spoiled. Nothing! I felt wronged! So, of course, I kept a running note with each song or artist mentioned, and Iâll be sharing my playlist on the blog.
After all that, would I recommend Meet Me at the Lake? Yes! I would especially recommend that you read this one by the lake or pool or beach, with a warm summer breeze to keep you company. I read this one slowly, and while itâs not how I expected I would read it, I enjoyed my longer stay within its pages.
Check out my reviews and playlist at A Book Wanderer
#popsugarreadingchallenge23 (prompt #27 - A #BookTok recommendation)
Sometimes a few negative early reviews will do the trick. Theyâll lower my expectations a bit. But I hadnât seen any for Meet Me at the Lake before I started reading. BUT I also try to avoid too many reviews in fear of spoilers. Itâs a no-win situation for me.
And already itâs sounding as if I didnât enjoy this book, which is SO not true. I did. But it wasnât the five-star gush fest I had with Every Summer After. I have a lot to unpack with Meet Me at the Lake, and unfortunately, I donât think I can do it without being spoiler-y. But I wonât spoil the ending!
Probably the best way for me to handle this review is just to talk about what worked and what didnât work for me.
What worked:
The setting. Fortune is phenomenal at placing her characters in a setting that has a life of its own. I loved the lakeside resort with the small cabins, Ă la Dirty Dancing. I also loved Fern and Willâs day spent in Toronto that was the setting of the alternate past chapters.
Fortune also creates wonderfully flawed and layered characters. I donât always agree with their choices, but Iâm okay with that, because itâs true of people in real life, as well. Her side characters are usually fleshed out, too, giving their presence in the story gravity and meaning. I adored Fernâs motherâs story with Peter. While I didnât think it was necessarily very plausible, I appreciated the romance of it.
I loved, loved, loved how she included mental health issues in this book, especially an issue thatâs not well-known or talked about much. It was brave to include something she has personally experienced, and I can only applaud her for it. I would love to see more of that from her. There was a plot point in how she delivered this issue, though, that I thought could have been done better or made more realistic. More about that in a bit.
What didnât work for me:
I know some readers were not a fan of Every Summer After because one of the most-hated tropes was included, and came as a major surprise in the book. Itâs not a trope that personally bothers me. Real life is messy and I like that to be included in my books, as well, but I can completely understand why it would be a trigger for many people. So, I know many readers were concerned that it would be a trope that made an appearance in this book, as well, and while it is different, I was surprised the author even went anywhere near that trope again. Maybe (hopefully) sheâs completely unaware of how strongly some readers felt about it in Every Summer After, but I read the first half of this book unable to relax into it, worried about readers gathering their torches for her again. And while there is a difference between physical cheating and emotional cheating, I would think readers who have a problem with cheating would say theyâre both unacceptable. I need to go search out all those reviews I avoided before I read the book and mull over the general consensus.
While I knew Fern and Will were the main love story of the book, I couldnât help being pulled toward Fernâs ex Jamie, with a small part of me hoping Fern chose him in the end, although I knew it wouldnât really happen. I think Fortune made him too likable. He needed some flaws or we needed to know more about him in the now parts of the book. I needed to hear a conversation between him and Fern giving me closure. I needed to know that he got his happy ending, too. Maybe she has a book planned for him and thatâs why we didnât get more?? I would be okay with that.
And now the mental health plot issue that I mentioned above: We find out Will deals with anxiety and specifically postpartum depression/anxiety/OCD. Iâm not really sure if it was one or all of the issues. In the copy I have, the author included a discussion about this very personal issue in the âBehind the Bookâ section at the end of the book (which you can also find in the Book Club Kit). She stated that she kept Willâs thoughts and issues a bit vague, and I completely appreciated that. The plot issue I had was that I wish it would have been his own child instead of his niece. Not that he wouldnât have those anxiety issues with a niece, but I felt like it would have been more effective, as well as throwing a more meaningful wrench into why he didnât reach out to Fern after their first meeting. The reveal just wasnât as impactful for me. It was a much harder stretch for me to sympathize with or understand, which took me out of the story.
Lastly (and much less serious), in this book Fern talks continually about making playlists. Right from the very beginning. I fully expected to find one at the back of my Barnes & Noble copy with all those fun extras when I flipped though to the end. I flipped through once, twice, then more slowly with one eye open not wanting to get spoiled. Nothing! I felt wronged! So, of course, I kept a running note with each song or artist mentioned, and Iâll be sharing my playlist on the blog.
After all that, would I recommend Meet Me at the Lake? Yes! I would especially recommend that you read this one by the lake or pool or beach, with a warm summer breeze to keep you company. I read this one slowly, and while itâs not how I expected I would read it, I enjoyed my longer stay within its pages.
Check out my reviews and playlist at A Book Wanderer
#popsugarreadingchallenge23 (prompt #27 - A #BookTok recommendation)
I struggled to connect with this book. The premise was predictable, the characters weren't interesting, and I didnât care much about their arcs. The central conflict felt forced and manufactured. Meh.
DNF @ 39%. Just couldnât get into the storyline/conflict. Beautiful writing though! Looking forward to Carley Fortuneâs other books!
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