A tragedy on a hot summer night at a lake house forever alters the lives of two best friends—and the man they both love. But the truth isn’t as simple as it appears in this intricate novel of love, friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness.

Leah has been waiting for this moment a long time: Her boyfriend, Ollie, is taking her to his family’s home on Seneca Lake for a week of lazy summer bliss, boating, and barbeque. The couple have been together four years, and Leah is convinced that Ollie is finally going to pop the question. Leah can’t wait to share the joyous news with her best friend, June, who is joining them on their getaway, and whose presence will make everything feel more real.

My thoughts:
This was my second book by the author and it wasn't my favorite. Some parts felt repetitive to me. Reading the synopsis I thought there would be more "mystery" to the story but there really wasnt. Overall it was okay. Not my favorite but maybe this one just wasn't my cup of tea!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for my honest review.

One Night at the Lake had a great setup: two women tell of their relationships with Ollie seven years apart. I liked the narrative style and I found the two female leads likable until I didn't anymore, especially June's character took a nosedive. It was more of a story about complicated friendships and I was anticipating a mystery, maybe even a thriller from the description. Ollie was literally the worst and I couldn't even imagine what the women saw him. It was a fast read though and I did like the writing style, the storyline just wasn't for me.

It is arguably the most important rule of the Girl Code - do not date your best friend's boyfriend. So, yes June Kang knows that she is walking through dangerous territory when she falls in love with her best friend Leah's former boyfriend, Ollie. But is it really breaking Girl Code if your best friend is dead?

See, Leah was killed in a tragic accident at Ollie's lake house seven years prior, and although June is still grieving the loss of her closest friend, she also can not deny the attraction between herself and Ollie after running into him after not seeing him since Leah's death. In fact, the pair are now engaged and headed back to the lake where both their worlds were shattered seven years ago. June has not returned to the lake since Leah's death, and she doesn't know if she is prepared to face the ghosts of her past, especially when life-altering secrets are uncovered.

Bethany Chase's new novel One Night at the Lake is an exploration of friendship and how those we love and lose continue to affect our lives after they are gone. Told in alternating chapters narrated by both Leah and June, One Night at the Lake travels back and forth in time to the fateful lake house, telling this story in parallel narratives. We learn about the events leading up to Leah's untimely death, while also exploring how her passing is affecting those who loved her most seven years later. We also learn about both June and Leah's relationship with each other, as well as how their individual relationships with Ollie further complicate what happened that night at the lake.

More relationship fiction than suspense thriller, One Night at the Lake is foremost a story of friendship and young love. Chase visualizes vivid characters and writes believable interactions between Leah, June, & Ollie, enveloping readers in the unconventional love triangle they form. Slowly teasing details, Chase gradually uncovers more about Leah and Ollie's relationship and how June comes into play, while also exploring how grief and guilt have manifested in June since Leah's passing. In all, One Night at the Lake is a tantalizing tale that races toward the truth behind why Leah died that night at the lake.

I really liked this author and this book did not disappoint, it was an appropriately paced, page-turner that will have me hooked throughout the story.

One Night at the Lake is a great story with well-crafted characters that draw you into the story and holds you til the very end.

In this story, we find Leah awaiting the moment in which her boyfriend Ollie takes her to his family's home for a week during the summer. After four years together she is convinced he is finally going to pop the question.

Jump to seven years later and now Ollie is taking June to the family home. With memories of her friend Leah surfacing and the past coming to light will she survive?

I really loved this book in a new to me author. The characters and location really and to the story. I can't wait to read the next one. This book keeps you guessing until the end.

I was able to read this book thanks to NetGalley. It was an excellent quick thriller and I enjoyed it. I recommended it my friends and family. Thanks again to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I had read another book by this author before and really liked it - and though I am very behind in reading this one, I have been looking forward to getting to it. I really enjoy this author's books so much, they are so raw with emotions and have such genuinely written relationships in them. I loved the dual points of view in this book - switching back and forth with the past and the present and between Leah and June. I also thought this book dealt so well with grief and how it affects people, especially those who go through traumatic events like those in the book. I was hooked on this book from the start - I didn't want to put it down and even when I had to I felt like my thoughts were still trapped inside the book. I loved the portrayals of relationships in this book, not only of romantic relationships and the interplay between the participants of those but also within strong friendships, siblings and also child-parent relationships. The characters in this book were very well written, I thought the plot and especially how the plot was approached was super, and I would definitely recommend this one - it was a great read!

DNF
I loved Chase's previous books but had the hardest time getting into One Night at the Lake. I hope to get to this book again some day, but for now, I'm setting it aside.

Leah and June are best friends. Leah is hoping that Ollie will propose. Then seven years later Ollie is taking his fiancé, June, to his family's lake house for the weekend. It's the first time that June has been to the lake since the night that changed everything. Who is to blame for what happened? We find out about that weekend and what everyone is going through now by June's and Leah's alternating timelines and perspectives, as the tragedy of the past slowly unfolds.

I actually read this book a while ago but I still think about it and what happened to these three people that one night on the lake. This is definitely a story that will stick with you, just like it did me.

So this book goes back and forth between Leah (7 years ago) and June (current day.) We know something happened to Leah 7 years ago at the lake, and now June is engaged to the same guy Leah was back then. The thing is, we don’t find out what actually happens until about 80-85% into the book. And to me, it was sort of a huge lead up to a bunch of nothing. There was a twist, but it wasn’t a shocking twist. And I was starting to get bored with the story. To me there is an ick factor of the weird little love triangle. I did like Leah and June as characters, but it wasn’t enough for me to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Bottom Line: Meh, I would skip this one.

**I received a copy of Little Secrets from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

Bethany Chase is one of my favorite writers and this book I had been waiting for, a long time! Its a really compelling story that will keep you guessing!

Mostly chick lit, part mystery about a girl who dies at the lake and the summer her best friend revisits the lake with her fiancé.

I found this novel very predictable and I simply couldn’t get sufficiently involved.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me this book.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books and Net Galley for the ARC.

I enjoyed this book. I liked that it told the story from two different perspectives. I wondered throughout the whole book about the One Night at the Lake and the story kept my attention (and up past my bedtime one night as I got close to the end and needed to know how it ended. Check it out...

I've been a fan of Bethany Chase's since her first book, The One That Got Away so I eagerly scoop up anything she releases. Chase continues to explore themes of complicated relationships and friendships, his time adding a mystery.

Chase has split the story into two timelines. The first with Leah that happened seven years ago and the second with her best friend, June which happens seven years later. In the past, Leah and Ollie have been dating for years and they're the couple that most people envy. Sickeningly cute, he's so perfect, she' so vibrant ... yada yada yada. Things seem so perfect that Leah is convinced he will propose during their upcoming trip to his family's place on Seneca Lake. She also invites June to accompany them for the week since she's broken up with her latest boyfriend and best friends don't leave their BFFs alone. Seven years later, June is now engaged to Ollie and dreads the return to Seneca Lake for another family get together. At this point not much is known as to why and how it's June and Ollie and not Leah and Ollie but we know that Leah hasn't been in the picture since the last visit. What happened is slowly revealed as the week at the lake in both the past and present slowly wears on. In both timelines everything starts out fine. It's a typical holiday with lots of fun and and lakeside shenanigans. Then the pressure sets in and little by little this perfect picture of happiness and contentment starts to become fractured.

Firstly, I purposefully didn't read the blurb too closely so I was not expecting the time jump and couple switch. I literally gasped when I realized June was now with Ollie. I did have a hard time at first reconciling that they were a couple in the future. It felt disloyal and disingenuous to Leah. But I think that's what I was supposed to feel without knowing all the specifics and come on, I wanted the gossip. Secondly, this mystery is my kind of catnip. I loved the suspense and how details gradually emerged via Leah and June's recollections and observations. The timeline flip flop was genius! It gave me the sense that I was there in the thick of things. There's something alluring about being a reader who knows that something foreboding is close at hand when reading it in real time (Leah's POV). June's timeline is all about reconciling the past with the present, and her guilt over moving on with her life which includes Ollie. There's so much baggage in that relationship that's been ignored; this trip will undoubtedly force them to finally unpack all of that. The contrast between the two trips to the lake couldn't be more apparent - the first starts out joyous and second one is just pure dread. (By the way, Leah's timeline does have a few possible triggers which I will list below. They could be spoilery so consider yourself warned.)

I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting but I was definitely surprised by how everything played out. Chase crafted a story that steadily escalated in tension, especially during June's POV as she began to fit in the missing pieces of their last time at the lake with Leah. I had not anticipated the ending as I let my imagination run wild with all sorts of possibilities but it was still shocking. One Night at the Lake is something different from Chase and I say if you're in for some mystery, good storytelling and a close examination of friendships, you'll be pleased with this one.

~ Bel

I had really high hopes for this one. From the synopsis, it sounded dark, mysterious & heartwrenching, Unfortunately, I just couldn't get invested in the story. I set it down and tried again a few months later. Well, this one is just not for me. Thanks for the opportunity to be an early reader.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this ARC of One Night at the Lake by Bethany Chase.

June and Leah are best friends, and after June leaves an unpleasant relationship, Leah invites her to the lake house of her boyfriend Ollie. Leah is so hopeful that this trip will be the one where Ollie finally pops the question, because after four years of dating, she is ready.

Fast forward to a few years later. Leah has passed away and June and Ollie are now together. Forever racked with guilt over falling in love with Leah's boyfriend, June is desperate to get to the bottom of what really happened on the night that Leah died, or was killed?

It took me a minute to get into this one. It was almost as though the "voices" of the two women were too similar. Ollie Ollie Ollie. So I was constantly tasked with who was who. However, by about halfway, I became much more hooked and interested in the story. I enjoyed the ending.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC!*

This book was a miss for me.

Like others have said in their reviews, neither of the main characters is likable, and that really impacted my whole experience with the book. The writing starts out snappy and really good, but I felt like it went downhill about a quarter of the way in.

Also, in terms of the story, it was just fine. It didn't feel relatable, so that alongside not liking the characters (but also not full out hating them) was challenging.

I absolutely love stories with alternative viewpoints with 2 characters. 2 women in love with same man, This book made me wanting more. I love Bethanys novels!