Despite spending just 24 hours with a man named Will in her early twenties, Fern has not been able to get him out of her head for a decade. They had planned to meet one year later, but he never came. Now she’s thirty two and her life could not be more different from the life she had envisioned for herself when she met Will. After her mom’s passing, she finds herself running her mom’s lakeside resort. To her surprise, Will shows up at the resort, offering to help with the resort. But is her 9 years too late?

Carley Fortune’s debut, Every Summer After, was one of my top books of 2022, and I was so excited to get my hands on an early copy of Meet Me at the Lake. This book did not disappoint at all, in fact, I think I enjoyed it even more than her first book. The beautiful writing style that will get you in all the feels is similar to her first book. I loved how this story was told - mostly through the present day with flashbacks to that fateful day 10 years prior as well as entries from Fern’s mom’s diary sprinkled throughout. I really enjoyed the side characters and the people in Fern’s corner, supporting her and showing her love. Will was not my favorite love interest at first, but he really grew on me by the end. And most importantly was Fern. Her journey of accepting her life for what it became vs. what she envisioned for herself in her 20s was beautiful and so relatable. This book will easily be a favorite of mine this year.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing for the advance copy and to @berittalksbooks and @dg_reads for the buddy read!

Carley Fortune has solidified herself on my MUST READ list. I absolutely loved (and was all but gutted) by Every Summer After, so when given the opportunity by @prhaudio and @berkleyrom {partner} to read her newest novel, MEET ME AT THE LAKE early, I may have jumped nd squealed a little (okay, a lot!).

I know that so many people want Charlie’s story…but Fern and Will’s story is so powerful. Following in the structure of ESA, MMATL follows a dual timeline of alternating chapters, one set present time and the other working its way to the present from the past. Specifically with this novel, 10 years ago, when Fern and Will first met.

This is the perfect summer read, with Canadian settings, lake waves lapping at docks, but don’t be mistaken, it carries heavy content worth the read. Fortune investigates postpartum anxiety, loss of a parent, choices between passions and familial needs, and redemptive second chances.

Fern is thrown into ownership of Brookbanks’ Resort when her mother passes away unexpectedly, while Will is a true artist turned business consultant. The emotions between the two in a slow burn, walking on eggshells moments, was definitely palpable at times. The supporting characters around both Fern and Will are some of the best parts of the novel.

If you love lakes, second chances, coffee, art, family businesses and tender secondary characters, I recommend you read Meet Me at the Lake.

Also, if you haven’t read Every Summer After, READ IT. k, thanks, bye.

This book is a romance, but it's also so much more. The complicated relationship between Fern and her mother was really a huge part of this story.

Fern meets Will when she's 22 and living in Toronto, finishing University and soon to head back home to the resort where she grew up and help her mother run it, evenutally to take over. They spend an amazing day together and promise that they will have no contact, but in one year they will meet up at her family's resort. That day comes, Will is a no show, and Fern is crushed.

The other timeline is ten years later. Fern's mother has passed away, she's back at the resort - she lives and works in Toronto - trying to decide if she is going to take over or sell it. And who should show up but Will, who supposedly met with her mother months prior and was scheduled to spend time there this summer helping her get the resort back to what it once was.

The chemistry is still there, but Fern cannot forget how Will hurt her. There is so much to each of their stories that the other doesn't know. Watching them open up, share, and give love a second chance made for a great read.

During this time, Fern also revisits her mother's journals from when she was a young woman, which helps her to understand the love her mother had for her, and why she worked so hard at the resort. Peter, her mother's long time bestie and father figure to Fern, was also a fabulous character, as was her sassy friend Whitney!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review and for allowing me to be a part of this Berkely Buddy Read!

<i>Quick Stats</i>
<b>Age Rating: 18+</b>
<i>Spice Level: 2/5</i>
Over All: 4.25 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Setting: 4/5
Writing: 4.5/5

<i>Special thanks to Berkley Romance and NetGalley for an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions reflected in this review are my own.</i>

This book is basically Every Summer After in a different font. Big city girl returns to her lakefront haunt and is face to face with a guy she’s hasn’t seen in 10 years, and has been heartbroken over that entire time, and the book also deals with grief and loss of a mother, and like Every Summer After, this book takes place in alternating chapters between the past and now. Plus, it has all the angsty longing and vibes of a second chance romance, even if I’m not sure it technically counts as one.
That said, I liked Every Summer After, and I liked this book, too. I think that if you liked Fortune’s debut, you’ll like this one. If you didn’t like Fortune’s debut, you probably won’t like this one.
The writing in this book is engaging, absorbing. I was drawn into Fern’s emotions, her grief over her mother, her angst and confusion and heartbreak surrounding Will. Thinking back on it, I’m not sure Fern had much of a personality. I find myself unable to imagine her as a fully fleshed out person, which is an issue I had with Percy as well, however I never struggled to connect with her on an emotional level. Fern was going through it, but I don’t think there was much to her as a character outside of those specific emotions, and while that didn’t take away from my reading experience, I think it will effect how much the book sticks with me as time goes on. Fortune’s books are perpetually compared to Emily Henry’s books, and I agree with that statement, but Henry’s characters feel real to me in a way that Fortune’s don’t, and I think that’s why, despite having read them around the same time, Emily Henry’s books have stuck with me more than Every Summer After, and why I feel like Happy Place will have more of a lasting impact on me than Meet Me at the Lake.
Despite falling a little short of the comparison to Emily Henry (and let’s be honest, when has anyone actually lived up to that comparison?) Meet Me at the Lake was a fun, yet emotional, read. It’s one that I highly recommend. I know many people are looking forward to its release, and I don’t think they’ll be disappointed by it. I look forward to Carley Fortune’s next book, though I hope she branches out a little. I think she’s immensely talented, and I want to see what else she can tackle.

This book!! I enjoyed Ever Summer After but it feels like the author's writing took a great step up in her sophomore novel. This book was poignant and romantic and passionate. She really knows how to write a second chance romance.
This was so heartfelt. Reading about Fern working through the loss of her mother while also trying to decide on the future of her career was hard yet really fulfilling. It was a really touching journey as she came to terms with the complicated relationship she had with her mom and the resort she wanted to let go of but couldn’t leave. I loved that lake resort setting. It felt really cozy and kind of gave off small town vibes while still running as a business.
The characters felt so real and multi-faceted. The juxtaposition between Fern and Will’s past selves with their current selves provided a great duality that also brought out who they truly were. They were vulnerable with one another and they brought out that honest in sharing their hopes, dreams and fears. The alternating timeline format really added a lot to the story.
The romance was so good, the perfect mix of sweet, hot and emotional. Neither of these characters were perfect, but they fit together so well. They were (eventually) able to acknowledge their flaws and work through them together. Their persistence and love was so special.
There was a Behind the Book section in the end that includes a note to readers and some insight into some topics included in the book. It’s evident that a lot of the content was personal to the author and I so commend her for giving this glimpse into her own life.
I can’t wait to see what this author writes next!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I have been so excited for this one ever since I found out that Carley Fortune had written another book! I loved Every Summer After so so much and it led to my newfound love of romance novels.

This one was a joy to read (not surprising). Fern and Will were so freaking precious together. I could barely stand it. I also loved that their current love story took place in their 30s, with the flashbacks happening in their 20s. I’m in my early 30s and it was so nice to read a love story about people my age. Once you start getting older, you notice more how much teens and young adults dominate these kinds of stories.

When the story first started, I thought that the love story was going to be between Fern and Jamie (her ex-boyfriend that works at her mom’s resort and they’ve known each other forever). But the second chance romance came from a totally different man, and I loved getting to read about Fern and Will.

I also absolutely loved the focus on Fern and her mother. My mom and I are super close, but we went through some rough patches when I was a teenager (just like Fern did). So I resonated with all of that and cherished that component of the story. Love you, Mom.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for my gifted copy!

Fern was crushed when Will didn't show up for a planned meeting one year after they met. They'd had a wonderful day together- shared their hopes and dreams- but he didn't come when she expected him to. And now she's had to change her dreams because she's inherited a lake front resort from her mother and, as it turns out, Will is now a business consultant. A consultant hired by her mother. Yes this is a second chance romance and yes it moves and forth in time (including to Fern's mom) so you might think it's gonna be trope-y. And it is. a little, but it's also a very good read with characters you will care about. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Made me smile.

Meet Me at the Lake is a solid sophomore album from Carley Fortune. Similarly to her debut, the characters are well rounded and the romance is well fleshed out. Fern's experiences instantly hooked me and I was drawn into reading further.

I didn't get the chance to read Carley's first book so I was excited to download and read this one. She certainly gets the chemistry and connection in an amazing manner.
I like the characters and found the message of promises broken, healing, and romance to be portrayed well.

Meet Me At the Lake by Carley Fortune
Rating: 4 stars
Pub Date: 5/2

Will and Fern meet in Toronto at 22 and spend an unforgettable day together. They promise to meet at Fern’s family’s resort in Muskoka, Canada, one year later, except Will never shows up.

Fast forward ten years, and Fern finds herself back at Brookbanks, her family’s lakeside resort, which now belongs to her. She’s reeling from the unexpected death of her mother when Will shows up, claiming he made a deal with her mother before her death to help get the resort back on its feet. Fern has worked hard to forget all about Will, but now that he’s back in her life, she can’t help but be drawn to him once again.

Every Summer After was one of my favorite romance reads last year, and I was psyched to get my hands on an early copy of Meet Me At the Lake! And while this book has a much different vibe, I still really enjoyed it.

The story is told from Fern’s POV, and I found her character to be both complex and relatable. She had a complicated relationship with her mother and struggles throughout the story to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Not only does she have to face this decision in the wake of her mother’s death, but now Will is back in her life, and she doesn’t know how to feel about it.

Will has had a difficult time since he first met Fern, and as his story slowly comes out, he becomes more likable, and it’s easier to understand his choices. The chemistry between him and Fern is palpable, and I loved the pining on both sides. I personally think some spice would have added to the story, but that’s just my greedy, smut-loving heart talking.

The miscommunication drove me nuts at times, but I think it was essential for both Fern and Will’s character growth. I learned a new term reading this -postpartum OCD- which can affect anyone caring for a child, including adoptive parents. I loved the author’s note at the end explaining why this was an important topic for her to write about, and it seems like she wanted to make this an authentic and relatable part of the story.

The emotional depth of the characters, the pining, the mental health rep, the gorgeous summer setting (which reminded me a lot of Dirty Dancing), and the flashbacks to the day Will and Fern spent together made this an unputdownable story of love and healing.

Carley Fortune has become an auto-buy author for me, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next! Thank you so much to Berkley and NetGalley for the free copy of this book! Meet Me At the Lake will be available on May 2nd.

Every Summer After consumed my every waking thoughts. Meet Me At The Lake is a quieter consumption. You're not entirely sure you love it until you get to the character's breaking points. It rattles you from the inside out. This was a great, moving second chance romance but more importantly, it was a beautiful book about a mothers love for her daughter. Highly recommend!

Meet Me at the Lake is the newest release from Carley Fortune! I read the author’s debut, Every Summer After, last year and when offered an ARC of this book decided to give it a try. After reading both of this author’s books now I do think their reads border more on women’s/contemporary fiction with a romantic plot instead of just contemporary romance.

Fern is 32 and back at Brookbanks Resort after the passing of her mother. Her mother, and grandparents before that, have run the resort in Muskoka for decades but it was never something Fern wanted to do with her life. So now she has picked up her Toronto life to figure out what to do with the resort. While there Fern comes face to face with Will, someone she spent a whole day with a decade ago and has never forgotten. She finds out Will was hired my her mother as a business consultant to help with the resort. Fern and Will have a complicated history, they first met 10 years ago when he was painting a mural at one of the coffee shops she worked at. They then went on to spend the entire day and night together, before making plans to meet again one year later when he never showed up. So now he’s back in her life 9 years later and the story picks up from there.

“I spent just one day with Will, and it changed my life. I once thought he might be my soulmate. I once thought he and I would be here together under very different circumstances. I once thought a lot of things about Will.”

While there is a romance happening, this book does deal with more in Fern’s life…her deciding what to do with the lakeside resort, her complicated feelings with her late mother, her friendships and relationships with other people throughout her life, the reading of her late mother’s diary, the flashback chapters of her day with Will a decade ago. We find out throughout the story in present day that Will has a lot going on in his life. I wasn’t really a fan of the flashback moments and would have rather seen some more things flushed out in the present day. This book was a bit melancholy and not really what I expected. It was fine but maybe this author is just not for me, as I kind of felt the same after finishing their first book too.

Thank you to the publisher (Berkley) for an e-ARC via NetGalley. All thoughts in this review are my own. Meet Me at the Lake is out May 2, 2023!

With the unexpected death of her mother, Fern returns to her mother’s resort to sort things out with the man she used to date and… the man that got away. Will Baxter shows up as the resort’s consultant, hired by Fern’s mother. They hadn’t seen each other in 10 years because Will never showed when they were supposed to meet 9 years ago. Could this be the second chance Fern has always longed for?

I have to say that EVERY SUMMER AFTER was such a hit that I had high hopes for this one. I ended up enjoying the second chance romance, the dual timelines, Fern’s mother’s journal entries—getting bits of the story, piecing it as I kept reading. The audio was also excellent which really made me feel more immersed in Fern and Will’s romance.

It is impossible not to fall in love with Will and Fern. This is more than a love story—this is a life story. It asks hard questions and does a lot of real soul searching through fully fleshed out and developed characters. They are human and flawed like you and me. And that’s what makes them so lovable and real. A must read.

I devoured this book in less than a day! I started last night and finished first thing this morning. Carley Fortune is definitely my favorite author right now. I loved her first book and her second book did not disappoint! I felt all the angst and feelings and I loved the dual timelines. I loved the Dirty Dancing references. I think some people were nervous about the cheating trope but I think it was handled perfectly. I just really loved this romance. I couldn't put it down!

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group for my copy of Meet Me at the Lake! All thoughts are my own.

Last year at this time, I had a magical reader experience with Carley Fortune’s debut novel Every Summer After. I didn’t know anything about the book, but I’d been sent a copy early for review. I needed a new book to read while visiting my parents at my childhood home in Connecticut, and i dove in one more over coffee. It took one chapter and i was completely hooked and transported into a completely immersive story that I didn’t put down for the rest of the day. I took it to the beach and read in the sun as the story soaked into my bones. I read it under the dinner table as we dined al fresco. And then I finished it late at night, in the dark of my childhood bedroom, with tears spilling over my cheeks. It was magic and the experience will stay with me forever.

I highly recommend each reader take the time to fully read the acknowledgements for Carley’s sophomore novel, Meet Me at the Lake. I was struck by the honesty (and beauty of the prose) that somehow made me relate where I am in my life to how she wrote this book.

This book is very different from Every Summer After, and yet there are parts that feel very familiar. While I didn’t have the same visceral experience as I did while reading ESA, I still really really enjoyed this book and the feelings that bubbled to the surface while reading it.

Synopsis:

What I Liked:

The “Now” Chapters—In contrast to Every Summer After, I really wanted to stay in the “now” vs the “then.” I know this was a second chance romance, but part of me feels like it didn’t necessarily need to be told in two timelines. The “then” takes place in the city of Toronto, and I kept longing to be at the lake. However, in hindsight, this could be seen as a device to relate to Fern, our MC and her love of the lake.

Second Half of the Book—I became fully invested in the second half of the book and flew through It!

The Writing—I will forever be a fan of Carley’s writing and how she really transports me to the places and feelings her characters are living through.

The Acknowledgements—I really think everyone needs to read them to fully understand what it’s like to have a splashy debut and then keep writing. I loved this insight and it really made me think.

Will’s Tattoos—He’s very different from Sam and the tattoos are v hot. That’s all.

What Didn’t Work:

Now vs. Then—Like I said above, I wonder if this would have been more effective without the two timelines and instead we have discoveries shown. It’s almost like there was a need to totally recreate what made ESA so special, but I don’t think we needed it.

Felt like the 25-45% Bit was a bit Clunky—From what I said above, things worked until this didn’t. The second act felt a bit clunky to me for this reason, especially once we had the addition of Maggie’s diary entries. I think it should have been one of the other.

Needed More of the Friends—More of the friends! My goodness, I LOVED Jamie and while Whitney was a little much, I loved her and Cam. I wanted to see more of them in the past, but the device of the “we met one day ten years ago” didn’t allow for it sadly. Also, Peter! PETER! Carley, give us Maggie and Peter, please. My goodness, I just wanted more.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I will forever be a Carley Fortune stan. I think that’s why I really appreciated her acknowledgments, because writing a book is HARD. There is something magic in Every Summer After and I think there’s magic in Meet Me at the Lake, but structure wise, I wish it had been different. I’m going to need to protect my heart from this one, because I worry that the stark differences but attempted similarities between Every Summer After and Meet Me at the Lake will disappoint readers, when there is so much to love about it.

Character Authenticity: 4/5 Spice Rating: 1.5/5 Overall Rating: 4/5

Content Warnings:

death of a parent, car accident (described), abandonment, grief, panic attacks/disorder (discussed)

I adore Carley’s writing and this book was no different. The way Carley is able to write dual timelines seamlessly has me in awe. The only qualm I have about this book is I needed way more romantic scenes of the couple together. It felt like they spent quite some time apart

I really struggled with this one. The writing was great, just the story wasn’t for me. And there’s a HUGE difference between the two.

This is a slow burn, second chances romance. The couple met ten years ago for ONE DAY. honestly, I can’t remember anything from that long ago. But they remember every second of that day. I just felt like the MMC was pretty vanilla, and found their love story pretty unbelievable. She is crazy obsessed with how tall he is, and talked about it at least 20 times. This isn’t a swoony love story with lots of pining, it’s about two emotional people overcoming their struggles to find middle ground in each other. It was just unbelievable and cringy for me.

But! That said. If you loved Every Summer After, you’ll most likely love this one too. That was also wasn’t for me, so I’m seeing a pattern.

Summer romance at a lake, what can get better than that setting. I loved that the female lead was the character that took what they wanted.

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune is Love Story Fiction!

Fern Brookbanks and Will Baxter, both twenty-two years old, meet by chance in Toronto and spend one whirlwind day together. Their attraction is immediate, telling each other about their hopes and dreams for the future and secrets they've never told anyone.

But their timing is off...

With previous commitments to keep, they go their separate ways with promises to meet in one year at Fern's family resort. No connections with each other until June 14th.

On that promised June day, Fern is bursting with excitement to see Will again. She waits and waits on the dock all day and into the evening, but Will never shows up. She's devastated.

Now it's ten years later, Fern's mother, Maggie, has tragically died in a car accident and Fern is reluctantly running Brookbanks Resort. She discovers the vacation property to be in worse condition than she ever imagined, both financially and physically.

Fern's in a quandary of whether to sell and make her own dream finally come true or to stay and run the resort like her mother always dreamed she would do.

That's when Fern sees Will arrive at the resort. He finally shows up, nine years later, with an offer to help...

Meet Me at the Lake is written in a way that kept me wanting more every time I finished a chapter. I love the two main characters of Fern and Will, they have their personal issues, but they have a connection and I was more than just curious to see if they could make it work. I was invested.

I don't read many romance novels anymore because they often feel so "SSS". If you're curious, it stands for "similar, silly, and superficial". Am I right or am I right?

What I want is a love story with two well-developed adult main characters, serious relationship topics, preferably built around family but not absolutely, and beautiful writing to enjoy. I want Love Story Fiction and that's what I got with Meet Me at the Lake.

I stayed up far too late finishing this and ugly crying, but it was totally worth it. No regrets, as they say. It's that well-written love story I've been wanting for quite some time and finally found. I'm happy!

At the end of the book the author shares her personal thoughts about writing this story. You gain a good sense of the passion and care she took with writing her sophomore novel. I believe I have found another author to love and will be listening to her debut novel Every Summer After soon. I highly recommend Meet Me at the Lake to readers of Romance and Love Story Fiction!

4.25⭐

Thank you to Berkley for an ARC of this book through NetGalley. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.