Another heart-wrenching, poignant, angsty, and engaging second chance love story reminiscent of the movie "Before Sunrise" comes from author Carley Fortune, who has quickly become one of my favorite romance writers. Fortune skillfully tugs at my heartstrings, leaving me with tears, sighs, and red eyes.

Fern Brookbanks and Will Baxter's paths cross in Toronto ten years ago. Freshly graduated Fern has only a few days to say goodbye to the city before returning to her hometown to work at the lakeside resort inherited from her mother's family, and reunite with her long-time boyfriend. However, she has second thoughts about her degree and dreams, and is not ready to go back.

That's when she meets the attractive and idealistic artist Will, who is painting a mural at the café where she works. She watches him at work and realizes she's having a good time with him. When he asks her to give him a tour of the city's unexplored places, she agrees. Little does she know that this tour will be 24 unforgettable hours of her life, culminating in a pact to meet again one year later. Fern keeps her promise, but Will doesn't show up, breaking Fern's heart.

Ten years later, Fern's mother dies in a car accident. She returns home after inheriting her mother's business, leaving her life and business arrangements in the city behind. As she tries to gather her strength to attend meetings about the resort's finances, she is faced with the handsome and brooding Will Baxter, now 10 years older and wearing expensive suits, who has been hired by her late mother for business consulting.

Will is excellent at his job, and Fern needs his help to properly manage the resort. But can she put aside her resentments and heartbreak to work with a man she still has feelings for?

As we learn about their magical city tour experience, including their honest sharing of their dreams, fears, likes, dislikes, and future plans, we also see how their characters have evolved, grown, and survived over the years. The mystery of why Will didn't show up is heartbreaking, and I was rooting for both characters as they confront their feelings and rekindle their emotional bond.

I also enjoyed reading snippets of Fern's mother's diary, which shed light on her decisions, sacrifices, and beautiful love story.

Overall, this is a heartwarming, sentimental, well-written, and honest second chance romance with endearing characterization. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Every Summer After was one of my favorite books in 2022, so I had high hopes for Meet Me at the Lake. While I didn’t love it as much as Carley’s first book, I still enjoyed it & thought it was a sweet, quick read! The pacing felt a bit slow in parts but I loved reading about Will & Ferns relationship. I teared up at the epilogue, it was probably my favorite part of the whole book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When Fern was 22, recently graduated, and days before moving back to Muskoka to work at her mom's resort, she meets her soulmate. Will, an artist painting a mural on Fern's coffee shop wall, takes her on a 24 hour tour of Toronto, a city both of them love and don't want to leave. The only problem is, both of them are in relationships and Will is leaving the next day. So they promise to meet at the lake, in one years time.
Will never shows.
10 years later, he shows up on the resort's doorstep, now a business man commissioned to save Fern's resort - a resort she does not want to run after her mother's death. The story goes on a heartwarming emotional rollercoaster from there, as the two come to terms with what it means to take control of your own life and properly live it.

I love Carley Fortune's writing. She sets her stories in my home province of Ontario, name dropping locations I love such as Huntsville and Sneaky Dees. This book is a love letter to Toronto city life and Ontario cottage country - I am a Toronto hater but even I found myself warming to the setting in this book. Her writing is simple and absolutely absorbing - I always finish her books within a day or 2 of starting them. The way she writes character conflicts and emotions is so REAL; I can absolutely believe that these people exist.

The themes in the novel cover grief, parenting, and what to do when your set life plan and expectations for yourself suddenly take a complete 180, and I LOVE how each of these topics were handled. The author's note at the end of the book explaining how Fortune wrote Will's anxiety and struggles from her own experiences was touching and really shows the care put into these characters. Told in a narrative of flashbacks and present day, interspersed with Fern's mom's diary entries, a story of love and heartbreak and family is woven.

What prevented this from being a full 5 stars for me:
1) I wanted MORE of Fern taking charge of the resort, There's a scene where she makes a speech to the staff about taking over the resort, and we are told in retrospect rather than SHOWN what goes down. This book is not very long, and I think more time could have been spent fleshing out Fern's badass-business-woman arc. You understand why she grows to love the resort, but you don't really get to SEE it.
2) The third act resolution. Without spoilers, all I'm going to say is that I was not impressed with how the classic third-act break up was resolved. I understand what the author was doing, showing how sometimes you have to reach out a hand and fight for a good thing, but in my opinion it should have been WILL reaching out and begging for forgiveness, NOT Fern. Will screwed up, he needed to grovel. I said what I said.

Overall I would highly recommend this to read during the summer. This confirmed that I will read anything Carley Fortune writes, I love her romances and the feel-good summer vibes I get while reading them.

This was such a feel good book. I found myself wavering on if it should be Will or Jamie, so happy with the ending. The book was happy, sad, and heartwarming all rolling into one.

I loved the debut by the fortune. And I am so much more in love with this one. This was everything. I loved how this story had sunken its very teeth into me since the very beginning and this character’s didn’t let me rest and out this book down for one single moment until and unless I was finished with it. The romance and chemistry was top notch and the ending was really really CUTE!!

I’m torn between giving this boom 4 and 5 stars. Carley Fortune truly knows how to write a good romance novel and make you have butterflies in your stomach. So that’s why I’m giving this book 5 stars. There’s something truly magical about her writing that transports you into the woods by the lake and puts you right in the main character’s shoes.
Every Summer After holds such a special place in my heart and is one of my favorite books. I’m super partial to any book with a childhood best friends to lovers trope. But Meet me at the Lake does a great job of making it its own book and I didn’t find myself comparing the two because I was so lost in the book.
The feeling I get while reading Fortunes writing is truly like none other and I can’t wait to read any piece of work she ever writes.

I mostly enjoyed Meet Me At the Lake - however, the flashbacks in this book were just murder. Fern and Will's past connection is one day going around Toronto, but pieced out so slowly. Fortune's flashbacks worked in Every Summer After, because it was many summers building towards the ever required breakup scene in romances - the tourist activities contained in a day, don't quite hold the same urgency to keep the pages turning.
My other issue was the economics of the resort - I don't, nor have I ever, run a bougie (or even a one star) resort - but how were none of Fern's employee's multitasking? Like, the business is failing and she has a sommelier, a hotel manager, a bookings agent, a front desk clerk, a pastry chef (who is also a father figure, so sure, but he could've easily just been an all purpose chef), and herself, amongst others in admin I'm sure I've forgotten - but staff, should be capable of doing more than one thing, unless the goal was to employ the whole community in very singular roles. Every time the employees were brought up, I was immediately ripped out of the story to ponder if that role really requires a whole person for 8 hours a day, every day. That could just be my, very niche, visceral reaction - but every small business-person I know wears several different hats, not hiring out for each thing that may come up.
Overall though, Fern and Will have a cute, insta-lovey connection that flares right back after a decade apart.

Thank you to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with an arc for review.

This was one of my most anticipated books for 2023! After picking up Fortunes debut, on a whim and not even reading the synopsis… I was blown away. And this next book of hers, did not disappoint. Absolutely fell in love with the characters, writing. Everything. I will remember this one, along with her debut, for years to come.

k, but obviously I loved this 😭

EVERY SUMMER AFTER was one of my favorite reads of 2022, and I was SO excited to read MEET ME AT THE LAKE. I was immediately drawn to these characters and the setting, and loved Carley's back-and-forth flashbacks that weaved throughout the narrative. Carley's writing is engaging and it's hard to put the book down once you start -- it's just that captivating!

Read if you love:

-falling in love over a day
-second chance romance/soulmates
-swoony, artsy, tall man in an apron ("this apron is the lost Hemsworth brother of aprons.")
-"I remember everything."
-picturesque lake lodge setting
-pining with a capital P
-accepting the messiness
-discussions of grief

Another absolute stunner from Carley Fortune! Five stars <3

A big thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest, unbiased review.

I gave it 25%… and was absolutely bored to tears 😬 I didn’t buy their connection one bit and rolled my eyes *so hard* at it…. basically this was insta-love on steroids. Combine that with the lack of chemistry or banter… I just could not take another page.

For the record Every Summer After was one of my top 2022 reads. I will still pick up another Carly Fortune book in the future. This one was just not my jam. And don’t forget this is just my opinion!! I know so many of us are super excited about reading Meet Me at the Lake, so please give it a shot if it’s on your TBR!

Fern and Will;s chemistry is absolutely adorable. I would love to be given the opportunity to get to interview Carley Fortune on Meet Me at the Lake for my podcast Raise Your Words. I've interviewed authors Priyanka Taslim, Annika Sharma, Iman Hariri-Kia, and others. Meet Me at the Lake is going to be the perfect summer romance. It definitely has an adult version of The Summer I Turned Pretty vibes. I'm in love with this book!!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance reader copy of this book. Carly Fortune writes another page turner. I couldn’t put this book down. Every once in a while a book will be so amazing that, while I don't want to stop reading, I also don’t want it to end. Will is a fascinating and lovable character that begins with only one flaw, he can’t let himself have what he truly wants and needs. We later find out why and his other flaws become apparent. Fern is also lovable and the reader is compelled to want a happy ending for them both. I do wish Fortune would have explained more of the causes of Wills anxiety in the book. I only knew it was postpartum by reading the authors notes at the end. I was mad at Will for leaving Fern and I feel like the reader could have been more sympathetic with his character if that story was spelled out a little better. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Carley has a wonderful way of making you fall for with her lovable, real (flaws and all) characters, and Fern and Will are no exception. The flashbacks and journal entries was a fun way to discover everyone’s stories. And loved being transported to this magical spot on the lake.

This is a really, really difficult DNF for me because I love love loved Every Summer After. But after 3 weeks of trying to push through, I only got to 38% and realized that trying to finish the read is stressing me out. I may try to come back to this at another time because I just really love Carley's first book, but for now I am putting this one down. IT HURTS :(!

When Fern was in her early 20s she spent a magical 24 hours with a mural artist named Will in Toronto. The connection was undeniable but since the timing was wrong, they made a pact to meet up one year later. Fern showed up and Will did not… In the present, Fern is now 32 and her life is not what she imagined it to be- she is single, is back home running her mother’s lakeside resort and her ex boyfriend is the manager. However, everything changes when Will shows up, 9 years too late, and has plans to stay in the cabin across from her for the next month.

Carley has way of transporting you with her words and keeping you engaged. She creates characters you can easily connect with and want to route for. I will say that I feel like this plot has been done before (most recently in Before I Do), and it is not one of my favorites as I find it hard to buy into the premise of falling in love after only one day. This made the flashback chapters not my favorite. However, the chapters in the present day totally made up for what I didn’t love in the past, and I was all in for the “second chance” romance between Fern and Will. Similar to Every Summer After, this book dealt with the theme of grief as Fern was grappling with the loss of her mother. I loved how we got snippets of her mother’s perspective through journal entries, and the support Peter, a fatherly figure, provided as Fern figured out her mother's story/ what she wanted to do with the land.

Read if you like:
-Canadian lake setting
-Dual timelines
-Themes of grief
-Found family
-Complicated mother/daughter relationships
-Soulmates

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC! Pub date 5/2/23

This book was so deeply sad and sweet! I loved Fern and Will so much. I loved them at 22 and 32! I also think the author wrote about Fern’s mothers death in such a touching way.

Carley fortune seems to be a magic machine. Because I can’t explain this. After reading her debut for which I already happens to have very expectations not only she dared to exceeded them but with this one she blew my mind. I loved every single thing about it. But more than that I loved how angsty it was with all the push and pull. Also, that epilogue was plain love!!

This open door second chance romance will delight those who loved Fortune's debut, for many of the same reasons: compelling main characters, understandable but overcome-able baggage, interesting Canadian locales that hold appeal for this American reader.

Fern + Will

Ten years ago - while working in a coffee shop in Toronto - Fern met Will.
They spent amazing 24 hours together and told each other everything and so much more and not enough. He left the next day, but they made a pact to meet again one year later at her family's resort.
But Will never showed. And life went on.
Fern was always supposed to take over the resort, but she wanted to live an independant life in the big city. Which she does.
But now she's back home. Her mom died six weeks ago and she has to run the resort now. And business is not very good. That's why her mom hired this guy to help.
And that guy - you guessed it - is Will.
Here. At Fern's resort. Nine years too late.

LET THE FUN TIMES BEGIN ...

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO FERN + WILL?
WILL WE GET A HAPPILY EVER AFTER?
READ THE BOOK TO FIND OUT 😁

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Adorable!

Such a sweet and heartbreaking love story.
I usually hate books that go back in time a lot. But we needed to see how they met and what they did in those 24 hours. And we also get a few pages of Fern's mom's diary.
This was a really adorable book. I loved the locations so much. First the big city - Toronto - and how Fern and Will pack in a lot of touristy stuff in that one day and basically fall in love in such a short time.
And then the family lake resort. So beautiful and calm but also so very stressful. Suddenly Fern is responsible for everything and she's not even sure if she's staying.
And then there's Will. Why didn't he come nine years ago? What happened in his life? He still seems to have some secrets and mysteries about him.
I just loved reading this. I might have shed some tears here and there.
Beautiful and very touching love story.

And now I want to watch this as a kind of danceless Dirty Dancing resort movie!
GIMMEE!!

MEET ME AT THE LAKE was such a sweet and adorable kinda second-chance love story. Full of home and friends and love and fun and lake and summer and hope and heartbreak .... just full of everything a great book needs! Run to your nearest amazon for your own Will - he'll be sold out in no time!

First things first - I think this might be up there as one of my favourite covers ever. What a stunner.

I always get nervous for an author’s second book- especially when their first is as huge as Every Summer After was. I am happy to report - this one lives up to all of the hopes and expectations I had for her next book.

There are a couple similarities - lake setting, themes of grief, dual timelines - but this truly is its own beautiful story.

One of the things that is similar for me though is the feeling of how it left me when I finished. The same feeling I had after Every Summer After - the feeling that when you finish it you feel like you read something truly special. I can’t stop thinking about this book.

Fern and Will spend a day together 10 years ago - you get little snippets of this day throughout the book. I loved how the details of this day were revealed slowly. You also get a present version of Fern and Will - and with the dual timelines you get to see how they became their present selves.

The secondary characters are perfection. Peter is my true hero in this book. LOVE HIM. I also have very high hopes for a Jamie and Annabel book …pleeeease Carley?

Once again, the author transports you to feel like you are IN both of the settings of the book. I can picture every single aspect of Brookbanks Lake Resort in Muskoka and I also loved the Toronto setting.

Honestly - I could go on, but I’ll sum it up with - this book is another gem and we are so lucky that Carley Fortune keeps giving us these gifts!

I can’t thank Berkley enough for the #gifted ebook. Clear your calendars for May 2nd so you can read this one asap!