Overall I didn't love this. I wasn't really feeling the romance between our main characters. The fact that they pined for each other for 9 years after spending 1 day together baffles me. What baffles me more is that they never just decided to contact the other during that time...like why?
Fortune does do amazing at scenery and imagining you are there. I would love to visit Brookbanks resort and stay. I also do enjoy her writing style.
But I just wasn't vibing the romance...and I'll say it; I actually liked the ex in this book better....

I devoured Carley Fortune’s debut novel, Every Summer After, and finished it in two days. Sadly, that wasn’t the case with Meet Me at the Lake. I started reading it in March but put it to the side after the first few chapters. I did this a couple more times in April, and come May I finally decided to just power through and finish it once and for all. (Not finishing a book is a huge pet peeve of mine). Overall, it is a good story with some redeeming qualities, but I had such a difficult time getting fully invested in the characters lives, and it didn't grab me from the start, like Every Summer After. Would I still recommend it? Sure.

Perfect for fans of Emily Henry, Carley Fortune's Meet Me at the Lake provides romance, fun and drama. I liked the structure which alternates between present day and ten years ago. Fern and Will's relationship begins as a wholesome and caring friendship (albeit with some attraction); a relationship beginning from friendship is always a plus for me. The characters in this novel and their conflicts/weaknesses worked for me. This is an entertaining book, fans of Carley Fortune's first book won't be disappointed.

3.5⭐
Forget beach reads, I'm loving LAKE READS! Keep it coming Carley Fortune! 🌞👒👙

You can say I read CF's novels back to back. I love her debut "Every Summer After" which I read last month and glad to have her sophomore Meet Me at the Lake that just came out on May 2. The author has a way of creating a nostalgic feel for her small lake town setting. I want to visit her place and wish I knew these characters.

The story is told in a then-and-now format. The main characters Fern and Will had a great connection but life has its way of keeping them apart. Now, ten years later, and a second chance at love?

This one seals the deal. It's another great summer read that makes Fortune's novel a must-read for me! However, I have to be honest that I don't feel that Fern and Will's "situation" is very compelling. There's a little something that makes it unrealistic. I love the setting and characters (Jamie!) and think "Meet Me at the Lake" is one sweet read.

Every Summer After was a favorite of mine last year so when I saw Meet Me at the Lake was releasing I was desperate to read it.

Carley Fortune has done it again. I thought it would be hard to compete with her Debut novel and this one got my just as much. I love a second chance romance and i live the dual timelines- much like her first novel.

Fern Brookbanks is our heroine on this one and she is back home running the resort after her mother suddenly dies. Her ex boyfriend is helping out but everything changes when Will Baxter- a man from her past who she only met for one day appears and brings back old memories and feelings. Can they help each other again to navigate new challenges?

I thought it was sweet and romantic and I didn’t want it to end. I loved the setting of the lake and it truly gave me all of the summer feelings.

I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this one. It is not to be missed- the only thing that would have made it better is if I had been at the lake.

When I love a book (or anything, really) I cannot shut up about it. Enter: Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune. In her sophomore release, two characters meet by chance in Toronto and spend the day together, making plans to see each other again one year later. When Fern shows up and Will doesn't, she's left heartbroken and wondering what could have been — until he shows up 9 years later at the resort she's taken over from her mom.

Meet Me at the Lake is equal parts funny and tender. I loved the way Fortune brought the characters to life, giving each of them quirks that complicated their relationship and, ironically, drew them together in the end. Both characters are loyal and committed to the things and people they love, and it's these characteristics that almost threaten their HEA. (Don't worry! You'll get one!)

Fortune's descriptions are also worth mentioning, as she has some truly great one-liners that made me giggle alone in an empty room:
"I don't know why I find his ankles so compelling. I'm like a Regency Era viscount hoping for a flash of flesh." (As a historical romance reader, I CACKLED)
"'You are officially cut off,' I say, trying to act like it doesn't bother me that Will's ex is as hot as a Jonas brother wife.'"

So far, I've posted all about this book on my socials, texted my friends about it and bought it as a birthday gift for a friend. I loved it so much that I'll probably read it again before the year is over. I bet if you give it a shot, you will too.

This book is for anyone who loves:
👙 Vacation reads
🔥 Steamy open-door scenes
⛺ Summer camp resort / Dirty Dancing vibes
🗣️ Dual timelines, including a day-long, love-at-first-sight meet-cute
🎨 "A business dude with the soul of an artist"
💕 Mutual pining, second chance romance, and men in aprons (IYKYK)
💊 Mental health visibility
👑 A satisfying happily-ever-after

Note: As a trigger warning, please be aware that this text has a storyline that includes grief, anxiety and an off-page death of a parent.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for allowing me the chance to read and provide an honest review of this book! I've posted this review on GoodReads and across my social platforms, as well as Amazon and B&N listings.

I liked this book a lot although I liked the first book more. I felt like the story was so well done and I really liked the characters.

Every Summer After was the book of the summer last year, and Meet Me at the Lake will absolutely be the book of the summer this year. I loved this! I am a sucker for second chance romances, and this delivered and more. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a summer read!

I really enjoyed reading Fern and Will's second chance love story, Meet Me at the Lake. I had the unpopular opinion when I read Every Summer After and it wasn't a favorite of mine last year. But Meet Me at the Lake was better in my opinion. There was so much depth to the story and I appreciated seeing Will's struggle with his mental health, even with it only being touched on briefly towards the end of the story. After reading this one I will be interested in reading Carley's future books. This is a great book to add to your summer reading list this year.

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Format: Audio

4.5🌟 - I really liked it!

Every Summer After was one of my favorite books last year, so I was thrilled to be able to get an ALC of this book to listen to it!

Fern and Will were so ! There is something about Carley’s books that give nostalgia, warmth, and quintessential summer feelings every time! Second-chance romance is just 🤌🏻

I devoured the audiobook in just about 24 hours because I couldn’t get enough of it!

It touches on grief of a mother, has a past and present timeline, an immersive setting, and is truly a heartwarming read!

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted e-copy.

Every Summer After was a debut darling of last summer, so Meet Me at the Lake had some big shoes to fill. Although I didn't love it quite as much, I still devoured this book in two days. Told in a dual timeline of present day and ten years ago, we are given the story of Fern and Will. They spent one day together ten years ago, made plans to meet up a year later, and Will never showed. Fern was distraught not knowing why, and Will remains a mystery until he shows up one day at her resort. Fern's mom has just passed away, and Fern is left with big decisions to make about her life and the future of the resort. Will, it turns out, was hired by Fern's mom before she died as a consultant on ways to make more money and get the resort up to date.

Fern is astonished at the arrival of Will, and wants to know why he bailed on their one-year-later-meetup. The chemistry between the two of them is still there, and they finally have the chance to act on it. Both have personal struggles they are dealing with and a lot to unpack individually and together.

I enjoyed reading their story, but I think I liked the "ten years ago" chapters better. I liked reading about their day together, and was dying to know why he didn't show up for their planned meeting. I'm not sure anything can compare to Every Summer After, but this was still a very fun book!

Carley Fortune is an auto buy author for me now, and I will anxiously await her next novel!

4.5 stars

There were so many things I really enjoyed about this book, the Canadian lakeside resort setting, the main character's eccentric but relatable qualities, and the mental health representation, so then what smashed it for me?

I fell in love with the first half of this book. Fern is lovely. This felt vaguely reminiscent of Mama Mia with the same easy-going reading experience of Every Summer After and Love and Other Words (close comparisons of this style). I loved the experience of reliving Fern and Will's meeting together at the coffee shop. Side note: why aren't there more coffee-loving MCs out there? That feels like a dream job for me and I could read an entire book about it any day. I ached for Fern as she navigated grieving her mom, wanting to distinguish her life from her mother's and pursue her own passions when she was younger, to appreciating the care and love her mom put into both raising her and running the resort as she grew older. This felt so real. Most of all, I loved her relationship with Peter. As a kid that was raised by her mom and her best friend, this might be the first time I felt like I saw my own unique family structure represented in a book. It was beautiful.

The second half is where I found issue. It seems like with both of the books I named above, I had the same problem I was presented with here: the problem behaviors are not as easily brushed aside for me as they are for our MCs! To me they are deal-breakers, and I can't seem to get over them. They spoil everything I was really loving. Will's behavior (while motivated by intense anxiety and probable post-partem OCD), specifically running away from and abandoning Fern with no explanation feels cruel, immature, and cowardly. His attachment to his sister and niece is admirable and dedicated, but also toxic and inhibitive of him developing healthy relationships with others. My guy is tossing red flags up all over the place! All this is acknowledged and I'm glad that he wasn't just let off the hook with an apology, but I don't know that I would stand on the foundation of this relationship lasting forever and ever. I admire and appreciate the author's handling of the mental health struggles of each of these characters, I don't think this is anything problematic, it's just my opinion as a reader that by the end of this, I didn't like Will very much...

Lastly, part of me wishes that there was a little marrying of Fern's passion for her barista career married with the resort. I was BEGGING for a "Fern's" built next to Maggie's or something. I think I mourned this dream of hers a little bit, and didn't want to think that she had to give up one to keep the other? For real, why can't she have it all?! I just loved her so much. For all of the above I think my ultimate rating is a 3.5. I think this is going to be another hit for Carley Fortune, and I'll certainly enthusiastically read anything new she puts out (along with the rest of the reading community.)

After losing her mother in an accident, Fern Brookbanks is back in her hometown, running her mother's Muskoka lakeside resort, alongside an ex-boyfriend and longtime family friend Jamie, something she never thought she would be doing, for sure. Even more surprising is when a Will Baxter shows up at the resort, even though Fern hasn't seen him for 10 years. She remembers every detail of the day long Toronto adventure they shared 10 years ago. Fern and Will were supposed to meet up one year later, but Will never showed up, and Fern has never stopped thinking about Will and wondering what if. Now Will is offering to help her get the resort under control and move it into the future. But Will needs a little bit of help of his own. Will Fern be able to rescue Will as he did for her 10 years ago? This novel is brimming with love, second chances, and the promise of hope. A quick read that will make you want to spend some time at the lake with loved ones.

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune was a cute summer romance read.

Meet Me at the Lake is the story of Fern and Will who spend one day together in Toronto before Fern is supposed to move back home to work at her family’s resort on the lake. The pair vow to meet back up at Brookbanks resort one year later… but when Will doesn’t show up, Fern is heartbroken. Fast forward ten years later and Fern is now running the resort following the unexpected death of her mother and Will shows up because Fern’s mother had hired him as business consultant. Fern is reluctant to let him back into her life after he broke her heart, but their chemistry is undeniable. Can they make it work this time around or will Will leave Fern even more heartbroken than before?

After reading this author’s debut novel, Every Summer After last year, this book was one of my most highly anticipated reads for this year.

Again, this was a wonderful summer second-chance romance read. While I didn’t love this book as much as Every Summer After, it was still a highly enjoyable read. I just wasn’t as emotionally invested in this relationship, likely because the main characters didn’t have as much shared history as the main characters in the author’s first novel.

This novel was also more of a slow burn for me than ESA, but still a swoon-worthy love story nonetheless.

Overall, this was a solid summer read that would be perfect for reading while on vacation or a day at the beach. This books solidified Carley Fortune as an auto-read author for me and I can’t wait to enjoy more of her books in the future.

OHEMGAH I loved this book.
Meet Me at the Lake is a second-chance-esque story where former friends and lovers Fern and Will meet again when Will comes in to fix Fern's late mother's resort where they were supposed to meet nine years ago.
This story was so heartbreaking, I felt for both of the characters, who each had their own obstacles to go through, and the growing romance that they knew never really went away. This story captivated me from start to finish and I left it absolutely swooning.

Meet Me at the Lake was thankfully more romance than women’s fiction because arghhhh…so much over-thinking. The story explores how depression, clinical as well as situational, can affect life choices. Main character Fern Brookbanks was raised by a single mother who abandoned all her grand plans for the future when she got pregnant and the father, a summer fling in college, refused to acknowledge the baby. Fern and her mother were intensely connected during her childhood at their family’s lake resort. It’s a large property with multiple cabins and a main lodge—think Dirty Dancing, except in Canada instead of Virginia. When Fern’s mother got pregnant, she made managing the lodge her life’s mission. The lodge is a family legacy and Fern doesn’t want the weight of that legacy. She doesn’t want her mother’s life.

But then, Fern’s mother passes away unexpectedly. Fern now has to sell decades of family history or go into the family business after all. Enter Will Baxter. Will Baxter is a consultant who helps businesses that are in trouble. He’s very well paid for what he does and unknown to Fern, her mother has enlisted his help to turn around a business that is no longer trendy. To quote Max Kellerman, “It’s not the changes so much this time. It’s that it all seems to be ending. You think kids want to come with their parents and take fox-trot lessons?”

Fern has a history with Will. It was a brief 24-hours, but it came with an emotional hit so big and so deep that it affected Fern’s choices about her life for the next year. Sometimes those unique individuals drop into our lives when we least expect them and need them most. Will does it again following the death of Fern’s mother. Fern needs his help, but she doesn’t want to need it—to need him.

Fern needs to process her mother’s passing, her decisions for her future and that of the resort. She has a lot of thinking to do and wisely choses to surround herself with good people to help make those decisions. Fern’s relationships with her mother, her ex-boyfriend (now managing the day-to-day operations of the resort,) her best friend, and Will are told in a series of well-placed flash-backs. We relive those key moments in Fern’s life with her as she comes to terms with what she now wants for the future. I’m not usually a fan of flashbacks as a means of holding back key information until the author decides to reveal it, but in this case, they work. There is an intensity to the romance which actually makes it more believable rather than less. I can recommend Meet Me at the Lake for your summer reading list. I liked it.

My Rating: B Liked It

“Meet Me at the Lake” is a binge-worthy summer romance 💘

If you follow new book releases at all, you know that Carley’s debut “Every Summer After” was a breakout star of last summer. “Meet Me at the Lake” has a similar vibe, but it’s not a sequel.

Will and Fern spent one day together in their early 20s, and when they were supposed to meet up one year later, but Will never showed. Now, Fern is 32 and running her mother’s lakeside resort, which is in financial trouble. The consultant her mother hired? You guessed it. It’s Will.

I loved the idea of these two people connected by one magical day, and Carley’s writing and storytelling is just so engaging. Pick up this one and “Every Summer After” if you’re looking for the perfect summer romance reads. 💕

I was so excited to read one of my most anticipated books of the year and it absolutely did not disappoint! Every Summer After was one of my top ten books of 2022 and MMATL is looking like another good contender.

Fern is working in Toronto when she finds out her mother is killed in a car accident. Her mother, Maggie owns and manages a resort in the lake region of Ontario. Fern grew up here and knows a lot, but she hasn’t been recently. So she’s thrown back into the resort when she sees someone who she had met many years ago… who changed her life.

Will is working as a business consultant and it leads him to the Brooksbank resort. He knows Fern immediately because they spent a magical and whirlwind 24 hours together over 10 years ago. They met when they were both living very different lives in Toronto and each was both dating different people. They make a plan to meet up in a year and it never happens.

Fern and Will’s relationship was complicated as they were both complex characters grieving for different reasons. Fern is obviously grieving for her mother, but also for her life that she has had to give up to run the resort. Will is struggles with anxiety and depression and that feeling of not being good enough. I loved watching them grow together and discover more about each other, both when they were younger and now as full adults.

Fern and I have a lot in common. I also grew up at a (much smaller) lake and eventually left first for Boston for college and then to NYC. I totally understand she feels torn between her peaceful quiet hometown and the bustling city. I personally love the city and I visit the lake to see family.

Thank you so much to @berittalksbooks, @dg_reads, @berkleybooks and @carleyfortune for my ebook.

A classic second-chance, right person/wrong time story with a summer romance twist!

A decade earlier, Fern and Will spent an amazing day together, connecting and having fun without worrying about anything else. They made plans to meet up again, but after Will doesn’t show up, they both had to face reality and went their separate ways. Fast forward to the present, Fern’s mom has passed away and I’m doing so, has passed down their hotel to Fern. Fern knows nothing about running a hotel and when deciding on whether to keep or sell, Will shows up. What follows is the desperate attempt to reconnect, but it’s not as smooth as either of them hoped for. While the disconnect and lack of communication, mostly on Will’s end, was frustrating, I still enjoyed this story. It just has you hoping they figure it out by the end.

Carley’s debut, Every Summer After, was one of my top reads of 2022 and that can be hard to top, but this was a great story and I hope others enjoy it as well!

I adored Carley Fortune’s debut, Every Summer After, so I had to, of course, get her sophomore title. I had high hopes and it did not disappoint. Just like her first book, I devoured this one in one day poolside. It was such a gem that will make you call your mom immediately and hug her real tight next time you see her.

The book flashes back and forth from the present timeline at a dreamy lake resort (a la Dirty Dancing!) to the one spontaneous day in Toronto 10 years ago. There are also some excerpts from Fern’s mom diary. I thought the short chapters and pace of the book made it fly by!