Fern Brookbanks never wanted to run the the family business, but after her mother’s sudden passing she is forced to return home and do just that. The Muskoka Lake resort is beautiful but struggling. Fern needs to find a way to bring the business back before deciding whether she wants to stay on, or sell it to finance her dream cafe in Toronto. Just when she least expects it a man from her past sweeps in to help. A man she hasn’t seen in ten years. A man who once broke her heart.
I loved this book! If Dirty Dancing and Before Sunset had a baby it would be this story. The characters are amazingly quirky and flawed, and heartfelt. I could not put this book down, and stayed up until 3:30am to finish it. This story had me believing in soulmates while also breaking my heart repeatedly. I would definitely recommend this book! Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this novel.

Meet Me at the Lake does not stray too far from the overall layout of Every Summer After, it too is a second chance romance, written as a dual timeline story. In Meet Me at the Lake Will and Fern meet by chance 10 years prior, throughout the book you learn about their one day chance encounter. Presently, Will and Fern have miraculously reunited, but the timing could not be better. Fern is going through all these changes in her life and is needing to make a huge decision. Will is there to help/guide her in making these decisions. But the more time they spend together the more old feelings resurface.

The dual timeline does help the reader understand the depths of the relationship between Will and Fern, and why exactly Fern feels the way she does towards Will, and why his presence years later has such a huge impact on her. Not only is there the past and present timelines of Will and Fern, we do get glimpses of Fern’s mom’s past life and how this has impacted Fern throughout her life to lead her to where she is today.

It did take me a good amount of time to really get into the book. The plot of the beginning half of the book moved a little slow. It was a lot of back and forth with present time Fern determining the scope of her relationship with Will, as well as deciding exactly what to do with the resort. The story finally picks up once Fern knows where her relationship with Will is heading, and what she wants to do with the resort. Once I reached this portion of the book, I did not want to put it down and just NEEDED to know where everything would be heading.

As a fellow Ontarian who visits both Toronto and the Muskoka’s frequently I adored all the references throughout the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book has second chance romance, lots of scenes that make you wish you were on a lake & kept you wanting to know why Will didn't show up at the dock 9 years ago.

I still loved Every Summer After a little bit more than this book, but it still didn't disappoint! If you enjoyed Carley's first novel, you will be sure to like this one too!

Spending my summers just north of Huntsville, and stopping at Weber’s on the drive up, I LOVED this story. I never thought I would see a shoutout to Weber’s!

I’ve been waiting to read Meet Me at the Lake, and I definitely would recommend reading it to experience the nostalgia of Muskoka summers.

I hope Carley Fortune has yet another Muskoka story coming soon!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Carley Fortune.

While I loved the previous book, this one missed the mark for me. I was uninterested in the characters and their backstory, and it was hard for me to get into the "one day in the past" romance. This, however, is merely my own preference! The book is wonderfully written and I'm sure the audience will love it.

I didn’t think it was possible to love this one more than Every Summer After, but as I lie in bed tears rolling down my face, I know I was very wrong.

This book was everything. The emotions, the love, the growth this book portrayed were incredible.

I wish I could give this more than 5 stars.

Fern and Will have made it to God tier fictional couple status in my books. The depth of their love will be on my mind for a long time.

I grew up spending my summers in Muskoka near where this book takes place and the nostalgia I felt was next level.

This book comes out May 2nd and if anyone was hesitating to read - immediately add it to your list.

Thank you Netgalley, Penguin Random House Canada and Carley Fortune for the absolute honour it was to read this in advance in exchange for an honest review.

It is no secret that I loved Carley Fortune's debut novel, Every Summer After. I had very high expectations for Meet Me at the Lake and I am happy to report that it did not disappoint! Five glowing stars for this beautiful novel that, once again, had me in my feelings. It had similarities to Every Summer After in that we once again got a glimpse into beautiful Muskoka cottage country in the summer. But it is it's own story, with a fresh set of characters to fall in love with.

A chance meeting has main characters Fern and Will spending a whole day together ten years ago. The story was written in dual timelines so we get snippets of this day throughout the book. You could feel the chemistry between the two right away. But their lives took them in different directions and finally, ten years later in the present, we get to meet Fern and Will again as Fern sets out to take over her Mom's Muskoka resort.

The setting was beautiful and I want to go to the resort! Carley made it sound gorgeous and peaceful. I also LOVED the secondary characters! What a great cast! By far my favourite was Peter. A gentle soul who truly loved Fern and I just adored him!

If you loved Carley's first book, I have no doubt that you will love this one too! Add to your tbr immediately! It's one I'll be thinking about for a long time. It also needs to be said that the cover is stunning! Definitely one for the shelf!

Carley Fortune knocked my socks off with this one. Meet Me at the Lake was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it did not disappoint in the slightest!

Carley Fortune knows how to paint the perfect picture through her words in every single book she releases, but this book took the cake for me. The attention to detail throughout this entire book truly set the tone for a fantastic read. The specificity that she spread throughout every chapter brought the book to life in a fresh exciting way.

Friends to lovers is one of my favourite tropes if it's done right, and boy oh boy did she bang the nail right on the head! The way she mapped out the growth of this relationship in this book was so impactful and made you wanna fight for both the main characters with every ounce of strength you have,

The book is also based in Canada which is such a fun thing to read for a fellow Canadian such as myself. It was so cool to read about Ontario and know exactly where the main characters were because I myself have been there. SUCH a special experience.

The book, in true Carley Fortune fashion, contains jumping timelines of now and then which I'm usually sceptical when it comes to that plot device. Carley books books though? Never an issue and I forget all about my weariness, I loved every single page.

All in all this book is one of my favourite reads of 2023 and I will highly recommend this to anyone looking for a feel good soul wrenching read! 5 starts all around!

Thanks, Penguin Random House Canada and Netgalley for the ARC!

Carley Fortune is shaping up to be an instant-read-author for me! Meet Me at the Lake was just as sweet and captivating as her debut Every Summer After, giving the same Canadian Summer vibes - obviously sticking with her strengths - yet giving enough difference to keep it engaging and readable. Was this book perfect? No. But I still really enjoyed reading it, and believe that Fortune has shown that she can write the heck out of romance. I can't wait to see what Fortune comes out with next, and even though I loved both of her books so far, my fingers are crossed for something a little more different!

First, lets compare to our debut novel, which I loved. This book felt very similar to ESA in a few ways. In this novel we were given a second-chance romance, with multiple alternating timelines, summers at the lake, and a relationship that develops after a span of MANY years. However, despite also being set in Ontario/Canada, this novel wasn't as relatable for me as ESA was, as I found it focused more on Torontonian details and less on broad Canadianisms. But that's a-okay! That's what I usually get with books set in other geographies, anyways! I still thoroughly enjoyed what Canadian details were tossed in, and felt like I was in Toronto and Muskoka with Fern the whole time (despite never having been to either before).

As far as the story goes, I was very pleased! At first I was skeptical that I wouldn't buy into the whole "soul mates after one day" detail, but the way Fortune wrote about the day Fern and Will spent together 10 years ago made it feel like it wasn't just a day... It felt like an interaction that had spanned multiple days, rather than 24 hours -- AKA slightly more believable. I know falling that hard for someone and pining over them for 10 years is unrealistic, but it was written well enough that I was able to forget about it and also root for Will and Fern's successful relationship. Past Will was so sweet, and I fell in love with his character, instantly!

I loved the development of the story flashing back and forth between present day, 10 years ago, and even the lil segments from Fern's mom's diary. It slowly came together to fill in the gaps of WHAT WENT WRONG between Fern and Will 9 years ago when he was supposed to "meet her at the lake", and it all came crashing into the present day like a sexy sack of potatoes. I'll admit that I wasn't always vibing with how present-day-Will was acting. For a guy that wanted to reconnect with his lost-love, he was really doing a shite job of communicating and letting her in (especially when she shared she *wanted* to be let in). The way "that phone call" went in the last bit of the book was NOT IT, and Fern is a far better person than I am, because if someone said/did those things to me, I would TAP OUT SO QUICK. No thank you, ma'am. Fortune, you really did Will dirty in the last stretch. And ALSO, people gave you so much flack for the cheating in Every Summer After - why, oh why, did you have to make Fern be in a relationship when she met Will, and tease us with emotional cheating?! Did you not learn from your past mistakes!? I don't know why it was so necessary for her to be dating super likeable, golden retriever guy Jamie for this story to have made sense! Poor guy deserved better. (But, Will and Fern's chemistry was good enough for me to let this slide... this time... don't let it happen again, Carley!!)

I love the discussions that were had around the subject of mental health, and how Fortune was able to make Will more human by speaking to his struggles. We need more of that in literature, and to make it acceptable / not just a psychotic plot-point. Fortune did a great job of bringing it up, while keeping it normal.

I binged this book in a day because it was so quick, sweet & easy to read! But a trend I am noticing (that I hope doesn't continue!!) is that in both ESA and MMATL, Fortune seems to rush the ending. Especially in the final chapter, Fern's first-person narrative style switches and becomes a very rushed recollection of what has happened on the following weeks to months. I know it's trying to tie a perfect, concise, cute bow on all of the details about the Brookbanks Resort, Will's Family, Fern's mother/Peter, and of course Will & Fern's relationship... But MAN that was one of the quickest summaries ever! I could've stood for some more detailed Fern & Will content after their reconciliation, and added more details to the rest.

Overall, this book was lovely, and I would definitely recommend it for a quick and easy summer read by the lake ;)

Catch Meet Me at the Lake on it's official release, May 2nd!!

What a beautiful new book by Carley Fortune. Similar to her first title (Every Summer After), the two main characters Will and Fern are passionate, loving, struggling, and failing. It’s beautiful to see a relationship grow amid the very real challenges we all know to be there. And she manages to make them feel real, while still giving us the light and fun we expect from a romance. Growing up in Ontario going to the cottage and swimming in the lake, and having taken many trips to Toronto, I also felt a deep homesickness reading Meet Me at the Lake. I take that as a sign that she did something right :)

One of my most anticipated reads of the year, and it should be one of yours too!

I adore that it is Canadian for starters. Shout out Ontario! Book me in at Brookbanks Resort for a vacation, anytime.

Second, the plot was beautiful and romantic and just the right amount of soul wrenching. It wasn’t too cheesy or predictable (not that those are deal breakers for me anyways). My eyes were not dry for the last quarter of the book, but in the absolute best way. The characters were so wonderfully developed and likable, I just felt everything for them.


And can we just talk about the epilogue!!!!! So hauntingly beautiful in my opinion. Short and sweet, and such a beautiful way to tie it all together.

Carley Fortune hit it out of the park with this one! Which is not easy considering the massive success of her debut novel, Every Summer After. Meet Me at the Lake definitely had similar vibes to her first novel, but also carried on its own. The plot revolves around Fern and her journey through life, grief, heartbreak, job searching, friendships. It also focuses on the main love interest, Will. Fern and Will had great chemistry and tension, and a wonderful story line together. This was such a solid read, I loved every second of it.

This was a cute, summer read. The writing was strong and I absolutely loved all the Canadian-isms. I loved the setting (both in Toronto and Muskoka) and I enjoyed the back and forth timelines between present day and their first meeting.

I mostly enjoyed this, however I did have some issues... <spoiler> Firstly, I feel like present day Will did not treat Fern fairly. He was too mysterious. He didn't share anything with her. He was charming but he also seemed SO secretive it was hard for me to root for him at times because it just seemed like he was hiding something the entire time. I'm not a fan of the miscommunication trope.

Also, I couldn't get over the fact that despite the fact that they *technically* knew each other for 10 years, they really only spent ONE DAY together in the ENTIRE DECADE. This made the entire book feel like insta-love. They really didn't know each other at all. Everything else was just a projection of who they wanted the other person to be based on a one solitary day spent together years before. I don't think their present day connection reconciled enough of this to make it believable. Did they actually love each other or were they just infatuated with the idea of being with the person they met years prior?

Will and Fern had good chemistry, but it just felt like they didn't really know each other well enough to make such huge life changes after a few weeks together. I wasn't sold on the "second chance romance" trope because I didn't think their initial connection was strong enough to still be so impactful ten years later. </spoiler>

Overall, this didn't quite catch my attention as much as Carley Fortune's debut, but was enjoyable nonetheless! I'll definitely still pick up whatever she writes next.

I liked it! I was invested from the get go. Meet Me At The Lake is well written. The characters are likeable and relatable. A perfect summer read!
As a reader who grew up and lives outside of Toronto, I appreciate Carly Fortune’s accurate descriptions of Ontario’s vibrant City of Toronto and beautiful Muskoka cottage country.
Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada, and Carley Fortune for the opportunity to enjoy this ARC.

3.75 STARS - Fans of Carley Fortune’s popular 2022 debut Every Summer After will be excited to read this heartwarming sophomore story that is set in Toronto and Muskoka and features a second chance romance.

The story centres around Fern and Will, two strangers who meet randomly and spend a life-changing day together in Toronto. Forced to part ways, they agree to meet one year later at Fern's family's lakeside resort in Ontario cottage country. But one of them keeps this promise and the other breaks it, with dire consequences for the couple.

Told in alternating timelines (current day, and Fern and Will's magical day ten years prior) as well as entries from Fern's mother's diary, this story is a sweet romance that has a couple readers will root for. But its slow burn delivery will require readers to be patient as Fortune reveals what happened to the couple - who didn't keep the promise and why.
The story is packed with interesting topics including family, friendship, mental health, loss and living your life on your own terms. These are heavy topics, but Fortune adds levity with regular mentions of pop culture and bits of humour. Ontarians should also recognize and appreciate many popular Toronto locations and attractions and easily envision the beauty of Muskoka.

My only issues with this book are the use of miscommunication and the use of only one POV. I also would have liked more time for the reader to digest and better understand the reason for the couple's problems - which is revealed late in the book.

Meet Me At The Lake is a great pick for a summer read and is an impressive follow-up to her very popular debut last year. Preorder your copy now for its May 2nd release!

NOTE: I highly recommend reading the author's note at the end where she details her writing process for the very personal aspects of this story.

Disclaimer: Thank you to Viking (Penguin Random House Canada) and NetGalley for my advanced copy which was provided in exchange for my honest review.

Fern has experienced the whole gamut of emotions at her mother’s lakeside retreat. Years ago, she spent a single day with Will, after which they agreed to meet at the retreat one year later. Will never showed, and Fern halfheartedly moved on. Now years later, Fern has inherited the retreat after her mother’s death and who shows up to help? Will.

What I loved:
-lake setting
-excerpts from her mom’s diary
-family/found family relationships
-dual timelines
-complex backstories for both main characters

This was a very engaging read that was absolutely heartbreaking at times. I have no doubt that this will be the book of the summer as Every Summer After was!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the advanced reading copy.

Carley Fortune has once again woven an entertaining tale with characters that are both flawed and endearing. Despite their good intentions, they hold back, failing to communicate their true feelings, and end up hurting themselves and those around them.

As they embark on the next stage of their lives, Fern and Will, both 22, meet for the first time and spend an unforgettable 24 hours together. We witness Fern's inner turmoil as Will awakens something in her that had long been dormant. Although she sees everything she wants in Will, she knows he's not hers to take, and they make a plan to reunite at her family's resort in a year.
Fern spends the next year daydreaming about Will, only to be stood up on the much-awaited day. Will had given Fern what she needed to change the course of her life, but his absence once again sends her spiraling. Fern can't seem to let go of the memories of their brief encounter.

Ten years later, Will unexpectedly shows up at her family's resort, but both Fern and Will are still struggling to say what needs to be said. Normally, this type of communication breakdown would frustrate readers, but Fortune makes it work for the story. Will is a likable character with a guarded exterior, while Fern is trying to protect herself from being hurt again. The supporting cast of characters adds depth to the story and makes it even more enjoyable.

Overall, this sweet tale is a heartwarming exploration of love and the challenges of communication. Carley Fortune has a way of creating characters that stay with you long after you finish the book.

I absolutely fell in love with Every Summer After last year. I completely fell in love with Carley Fortune’s writing and could not wait for a second book. Then I read the synopsis for Meet Me At The Lake and immediately knew I was purchasing it on release day. Then somehow I became lucky enough to be given an advance reader copy of this book!! Thank you NetGalley & Penguin Random House Canada for allowing me to read this book early. I absolutely adored it.

Strangers Fern and Will spent one day together exploring the city of Toronto together ten years ago. Sparks flew and although both were in the middle of different lives, going different directions they decide to make a plan to meet up in one year at Fern’s family’s resort.

One year later Fern gets stood up. She is hurt, but also angry not just that that he didn’t show up, but that she can’t stop thinking about him. When Fern ends up back home nine years later trying to keep her mothers resort running, Will shows up offering his help. Fern is determined to figure out what happened all those years ago. Why didn’t Will show up, why is he nothing like he was years ago, and what made him show up now.

I don’t even know where to start with everything I loved about this book. There is so much I loved, starting with the writing. I love Fortune’s writing style. There is something about the words she chooses to describe situations or feelings that just hits different. I spend so much of the time reading her books, re-reading, and highlighting passages.

I also love the characters— while I found it harder to get an image of Will in my head, Fern’s character was so well built through her experiences that I really felt like you got to know her well.

I love how this author writes complicated love. It’s not situations just thrown in to make the third act conflict- it feels truthful to the characters.

Some other things I loved:
1. Dirty Dancing References - I love that the resort was compared to this and all the small throw backs to it.
2. Music - I love books that I can make a playlist from.
3. The Author’s notes and acknowledgements - I really want to read the first draft of this book.

If you loved Every Summer After definitely pick this one up. And if you haven’t read Every Summer After yet - pick these both up!! They both need space on your shelf.

Meet Me At The Lake releases May 2nd, 2023.

I wish so much I could give this book more than 5 stars. Reading ‘Meet Me At The Lake’ felt like a love letter to my heart, and Carley Fortune’s writing feels like home.
I loved the jump between timelines after every chapter, each one leaving you with a cliff hanger, butterflies in your stomach, or ‘at the edge of your seat’, giving you no other option but to keep reading and reading.
I could not stop.
Fern is such a loveable female character, who has suffered hardships and heartbreak throughout her life. Where Will is the dreamiest, most charming love interest I could have asked for. He has his own mysteries and sufferings himself, but he keeps them bottled up for majority of the book. Making your interest in him heightened and the soft spot in my heart even softer. The two of them together were magnetic, and it’s a story that has you hoping for love like that some day. It’s messy, perfectly imperfect, and the two of them compliment each other like bread and butter (IYKYK).
I want to immediately book cabin 20 to spend the entirety of my summer, and move to downtown Toronto to feel like the city girl Fern was when she was 22.

Thank you Carley Fortune for outdoing yourself and giving your readers the most amazing book.

You should definitely preorder now if you haven’t already. For the majority of you who won’t get your hands on this book before it’s release date, believe me when I say you that May 2nd won’t come soon enough .. and you need this book as soon as you can get your hands on it.

So grateful to have had the opportunity to E-Read this ARC, and I’ll be preordering it anyways to have a hard copy to hold and cherish. ❤️

Thank you, Netgalley, for the opportunity to review an early copy.
4.5 stars. I originally had it at four stars until the last part of the book. The story took a refreshing and dramatic twist on themes that happen in real life for many. Carley penned some hard stuff and did it delicately and gently. Plus, the Dirty Dancing references made me smile. I am on the West Coast of Canada and don't have access to the cottage life here. I loved the family threat throughout the novel. Thank you, Carley.