Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune Book Review
Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune has been all over social media lately since it just came out a few days ago. After loving Fortune’s previous book, I was excited to have the opportunity to listen to an advanced audiobook copy. Continue reading you want to know why I had mixed feelings about this book.
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Meet Me at the Lake
Author: Carley Fortune
Narrator: A. J. Bridel
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance
Pages: 9 hours 56 minutes / 336 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Spice: 2.5 hearts
Content Warnings: death of a parent, car accident, drug use, sex, swearing, postpartum OCD, infidelity
Synopsis:
Fern Brookbanks has wasted far too much of her adult life thinking about Will Baxter. She spent just twenty-four hours in her early twenties with the aggravatingly attractive, idealistic artist, a chance encounter that spiraled into a daylong adventure in the city. The timing was wrong, but their connection was undeniable: they shared every secret, every dream, and made a pact to meet one year later. Fern showed up. Will didn’t.
At thirty-two, Fern’s life doesn’t look at all how she once imagined it would. Instead of living in the city, Fern’s back home, running her mother’s lakeside resort–something she vowed never to do. The place is in disarray, her ex-boyfriend’s the manager, and Fern doesn’t know where to begin.
She needs a plan–a lifeline. To her surprise, it comes in the form of Will, who arrives nine years too late, with a suitcase in tow and an offer to help on his lips. Will may be the only person who understands what Fern’s going through. But how could she possibly trust this expensive-suit wearing mirage who seems nothing like the young man she met all those years ago. Will is hiding something, and Fern’s not sure she wants to know what it is.
But ten years ago, Will Baxter rescued Fern. Can she do the same for him?
Book Review
Thank you to Libro.fm for my complimentary ALC. These opinions are my own.
What I Liked
- The chemistry between Will and Fern when they first met
- The setting at the lake
- How easy this story was to read
- The inclusion of postpartum OCD (since I was not aware of this before reading this story)
What I Didn’t Like
- The element of cheating with no acknowledgement or consequences for the characters; the characters didn’t feel any remorse or tell their partners about it
- The complete change of Will’s personality between the past and present timelines; he went from charming to completely boring
- How boring the story became in the second half
- How Fern could love Will so much after only spending a day with him compared to 4 years with her boyfriend
Overall Thoughts of Meet Me at the Lake
After reading this author’s last book, Every Summer After, and loving it, I was super excited to read this book. Unfortunately, I had some issues with the story. While I loved Every Summer After, the cheating element used made me only give it 4.5 stars. The character did however show remorse and have consequences from it, so I wasn’t as angry with it in that story. Cheating was used differently in this story, so it rubbed me the wrong way.
Overall, this was just an okay book, and I probably won’t remember much of it a month from now.
Where to Purchase
You can purchase a copy of this book at the following retailers:
Bookshop.org (supports independent book stores) [affiliate]
Books a Million (BAM) [affiliate]
Have you read Meet Me at the Lake or any other books by Carley Fortune?
I would love to hear your thoughts! Comment down below.