Books

Meet Me at the Lake Review

Bymirandabachicha March 21, 2025March 21, 2025

Happy spring! To say I’m glad to see winter go would be an understatement. The days are longer, the weather progressively warmer, and I feel like my true personality is making a comeback. Goodbye survival/hibernation mode, hello joie de vivre! Anyway, spring always makes me feel prematurely excited for summer, like wearing shorts in 60 degree weather kind of excited. To curb my summer enthusiasm, I decided to read a summer themed book to get my fix before the season arrives. Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune was the perfect read for the job. Here is my Meet Me at the Lake review.

The Plot

After spending one magical day together, Fern and Will make a pact to reunite one year later at her family’s resort on the lake. When Will shows up ten years too late, Fern has to decide if what they had all those years ago is worth the risk of trying again.

Review

This is only the second Carley Fortune novel that I’ve read, but I’m fully convinced that anything she writes is a go-to when craving that peak summer feeling. Like in her debut novel, Meet Me at the Lake features a small town lake setting, dual timeline, and second chance romance. While these similarities to her previous novel can seem redundant, Meet Me at the Lake has a fresh charm all its own.

We all know how much I love a dual timeline. Thankfully, Carley Fortune is an expert at drafting this particular style. We start the novel ten years in the past, with the main characters meeting at a coffee shop in Toronto. These magical 24 hours are sprinkled throughout the novel, giving glimpses into the relationship that could have been. It may be controversial, but I love how their entire relationship was based on a single day. As we fast forward to the present, that single day creates so many questions and what-ifs that had me desperate to know everything.

Also, quick shout-out to the close proximity trope! Nothing speeds along a second chance romance like forced proximity. In this novel, Will is staying in the cabin directly across from Fern’s family home. This allowed for those longing glances and accidental run-ins that make a second chance romance so delicious.

When it comes to characterization, Fern and Will are fairly strong and complex. I loved their banter, and how they were able to build an adult version of their one-day relationship. However, one of my pet peeves in a romance novel is withheld information or lack of communication. Tragically, the third act of this book was full of it. Especially concerning Will. He had such an interesting back story, but it seemed to get overshadowed by his unwillingness to share his problems. At this point in the story, he and Fern are supposedly in love. And yet, he can’t share anything about himself or his struggles? Just communicate people! It’s so much easier that way!

Overall, Fortune’s breezy and heartfelt writing style made for a quick and heart warming read that had me smiling long after the final page. Was it realistic? Not necessarily, but that’s never a concern when reaching for a romance novel. Romance is the king of escapist fiction, and I’m happy to suspend a little belief if it means I get a cute story that wraps up in a tidy bow. Sometimes you just need a comfort read. Particularly one that will whisk you away from end of winter blues, and this novel did just that.