Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Meet Me at the Lake

i was so disappointed by this :/ i really wanted to like this and thought it would be the perfect summer book but it felt like satire and just so immature. there was constant miscommunication, insta-love, emotional cheating, etc. i just really didn’t like this :(

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meredith_williams_'s review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Carley Fortune’s books tend to get a lot of hype as the blueprint for summer romance reads. Both of her books, while enjoyable, have fallen flat for me. Her second book, Meet Me at the Lake, is told through a dual timeline in which adult Fern reconnects with Will, a boy she spent 24 hours with 10 years prior. This is an incredibly romantic set up, but insanely unbelievable in the digital age. Fern and Will’s romantic connection and subsequent decade of pining might have been more believable if they’d spent at least a weekend together! I enjoyed Fern reconnecting with her family’s past and thought the author did a good job representing the change in dreams and ambitions that come with growing up. However, it bugged me that Will’s character seemed to have very little growth in regards to his communication. I didn’t like that everything fell on Fern when it came to their relationship. Overall, this is a nice summer read, but wouldn’t make a favorites list for me personally.

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thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Aw Carley Fortune, making me cry again!! This book was so sweet. And familiar somehow. I’m not a lake person, but this story made me feel like I was, like I’m the type of person who spends hours on end at the lake or the surrounding parts, always on summer time. Like I’ve lived all my summers at a family-run resort (Dirty Dancing vibes are off the chart), eating the best sourdough bread and people-watching the other regulars over tea and dancing.

I’ve decided that dual timelines are one of my favorite things for a romance novel. I loved reading about Fern and Will’s meet-cute ten years ago alongside the present of meeting again and all the secrets and feelings between then and now. While Will really frustrated me at times with his mystery, I also found him soft and gentle, a safe balance to Fern’s fire and passion. I really liked the side characters as well, especially Fern’s surrogate father figure Peter.

Ultimately, the love story was a little lacking for me. I kept waiting for more. More history there or more angst, maybe. The resolve seemed a tad flat, like more needed to be said. Still, I really related to the anxiety/depression/OCD rep and the need to be perfect for others above yourself. Both Fern and Will felt like real adults with real problems.

This was a great summer read. Fortune’s writing is breezy and comforting, sweet and coaxing, sexy when it needs to be but not overly so. I can’t wait to see what she comes out with next :)

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bringmybooks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

oh man, this one hurts

B̷R̷I̷N̷G̷ ✨ 𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗪 ✨ B̷Y̷P̷A̷S̷S̷

I loved Every Summer After. Like, LOVED. And while this book was okay (and I really did like some parts of it), it did not have that magical summer feeling of youth that Every Summer After did.

I never really connected with either of the MCs, I didn’t really care about the major present day arc of the story, and a lot of the past stuff seemed to be presented as more dramatic than it actually was - or at least out of proportion with the reasons behind it.

Super bummed because I absolutely could not get enough of Every Summer After and how nostalgic and wonderful that book was. Some of this might be having my expectations too high, but after looking at some of the reviews I feel like I’m not alone in this.

THAT BEING SAID, I will for sure be reading her third book - no questions asked. If there’s even a chance of experiencing the magic of her debut again, I’m going for it.

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mrs_meg_walsworth's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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drsuzbark's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes

3.0

I liked the storyline. I didn't like the open door romance scenes.

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readingwithmeredith's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This was my most anticipated release of 2023 and I wanted so badly to love it. ESA was one of my fav books of 2022. But I really struggled with this book. I didn’t care about the characters, I couldn’t even root for the romance and found myself rooting for a totally different relationship that could have been in the story. There are quite a few things I couldn’t get behind in this book and I could never look past them to enjoy the story and their relationship.

it is just really hard to root for a relationship that they only knew each other one day, had substances influencing them, and were both with other people when they met.

To me the only win was the setting. Even if I hadn’t read the author’s note, I could still tell she was struggling to write this book. It honestly felt like a different author than ESA and I wanted to love this so much.

Content notes: pretty sudden open door content (2-3 scenes varying in length, first one was the longest and I just skipped these completely.), drug use (one of my biggest pet peeves and almost always an instant DNF), mild language, grief, sudden loss of parent (not a spoiler- premise of the book)

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