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

Every day feels special, but June fourteenth is a gift.

I picked this up because I love seeing Toronto through a fictional lens. It makes me fall back in love with my city. While Meet Me at the Lake was of two worlds — Toronto and Muskoka — it was such a charming adaptation of 2010s Toronto. I truly loved every local reference (streetcars, Summerhill, etc.). I loved Brookbanks Resort equally.

I am not a RL romance reader, but I was pleasantly sucked into this world and these characters. I even see a lot of my life experience in Fern, which I was not expecting.

This was such a delightful, easy summer read that I could see myself returning to time and time again.

🌶️🌶️/5 spice (maybe even like 1.5/5)

People unfamiliar with Toronto and cottage country may be head scratching but if you can fall into fantasy realms and London or Paris or a wooded resort in the Northeast USA, you can fall into the world of Will and Fern.

Content Warnings

aus10england's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

This one was really upsetting, I really loved Carly’s first book and this one just didn’t hit. The summer vibes were okay, the romance wasn’t too believable, I don’t know. There were some good moments, but hopefully her next one will be even better.

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staceen's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

I thought this was really sweet! I really liked Fern and her complicated relationship with her mom and the resort where she grew up. Very lite spice, and I didn’t really get the Will has anxiety subplot, I guess it was meant to excuse/explain behavior? I loved that t I got a strong sense of place, I had such affection for the resort and the lake. I got chills when Fran finds the drawing and cried through the last 20 pages.

Content Warnings

trinloyd's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

katelynnelawson's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-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

3.0

Loved this one, but I just didn’t feel it was near as good as Fortune’s debut. While I was engaged in the story, I sort of fell off towards the last 50 pages until the third act break up, which had me wondering how Will and Fern would make it work. I did feel frustrated by the break up, though. But inevitably I liked how both Fern and Will helped the other really find themselves and at different points in their life. I love how Fortune writes second chance romance so authentically and healthily. She has such big YA crossover appeal and makes both my teenage (or in this case, college) and 30’s heart feel all the feels.

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kelly_e's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.0

Title: Meet Me at the Lake
Author: Carley Fortune
Genre: Romance
Rating: 4.00
Pub Date: May 2, 2023

T H R E E • W O R D S

Warm • Wistful • Pleasant

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Fern Brookbanks has wasted far too much of her adult life thinking about Will Baxter. She spent just twenty-four hours with the aggravatingly attractive, idealistic artist, a chance encounter that spiraled into a daylong adventure in Toronto. 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 Muskoka 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.

💭 T H O U G H T S

After reading (and absolutely adoring) Every Summer After last year, Meet Me at the Lake easily became one of my 2023 most anticipated releases. Carley's quintessential Canadian summer settings are unlike anything else, and I could easily read her books all day long.

Carley Fortune has a unique gift of transporting me into her rustic settings and into her characters lives. Well-written in a dual timeline format, it follows Fern and Will in both Toronto and Canadian cottage country known as Muskoka. Throughout the narrative there are some comical quips about Toronto that felt like inside jokes, and the many Canadian references made this book feel like home. The resort setting came across so welcoming and idyllic, possibly because I could envision it so well.

While I didn't necessarily enjoy the lack of communication and thought there was going to be more of a love-triangle angle, I connected with Fern is a variety of ways. Will and Fern's second chance love story was riddled with past traumas and at times it detracted from the narrative. Yes, I loved the inclusion of Will's journey with post-partum OCD/anxiety and depression and Carley's explanation as to why she included it. But there were other aspects that felt overly drawn out.

And then there was the supporting cast - Jamie, Maggie, Peter, Whitney- I loved them all (more than the main characters)! I'd love for any of them to get their own book sometime down the road. The underlying theme of love between mother and daughter held my interest, as did reading about Peter and Maggie's unique love story. And parts of me were secretly hoping Fern and Jamie would end up together.

While I didn't love this one as much as this author's debut, mainly due to personal preferences, I am still glad to have read it, and will continue to pick up everything Carley Fortune writes in the future. This is sure to be a summer hit!

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers looking for a summer read
• fans of the second-chance romance trope
• anyone needing an escape

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Let me tell you something about me: I am extremely picky about people. Most of them, I don't particularly like. I have very high standards for the ones I let into my life these days. And you, Will Baxter, are my favorite of all of them."

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