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

Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

62 reviews

meredith_williams_'s review against another edition

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.

Content Warnings

thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

Go to review page

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 :)

Content Warnings

bringmybooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

theoceanrose's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

horizonous's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.0

This was.. fine. I think I can understand why this works for so many people but it didn't stand out as Every Summer After did to me. The main reasons are:

As much as I want to 😍 for this "we spend one day together and fall for each other so hard we think back to that day ten years later", it's too instalovey for me.
I'm surprised this isn't mentioned in more reviews, but to me this was blatant emotional cheating on both ends. Fern and Will are both in relationships when they meet and swoon over each other. A lot of people criticized the cheating in Every Summer After, which I didn't mind as much since the relationship status of those characters as a couple at that time was dubious and it was
just a one night stand = ONE SCENE
, in Meet me at the Lake it's literally half of the story. I guess what I learned is, to me, emotional cheating is a bigger issue than
a ONS
.
Miscommunication, or rather not communicating at all. This was just really annoying and I didn't fully understand Will's actions towards the end.

Honestly, the character I really wanted more of was Peter. He seems like such a sweet man who deserves nothing but good things.

Content Warnings

kennahaley's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced

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

1.0

Content Warnings

soobooksalot's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Meet Me At The Lake was unknowingly appropriate for pre-Mother's Day reading.
Fern Brookbanks returns to her family's Muskoka resort after the sudden death of her beloved mother, Maggie.
It also brings her back in contact with business advisor Will Baxter, who she met 10 years earlier when he was an aspiring artist.
Carley Fortune's latest is a love letter to summer, to Toronto and Muskoka, to Canadiana (Alanis and Jann, anyone?) and to youth. It's also about finding your way in romance, following your passions, and a new oneness as a motherless daughter.
She creates characters that are truly relatable and feel real, and this is a fantastic follow-up to her first novel, Every Summer After.
I highly recommend both!

Content Warnings

micalyia's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was pretty mid.

I honestly didn’t see the chemistry between will and fern. It was severely lacking in banter.

Fortune used the now and then technique she used in every summer after which led to this book feeling way too similar at times.

Then she had fern not tell will about her bf for the majority of their time together which was a little bit too close to cheating (major grey area). I didn’t too much care for it, but I can imagine it really ruffling some feathers.

My fave people in this book were Jamie and Peter. Justice for them too.

There was all this build up for the big thing fern did in high school and it was truly underwhelming. I mean maybe I was just feeling too apathetic to the book and it didn’t impact me the way it should have.

And the third act break up was yikes. I hated how Annabel came across. Though I’m sure it was meant to just be playful and quirky, she seemed insensitive and bitchy.

I read the authors note, and the b&n exclusive content and the behind the book and it gave me a lot of background behind fortune’s literary decisions. But I felt like that was too little, too late. My mind was already made up.

Anyway, read this book if you must. Maybe you’ll have a better time than I did. But all in all, it was a book. Not too bad but not amazing.

Content Warnings

rachelshubin's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

I reallllllly had this book high on my anticipated reads for 2023 and was severely let down. And that’s okay, because it means Every Summer After was just better! I’ll still recommend and probably reread ESA at some point.

I couldn’t get into the story, didn’t really connect or like the characters very much. Jamie and Philippe (though barely in it) annoyed me, more so the former. Fern didn’t express herself well enough for me to identify with.

The one thing I appreciated was it was very visual in the writing, so I could totally picture Brookbanks. I’m just sad I wasn’t more enamored.

There is some very important mental health representation in the book, but I felt the details came WAY too late in the 11th hour for it to resolve my feelings. I think I was more appreciative of the story after I read both the author Carley Fortune’s personal essay at the end as well as the bonus content in the Barnes and Noble edition.

Hopefully I like Carley’s next book better!

Content Warnings

btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

Content Warnings

More...