Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

13 reviews

thatswhatshanread's review

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 :) 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

bringmybooks's review

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. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

horizonous's review against another edition

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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
    .
  3. 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.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...