Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - 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

malihareza_19's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

Slow paced but worth it at the end. Unlike Every Summer After, it wasn’t rushed in my opinion. Fern and Will are my favorites and I found Whitney to be very annoying overall. I had a couple of issues with the flashback plot of the story and I wouldn’t suggest this book to anyone.

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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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lexi_hexi's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

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kelly_e's review

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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."

Content Warnings

amanda_reads13's review

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emotional fast-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

3.5

Fern and Will spend 24h together and plan to meet one year late at the resort Fern's mother owns. Only Will doesn't show up.

I really like the settings for this book and how it showed the contrast between Toronto and Muskoka. I also like how it flipped between the past and present. I felt like it helped me understand Fern a little better.

Fern and Will have been obsessed with each other for the past 10 years. I get that Will had anxiety and a lot going on in his life, but for him to just leave Fern hanging multiple times was a total asshole move. The complete lack of communication on Will's end drove me crazy. You cannot tell the woman you have apparently been in love with for 10 years what is going on in your life? It was very frustrating. Pick up a phone, send a text, quite literally anything!

Both characters were dealing with emotional trauma.

Will knew he didn't have the capacity to handle a relationship (he says this!), yet he still persued Fern knowing this. The fact that his sister had to step in was pretty ridiculous. It demonstrates that complete lack of emotional maturity in Will's end. I feel like the HEA we got in the epilogue was unrealistic. Will would have had to undergo a huge personality change for that to have been possible.

Tropes: second chance, right person/wrong time

Content Warnings

booksandcoffeewithlexi's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.0

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