I was highly anticipating Carley Fortune’s sophomore book Meet Me at the Lake. As a fan of Every Summer After, I was excited to see what she came up with after her explosive debut. Unfortunately, this one did not deliver in the same way ESA did. Read on for my synopsis and review.
Synopsis
Right before her college graduation, Fern spends 24 hours with Will Baxter, and her life is forever changed. They agree to meet up a year later at her family’s vacation resort. However, Will never shows, and Fern spends the next ten years thinking about him assuming she’ll never see him again. So when Will shows up at the resort, Fern is shocked. The two have to see if they can find their way back to the connection they had on that one magical day.
Details/Review
- The premise of this book is quite feeble. We are meant to believe that after one day together, Fern and Will are pining after each other as if they had a serious long-term relationship. While this is meant to be a “love at first sight” type of situation, the emotional weight of the day doesn’t seem to support the story.
- Aside from the weak premise, there are two main reasons that I’ve pinpointed as to why this book didn’t work for me:
- Firstly, there was shallow character development. I didn’t really feel like I got to know Will. I didn’t really get excited when Fern and Will got together. Ultimately, I was not emotionally invested.
- Secondly, the pacing. Too much time was spent focusing on retelling details from their one day together. More time focusing on the present day and how they are going to work it all out would have made for a much richer story. The present-day plot felt rushed—especially the end.
- Fortune tried to tackle too many topics that weren’t well addressed (due to the aforementioned pacing problem). She includes topics such as the death of a parent, figuring out your career/goals in life apart from your family, and postpartum mental health.
- I appreciated the inclusion of postpartum mental health since this is an incredibly important topic; however, it felt like an afterthought. I was left wondering why she even included that. She explains in her author’s note the importance of the topic to her on a personal level, but she barely scraped the surface of the topic. If it was that important to her, it seemed as if it should have been given much more time and development in the plot.
Rating: ★ ★ .5
You can buy Meet Me at the Lake by clicking here or by visiting your local bookstore. ☻