🌊 Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune — Book Review (⭐ 2.5/5)

⚠️ SPOILER WARNING:
If you want to dive into Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune without knowing all the details, this is your cue to stop. I’m about to spill everything — from the dreamy dockside romance to the frustrating ghosting and the emotional baggage galore!

💔 A Summer Love… and a Dockside Letdown

Let’s rewind to when Fern Brookbanks and Will Baxter are 22. They have the perfect rom-com day: Fern’s working at a coffee shop, Will’s painting a mural, and sparks fly. They spend this magical, whirlwind day together, talking, laughing, and basically falling in love.

By the end of it, they make a pact: meet at the dock at Fern’s family resort one year later and see where life takes them.

Romantic, right? Oh, just you wait.

🚤 The Dock Day Disaster

Fast forward to Dock Day. Fern shows up, hopeful and excited. But Will? Will doesn’t show.

Well, actually — he does. He shows up... and then hides like a guilty raccoon. Seriously.

👉 Why does Will vanish into the shadows?

He’s got major abandonment issues thanks to his mom.
He’s terrified he’ll hurt Fern like his mom hurt him.
His anxiety and guilt get the best of him, so instead of being brave, he bails without a word.

🏡 10 Years Later: Will’s Back (With a Suit and Baggage)

A decade passes. Fern’s now 32, grieving her mother’s death and stuck running the lake resort she never wanted. She’s overwhelmed, lost, and trying to figure out what’s next.

Then, out of nowhere: Will Baxter reappears. But he’s not the artsy dreamboat she remembers — he’s in a suit, hired to help save the resort. Yep, that resort.

Cue: tension, sparks, and a whole lot of unresolved feelings.

💥 Will & Fern 2.0: Second Chances and Old Wounds

As Will and Fern work together to revive the resort:
✅ They reconnect (and yes, the chemistry’s still there).
✅ Fern reads her mom’s old diaries, helping her process her grief.
✅ Will opens up about his past, his guilt, and the real reason he ghosted her at the dock.

There are stolen moments (including an almost-kiss in a canoe — because of course), emotional heart-to-hearts, and eventually, they finally end up together.

But of course it’s messy:

Will is still wrestling with his demons.
Fern struggles to trust that he won’t run again.
Secrets and fears bubble up at every turn.

📝 Final Chapters + Ending

After much emotional work and (let’s be real) angst, Will proposes, and Fern starts a diary for their daughter, trying to capture the new life they’re building.

🤔 What I Liked

🌅 The dreamy lake setting — I wanted to book a cabin immediately.
💬 Honest look at anxiety and family baggage.
💞 Sweet second-chance romance moments (even if they tested my patience!).

😬 What Made Me Roll My Eyes

🙄 Will hiding at the dock — sir, come on.
😴 Some parts dragged (I wanted less brooding, more action!).
🤷 Fern forgave him a little too easily — he should’ve worked harder for that redemption!

📚 **If You Liked Meet Me at the Lake, You Might Also Enjoy:**

👉 Every Summer After by Carley Fortune — better, IMO!
👉 The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther — fun, emotional, beachy.
👉 Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren — second chances and serious heart.

📌 Grab Your Copy

👉 Meet Me at the Lake on Amazon (affiliate link)

🌟 Final Verdict

I’m giving Meet Me at the Lake 2.5 stars. The setting? Gorgeous. The emotions? Raw and real. But that whole dock fiasco and the way things unfolded? I couldn’t get past it. If you love second-chance romances with a lakeside vibe, you might enjoy it more than I did — just be ready for some emotional whiplash!

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