A review by amateur_bookworm
Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

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

3.75

My summary: 
Reeling in grief after the unexpected loss of her mother, Fern Brookbanks finds herself in the one place she never wanted to be: the resort her mom and family before her has ran for decades. With her ex-boyfriend as the manager, Fern is struggling with what to do next. And it’s only compounded when Will Baxter shows up, the man she spent 24 hours with ten years ago that changed the course of her life. 

My thoughts:
This is the first book I’ve read by Carley Fortune. I had high hopes for it but it fell pretty flat for me. I do like her writing style with her descriptions and analogies. But it mostly felt like a novel length justification of cheating on her long term boyfriend with a one day fling ten years ago.

The plot moved pretty slow for me. I didn’t feel very invested in outcome for any of the characters. I was fairly bored with it through most of it. It literally spells out their chemistry but I’m wasn’t really *feeling* any chemistry. The sex scenes felt abrupt. 

Jaime’s presence in the story is confusing. I thought it was initially setting up for a love triangle but, instead, Jamie’s role throughout the story was really vague. 

The dialogue is hard to follow (who is speaking, what they are referring to). I was constantly finding myself having to go back a paragraph or two and reread. 

The entire book just left me feeling like “what exactly did I just read?!”  And the more that I sit and think about the major plot points and resolution of them (or lack of) the more confused I’m getting. This was definitely a miss for me. 
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