Meet Me at the Lake

Meet Me at the Lake is a contemporary romance about Fern Brookbanks, a thirty-two-year-old Toronto coffee professional who returns to her family’s Muskoka resort after her mother’s sudden death. Fern never wanted to inherit Brookbanks Resort, but grief, guilt, and the resort’s financial troubles force her to confront the home she spent years running from.

Then Will Baxter arrives. Ten years earlier, Fern and Will spent one unforgettable day together in Toronto, made a plan to meet one year later at the lake, and then he never showed. Now he is back as a business consultant hired by Fern’s mother, and his reappearance cracks open old longing, old hurt, and the mystery of why he vanished.

Through present-day romance, flashbacks, and Fern’s mother’s diaries, the story explores grief, chosen family, second chances, motherhood, mental health, and the courage it takes to build a life that is truly your own.

• Listeners who love emotional second-chance romances with unresolved longing and a satisfying happily-ever-after.
• Readers drawn to stories about grief, mothers and daughters, family businesses, and returning home.
• Fans of dual-timeline love stories with summer atmosphere, lakeside settings, and slow-burn vulnerability.

Carley Fortune is a New York Times bestselling Canadian author and award-winning journalist. She has worked as an editor for Refinery29, The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, and Toronto Life. She is also the author of Every Summer After.