Maybe me and Carley just don't vibe...because this is the second two-star read I've read from her. They were both so popular on social media and the covers are both so pretty and summery...but this and Every Summer After were just not it for me.
Synopsis: Fern Brookbanks has her life laid out for her–to run the resort her mother started, made successful, and loved. But from tumultuous teen years and on, Fern decided to rebel and run from that path. However, now she's in her thirties, her mother just passed away, and she doesn't know what to do. Does she run the resort like her mother wants or chase her own dreams and run a coffee shop? The lakeside resort, however, also reminds her of heartache; when a planned meetup after a perfect day of sharing secrets and fears with Will Baxter goes wrong–he never showed up to their one-year-later planned meet. Now with choices to make, Fern returns to the resort to make up her mind, and guess who’s waiting... ten years too late.
Plot: She spent ten whole years pining over this guy? Ten Years!? Yeah...no, sorry. I cannot fathom wasting ten years of my life, for someone that I knew a SINGULAR day, and then let me down...I don't even think I would remember them truthfully. That, paired with the fact that she emotionally cheated on her then-boyfriend for this "perfect day," set this up completely wrong for me. Fortune has really nice aspects to her novels and moments that are really sweet and make me want to love the story, but then she ruins them with cheating plots and the worst insta-love I've ever read. I mean come on, ten years?
Synopsis: Okay. Maybe, I'm just cynical and lame, which is very possible. But the romance itself also just didn't do it for me. Insta-love aside (or maybe because of it), I never felt any real chemistry between the two characters. We were never given enough time with them separately nor together to really feel a sort of attachment and reason to want them to be together. Fern had so much potential as a character, but we see her completely disregard her own dreams, we never learn about the "crazy teen years" that changed her life, and she's matched with a pretty terrible BFF character to tie it all together. Will has some good moments too, but he just fell super flat and wasn't given the page count to really redeem him enough in my eyes or for me to see them making a good pair. They spend a total of maybe 7 days together?? And then we get a super cringy time-jump epilogue marriage which is one of my least favorite romance tropes.
This is my formal apology to BookTok and the Carley Fortune stans. I will not be picking up her next title.
2/5 stars.
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