Listen. I know they are just so incredibly popular but romance is not my preferred style of genre fiction. I gave them a good run, I really did. But partway through RWRB-- the last romance I read before this one-- I just realized I couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the story. In that context, I still enjoyed Meet Me At the Lake well enough. 

I listened to the audiobook, and it was well done. The voice actor played the characters well, without caricature. In terms of the book, I thought the back-and-forth story of Ferns and Will’s first day together, followed by their reconnection 10 years later kept things interesting, and once I made myself lean into the tropes and the fantasy of it all, I mostly enjoyed the story. But like any genre fiction, its really hard to review if you just don’t jive with it, so I’ll keep it simple.

Overall, I generally felt I cared about the characters, their story, and their history. I never wanted to DNF it. And all that is good. If you are not usually a romance reader, you still might like this book. 

As for its standing in Canada Reads as a “Book to Carry Us Forward”, I think it is a little weak. Fern and Will carry forward through assorted trials, but I don’t think we see enough of that to really learn from it and bring it into our own lives. In fact, the book skips right over the years when both are dealing with trials, and while they are referenced, it was not present or in-depth enough for it to be meaningful. I think there's just too much fantasy in romance. Its life, idealized, and you know when you start what the ending will be. I don't think that sets it up to carry us forward, except to offer solace and an escape.