2.5 Star
VICTORIA ROSE. Fifty years before, a group of teenage friends promised each other never to leave their idyllic lakeside town. But the call of Hollywood and a bigger life was too strong for Victoria . . . and she alone broke that pledge. Now she has come home, intent on making peace with her demons, even if her former friends shut her out. Haunted by tragedy, she longs to find solace with her childhood sweetheart, but even this tender man may be unable to forgive and forget.
HEATHER BREGMAN. At twenty-eight, after years as a globe-trotting columnist, she has abandoned her controlling fiance; and their glamorous city life to build one on her own terms. Lulled by a Victorian house and a gorgeous locale, she is determined to make the little community her home. But the residents, fearful of change and outsiders, will stop at nothing to sabotage her dreams of lakeside tranquility.
As Victoria and Heather become unlikely friends, their mutual struggle to find acceptance with their neighbors and in their own hearts, explore the chance events that shape a community and offer the opportunity to start again.
Lydia - 2.5 Star
I love stories that intermix generations and those that swap between the past and present, so I had high hopes for The Lake House. Unfortunately, though, even with this novel being an easy read that was fun in parts, I was disappointed in the end.
The Lake House would make a great beach read not only because it’s easy to read, but because the majority of the novel’s setting is on a lake. The cover alone had me craving some cottage time and reminded me of steamy summers up at my Granny’s house on the lake with my cousins. This alone set my expectations very high which probably caused some of my dissatisfaction with the novel.
I did chuckle from time to time while reading, particularly around the uncomfortable and often cringe-worthy conversations Heather had with Victoria and Maggie as well as some of the silly pranks the men of Nagog get up to. There were also a few mysteries that kept me reading surrounding Victoria’s character. I wanted to know what happened, but found when we reached the great reveal it all wrapped up too quickly for my liking. My favourite part of the novel occurred with the mailbox, and I think that might be because it seemed real and genuine where the majority of the novel didn’t seem to reach that depth for me.
Overall, I found The Lake House predictable, and if I’m being completely honest, a bit boring. I didn’t feel that much really happened – probably because of the predictability. I mostly liked the characters but didn’t feel very strongly about any of them in the end. They actually all fell flat where I wanted them to be vibrant and less stereotypical. They never really did much out of character which led to the predictability, and I found them all a bit one dimensional. There were also quite a few residents to keep track of which caused me difficulty, particularly with the men for some reason. I also didn’t really appreciate how the Nagog residents snubbed Heather or how irritated Heather herself was about living there – although I could understand it to a point.
Anyone who likes lighter reads might enjoy this one, and there are fabulous reviews out there for The Lake House, so it might have just been me not connecting with it for some reason.
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