Okay, I see all the raving reviews, but there is just something missing for me to rate it 5 stars. 

This is very much a summer beach read. I love me a good lake house, and the setting was so well-done. I felt like I summering in Barry's Bay, from the boat riding to the swimming and sunsets. Fortune is a very good writer. The character's were also well-written. I liked Alice as the main character. She was warm and sweet, and on a journey of growth after going through a personal and professional crisis. For the most part, I liked Charlie, the male lead. He was confident and flirty, but I did get a bit tired of his whole I can't find love/I'm not good enough for you long-term thing. I guess I just didn't fully understand why he felt that way, and now as I'm reading other reviews I probably would have been more sympathetic if I had read the first book and gotten a bit more of his backstory.  

That being said, I enjoyed the chemistry between Alice and Charlie. There was flirting, there was banter, there was slow-burn, there was tension. The side characters, especially Nan, are all great as well. If you're looking for a light, nostalgic summer romance with great writing, lots of character growth, and a warm lakeside atmosphere, this is your book. 

Like I said earlier, I did not realize this was a companion novel to the previous book. You don't need to read the first one to get what is going on but if you want to familiarize yourself with the world and some of the characters when they were younger then you should probably read that one first.