Release Blitz and Review Tour: What Happens At The Lake: Vi Keeland
What Happens at the Lake
Vi Keeland
Releases January 15, 2023
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When life took an unexpected turn, I decided to get out of New York for a while. What better place to go than the idyllic small town my father spoke about so fondly when I was growing up? Laurel Lake held the title America’s Friendliest Town for seventeen years running, and friendly was just what I needed right now.
Unfortunately, friendly wasn’t the welcome I got when I arrived.
Instead, I got Fox Cassidy. My tall, dark, and burly neighbor, who grunted at me instead of saying hello.
Okay, so I might’ve had his mailbox in my hands the first time we met. And it might’ve been a little crushed after removing it from under my tire. And I might’ve needed his help breaking into the place I was staying in after the key broke off in the lock. But still…he didn’t have to be so grumpy.
As time went on though, I started to notice things about Fox other than his glares. Like how he watched me when he thought I wasn’t looking, or how fire ignited in his eyes whenever we bickered. Though I was in Laurel Lake to escape my problems, not create new ones. And getting involved with a man like Fox screamed trouble, even if he was gorgeous and unlike any man I’d ever met.
But alas, problem seemed to be my middle name this year. So why not have some fun while I was here for the summer? It seemed like a good plan. At least until it was time to go home…
They say what happens at the lake, stays at the lake. But it’s not so easy to walk away when what stays behind…is your heart.
Laurel Lake is a quirky, friendly, small town where everyone knows everyone and all of their business.
Josie is the new girl in town for a while and she is a sunshiny, sassy, smart woman who’s trying to fix up a house she inherited. She just does not make the best impression on the guy next door.
Her neighbor Fox is grumpy, arrogant, cynical, judgy, but also helpful, handy, protective, and caring.
These two snark and clash a bit, but they become friendlier as he begins, helping her, and then they begin to give it to the attraction they both have. But neither is looking for a relationship, and they both have battle scars.
There’s a little thread of mystery about their pasts that is revealed gradually and that affect the present. I honestly really liked them together. I loved seeing Fox's more vulnerable core under his crusty facade and he could be so stubborn, self-sacrificing and so afraid of getting hurt or hurting her. She’s been through a lot and has been in relationships that made her feel worse rather than better, so she does have a backbone and is willing to stand up for what she deserves. But she also has anxiety and is an overthinker.
There’s a whole town of people pushing them together and all up in their business every step of the way, but sometimes they both needed it. Fox, bless his heart, needed to prodded pretty hard at times. They have challenges about where and how they live their lives in addition to their personal issues and communication issues. And they really have to figure out if they can move on from their pasts and get on the same page if there is any hope of them finding a way forward together.
There was one big part of the past and current situation that seemed like it should have been seen as red flags and just seemed like it was glossed over so it kind of bugged me. But overall it did not affect how much I enjoyed these characters and their story.
I loved the small-town aspect and the fun, nosy side characters. Laurel Lake comes alive and feels like a real place.
These two snark and clash a bit, but they become friendlier as he begins, helping her, and then they begin to give it to the attraction they both have. But neither is looking for a relationship, and they both have battle scars.
There’s a little thread of mystery about their pasts that is revealed gradually and that affect the present. I honestly really liked them together. I loved seeing Fox's more vulnerable core under his crusty facade and he could be so stubborn, self-sacrificing and so afraid of getting hurt or hurting her. She’s been through a lot and has been in relationships that made her feel worse rather than better, so she does have a backbone and is willing to stand up for what she deserves. But she also has anxiety and is an overthinker.
There’s a whole town of people pushing them together and all up in their business every step of the way, but sometimes they both needed it. Fox, bless his heart, needed to prodded pretty hard at times. They have challenges about where and how they live their lives in addition to their personal issues and communication issues. And they really have to figure out if they can move on from their pasts and get on the same page if there is any hope of them finding a way forward together.
There was one big part of the past and current situation that seemed like it should have been seen as red flags and just seemed like it was glossed over so it kind of bugged me. But overall it did not affect how much I enjoyed these characters and their story.
I loved the small-town aspect and the fun, nosy side characters. Laurel Lake comes alive and feels like a real place.
Josie needs a break and a mental reset from her high pressure life in the city. She received word that the tenant moved out of the house her father left her so she decides to head to Laurel Lake to get the house ready for sale.Laurel Lake has always been the perfect small town in her mind but she never spent much time there, though she has built other ties to the town in the years since she was a child. When she arrives at the house she finds a much bigger project than her real estate agent led her to believe and a grumpy neighbor who always seems to be around to see her mistakes.
Fox is a local who tries to keep his business private, easier said than done in this small town. He has some baggage from a previous relationship that he uses to keep himself at arms length from everyone around him. But he can’t help but jump in to assist (or needle) every time he sees his new neighbor starting a project that is over her head (or delivered to the wrong house).
These two were fun to watch. Josie just wants to find a little peace and experience the place her dad always spoke so fondly of. Fox just wants to get his peace and quiet back at home. But though they start out with very contentious interactions, they start to realize there are more than sparks of anger flying between them. They each have things they have to work through from their past: Fox is hanging on to emotions from two losses and Josie has a lot she is avoiding from work and with her mom.
My only complaints about this story had to do with two aspects of how mental health and illness were handled. There were a few jokes that I felt like should not have been made without better communication in light of the things the characters had experienced. Additionally, with Fox’s past, he is very laissez faire about one habit towards which I would think he would have more care. These things were hangups in the moment, but I also still loved the characters and the overall story.
Overall this was a fun, small town, grumpy/sunshine read. The side characters around town added so much fun to this story. They are nosey, gossipy, but genuinely care for each other and like the idea of Fox and Josie together even before the two of them see it. I loved the way Josie was already connected to the people in the town, and the way she met each of the people that had meant so much to her because of that connection.
Vi Keeland
Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles are currently translated in twenty-seven languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in the US, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria, Israel, and Hungary. Three of her short stories have been turned into films by Passionflix, and two of her books are currently optioned for movies. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.
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