Julie's Review: A Week at the Lake

Author: Wendy Wax
Series: None
Publication Date: June 23, 2015
Publisher: Berkley Books
Pages: 455
Obtained: publicist
Genre:  Women's Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: A wonderful story about what true friendship means
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab!

Summary: Twenty years ago, Emma Michaels, Mackenzie Hayes, and Serena Stockton bonded over their New York City dreams. Then, each summer, they solidified their friendship by spending one week at the lake together, solving their problems over bottles of wine and gallons of ice cream. They kept the tradition for years, until jealousy, lies, and life and it's disappointments made them drift apart. It's been five years since Emma has seen her friends, an absence designed to keep them from discovering a long-ago betrayal. Now she's in desperate need of their support. The time has come to reveal her secrets;and hopefully rekindle their connection. But when a terrible accident keeps Emma from saying her piece, Serena and Mackenzie begin to learn about the past on their own. Now, to heal their friendship and their broken lives, the three women will have to return to the lake that once united them, and discover which relationships are worth holding on to. ~powells.com

Review: A Week at the Lake is the type of novel that makes you want to gather up your closest girlfriends, hug them and then go spend a week with them somewhere relaxing. These girls have been friends for 20 years but something separated them 5 years ago until now when they are all returning to Lake George to reunite. Of course, the reunion doesn't go as planned when something happens before they even get there. Like true friends, they rally together and come through in the end.

Each woman is so different from each other and each has their role to play. Each is floundering in her own life, questioning the path that they chose. They bring out the good and the bad in each other, like all friends. I'm really not sure who I liked more because they had all their good qualities and bad. I think I probably identified with Mackenzie more because of the marriage aspect and the Midwest. I loved Serena's spunk but she was probably the one with the least amount of self-esteem. Emma is still a bit of an enigma to me even after finishing the novel.

Ms. Wax does a excellent job of showing that friendships are perfect but they are perfect for us even in the worst of times. For me it wasn't hard to figure out Emma's secret but the reveal was still intriguing because of how the other characters are going to react. I also wanted to see if their friendship would survive.

There is much to love about this book. I will be passing it along to my friends and perhaps suggest we find a lake house to spend a week at sometime in the future.


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