The Lake House by Sarah Beth Durst
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Lake House follows three girls who have just embarked on a summer adventure they’ll never forget.
Our main character is Claire. She’s excited to be going to the Lake House, an off-grid summer camp, but it’s definitely outside of her comfort zone.
On the boat ride to the remote location in Maine, Claire meets two other girls attending the camp, Reyva and Mariana. In fact, they’re the only campers on the boat. Although they’re quite different, they hit it off right away.
They get dropped at the dock and their escort, Jack, says his goodbyes. As he takes off, the girls realize this is it. He was their only connection with the outside world and he won’t be back for a long time.
This is it. It’s really happening. Their off-grid, roughing it, summer vacation has officially begun.
At this point, you may be wondering why these girls would sign themselves up for this? As it turns out, all of their parents were once campers at the Lake House and all highly recommended the experience.
Even though their motivations differ, each one of the girls has their own reasons for wanting to participate in the challenging summer excursion. You’ll hear a lot about those things over the course of the story. Be prepared.
As they make their way down the trail to the Lake House, all they discover is a burned out shell where the building once stood. Ashes all around, they find no one and worse, have none of the expected supplies that would aide in their outdoor survival.
After they find a dead body in the woods, they realize this was no accident. With no means of communicating with the outside world, and danger lurking around every corner, the girls will now learn the true meaning of survival.
Before I get into my thoughts on this story, can we all just take a moment and bow down at the alter that is this cover.
She is such a beauty; my favorite aesthetic. It’s giving me strong, dark 70s-Horror vibes and I am eating it up. I love the muted colors and haunting imagery. Honestly, I would hang this is as an art print above my bed, where I could behold its stunning glory daily.
Moving on though, we probably should get into my final thoughts.
I liked this. It’s good, but sadly, I was expecting more. I know a lot of people will love this. I wish I was one of them, but from the start, the set-up seemed off to me. It didn’t quite make sense. I had questions.
Around the 30%-point was my peak interest moment. There was some intrigue, after the girls find out their shelter has burned to the ground and they begin to really investigate their surroundings for the first time.
For a moment, it was channeling the same vibes I got in the early episodes of LOST. There was a lot of mystery and I was desperate to find out what was going on.
Unfortunately, for me though, while I wanted to dig more into that feeling, I kept getting distracted by the dialogue between the girls and the inner musings of Claire. I felt like I was a fly on the wall of a therapy session versus in the midst of a survival story.
There were a couple of interesting twists and I did appreciate the idea behind the Horror element, but for me there were holes that never got fully explored and as mentioned above, I kept getting kicked out of the story by the eye-roll inducing dialogue amongst the girls.
I know the above makes me sound bitter and maybe I am a little, because I was looking forward to this so much. I do want to be clear though, this is a good book. It’s a quick read and engaging overall.
I was just expecting a different, darker tone and wasn’t really psyched about what I ultimately got from this. Additionally, I may have enjoyed it more if I knew less about Maine, camping, or camping in Maine…
With this being said, just because it wasn’t a great fit for me, doesn’t mean it won’t be for you. If you are intrigued by the synopsis, you should absolutely give it a shot.
There’s a Reader for every book and book for every Reader. Please don’t let my slightly sour opinion sway you either way. I would love for you to come back and tell me why I’m wrong. I really want this to work for everyone else!
Thank you to the publisher, HarperTeen, for providing me with a copy to read and review. While this wasn’t a perfect match for my tastes, I really appreciate the opportunity to provide my opinion.