Books Set on Lakes and at Lake Houses

Book Summary

For six summers, friends Percy and Sam were inseparable. They spent every moment possible together in Barry’s Bay, often curled up with books. As they get older, their connection leads to more than friendship.

But after Percy makes a big mistake, she spends the following ten summers in the city guarding her heart. However, when she gets the terrible news that Sam’s mother has died, she returns to the lake for one weekend. Her chemistry with Sam is still undeniable, but is the past too much to overcome?

Book Summary

Eby first saw Lost Lake on a postcard, and she knew it would be her future. But now, half a lifetime has passed. Her husband and extended family are gone, and Eby is left with a once-charming collection of lakeside cabins. Each year, the same faithful misfits return to the cabins. Developers have cash in hand to buy the property, but Eby wants one more summer with the regular visitors.

Kate spent her childhood summers at the cabins, and now she’s hoping her daughter, Devin, can enjoy a summer spent at Lost Lake. One after another, visitors like Kate are drawn to the lake, looking for something they weren’t even sure they needed. From mysteries solved to heartaches mended, will everyone find what they need before it’s too late?

Book Summary

After Daphne makes a big move to her fiancé Peter’s lakeside hometown, he turns her future upside down by discovering he’s actually in love with Petra, his childhood best friend. Now, Daphne is stuck in a new town with no friends. She at least has her dream job as a children’s librarian (which barely covers her bills).

When Daphne needs a roommate, she comes up with Miles, the only other person who can understand her recent heartbreak. Miles was engaged to Petra before Peter moved back to town.

Daphne and Miles mostly avoid each other until they decide to team up and begin posting misleading photos of their summer adventures together. As they partake in fake adventures, surely Daphne won’t fall for her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex, right?

Book Summary

It’s been nearly thirty years since June bought Camp Holly Springs. June’s niece, Daphne, met her two best friends, Lanier and Mary, at that camp and they’ve been helping each other through lifes up and downs ever since. But now June is in danger of losing the camp that means so much to all of them, and Daphne is facing an impossible situation at her law firm. Lanier and Mary are facing personal problems of their own.

Despite all of the challenges these four women are up against, they agree that nothing is more important than saving Camp Holly Springs. Along the way, they may just set the stage for their next chapters.

Book Summary

Mary Jackson is from a long line of women who have spent their lives running the Very Cherry General Store in Good Heart, Michigan. Like her lakeside hometown, the store is constantly inundated by tourists and facing threats from developers. She’s in her eighties and ready to retire, but when she was young, a mysterious prediction told her to await the arrival of a stranger – a young woman – to take over the store and carry on her legacy.

Newly 40, Becky Thatcher takes a vacation to Good Heart with her best friend in order to forget about her real-life troubles for a while. After meeting Mary at Very Cherry and listening to the octogenarian talk about destiny, Becky begins to reflect on childhood memories and future goals.

Book Summary

Set on beautiful Lake Superior, this book explores a family’s history and deep connection to a lighthouse. Elizabeth lives in a senior home and has a sharp mind, but has lost her sight. She fills the void with music and memories, which spring to life when her late father’s journals are found in the ruins of an old shipwreck.

Morgan is a troubled teen assigned to community service at Elizabeth’s home. With her help, Elizabeth reads through her father’s journal, with each entry taking Morgan and Elizabeth back in time 70 years. He was the lighthouse keeper on isolated Porphyry Island. As the unlikely duo reads, they realize their fates are connected to the remote island and each other in unexpected ways.

Book Summary

When Rachel is fired from her management job at a Miami Beach luxury hotel – for something she didn’t even do – the single mom needs to find a new job as soon as possible. She hears about a position at a brewery hotel on Kelleys Island. The man who offered her the job over the phone sounded incredibly grumpy, but she’s desperate, so she packs up and makes the move.

When she arrives, she finds that the owner, Mason, knows a lot about brewing beer, but almost nothing about running a hotel. If you can even call it a hotel – it’s barely more than a foundation and studs. She considers leaving, but she desperately needs a chance to rebuild a life for herself and her daughter Maisie. When Mason offers her full control of the design of the cabins/hotel, in addition to her management role, she decides to stay.

Book Summary

Aly is six months into her dream job as the editor-in-chief of All Good magazine when she overhears her coworkers belittling her. This leads to a very embarrassing and very public meltdown. She agrees to take a month of unpaid leave to save her job. Unsure where to go or what to do with herself, she retreats to the Lake Michigan beach house she inherited from her brother, Luke. But when she arrives, she discovers that her brother’s best friend, Wyatt, also inherited a stake in the house. 

She sees Wyatt as nothing more than an unkempt and unmotivated slacker standing in the way of her selling the beach house. But like her, he’s still processing his grief from losing Luke. As they spend more time under the same roof, they may discover that’s not the only thing they have in common.

Book Summary

Best-selling romance novelist January Andrews is suffering extreme writer’s block after finding out her parents weren’t the perfect couple she thought they were. 

When she retreats to her dad’s secret Lake Michigan beach house in a last-ditch effort to meet her next book deadline as a romance writer, she finds another distraction instead. 

Her college English department rival lives next door and is suffering from his own bout of writer’s block. 

Book Summary

Annie is devastated when her husband just confesses that he’s in love with a younger woman. Looking to put her life back together, she retreats to the small town where she grew up. There, she is reunited with her first love.

Nick is a recent widower who is struggling to connect with his silent, emotionally scarred young daughter. Together, the three of them begin to heal. But just when Annie begins to see a second chance at happiness, her world is turned upside down again, and she is forced to make an impossible choice.

Book Summary

Sixteen-year-old Mattie is the eldest of four daughters being raised by a grieving father. She finds comfort in books and in learning new words. While she dreams of being a writer, she’s also a realist and knows that her dream of escaping their homestead to a fancy writing career in New York City is unlikely. Especially with the duty she has to her father and younger siblings.

When she takes a job at the Glenmore Hotel, she meets guest Grace Brown. Grace asks Mattie to burn a secret bundle of letters. But then, Grace’s body is found in the lake. Do the letters hold the truth of her murder?

Book Summary

Barbara and her sisters have come together to work at their grandmother’s Lakeside Inn in Montana, and she’s enjoying it more than she thought. Although, it’s been tough juggling remotely working for her job in San Diego and planning her sister’s wedding. Plus, it’s now the inn’s slow season, and she needs to put her marketing skills to use to bring in new customers quickly.

Theo is a new arrival from New York. He’s an award-winning journalist, but something happened to destroy his reputation. He’s come to Sapphire Bay to start a community radio station and escape his problems. When his new station is in jeopardy, he needs Barbara’s help.