One Night at the Lake by Bethany Chase

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A tragedy on a hot summer night at a lake house forever alters the lives of two best friends—and the man they both love. But the truth isn’t as simple as it appears in this intricate novel of love, friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness in the tradition of Miranda Beverly-Whittemore’s Bittersweet.

Leah Tessaro has been waiting for this moment for a long time: Her boyfriend, Ollie, is taking her to his family’s home on Seneca Lake for a week of lazy summer bliss, boating, and barbeque. The couple has been together for four years, and Leah is convinced that Ollie is finally going to pop the question. And Leah can’t wait to share the joyous news with her best friend, June Kang, who is joining them on their getaway, and whose presence will make everything feel more real. 

Seven years later, the moment June has been dreading has finally arrived: Her fiancé, Ollie, is taking her to his family’s lake house. But this is not an ordinary visit to an ordinary place; it is a house haunted by June’s long-buried memories of her lost friend, Leah—and the connection that appears to remain between Leah and the man for whom June’s love is as deep as her sense of foreboding.

Alternating between the two women’s vibrant voices, One Night at the Lake is a gripping novel that explores a complex tangle of friendship, loyalty, and betrayal, all driving toward one question: What exactly happened to Leah on that hot summer night?

Source: advance e-galley provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review


I've been a fan of Bethany Chase's since her first book, The One That Got Away so I eagerly scoop up anything she releases. Chase continues to explore themes of complicated relationships and friendships, his time adding a mystery.

Chase has split the story into two timelines. The first with Leah that happened seven years ago and the second with her best friend, June which happens seven years later. In the past, Leah and Ollie have been dating for years and they're the couple that most people envy. Sickeningly cute, he's so perfect, she' so vibrant ... yada yada yada. Things seem so perfect that Leah is convinced he will propose during their upcoming trip to his family's place on Seneca Lake. She also invites June to accompany them for the week since she's broken up with her latest boyfriend and best friends don't leave their BFFs alone. Seven years later, June is now engaged to Ollie and dreads the return to Seneca Lake for another family get together. At this point not much is known as to why and how it's June and Ollie and not Leah and Ollie but we know that Leah hasn't been in the picture since the last visit. What happened is slowly revealed as the week at the lake in both the past and present slowly wears on. In both timelines everything starts out fine. It's a typical holiday with lots of fun and and lakeside shenanigans. Then the pressure sets in and little by little this perfect picture of happiness and contentment starts to become fractured. 

Firstly, I purposefully didn't read the blurb too closely so I was not expecting the time jump and couple switch. I literally gasped when I realized June was now with Ollie. I did have a hard time at first reconciling that they were a couple in the future. It felt disloyal and disingenuous to Leah. But I think that's what I was supposed to feel without knowing all the specifics and come on, I wanted the gossip. Secondly, this mystery is my kind of catnip. I loved the suspense and how details gradually emerged via Leah and June's recollections and observations. The timeline flip flop was genius! It gave me the sense that I was there in the thick of things. There's something alluring about being a reader who knows that something foreboding is close at hand when reading it in real time (Leah's POV). June's timeline is all about reconciling the past with the present, and her guilt over moving on with her life which includes Ollie. There's so much baggage in that relationship that's been ignored; this trip will undoubtedly force them to finally unpack all of that. The contrast between the two trips to the lake couldn't be more apparent - the first starts out joyous and second one is just pure dread. (By the way, Leah's timeline does have a few possible triggers which I will list below. They could be spoilery so consider yourself warned.)

I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting but I was definitely surprised by how everything played out. Chase crafted a story that steadily escalated in tension, especially during June's POV as she began to fit in the missing pieces of their last time at the lake with Leah. I had not anticipated the ending as I let my imagination run wild with all sorts of possibilities but it was still shocking. One Night at the Lake is something different from Chase and I say if you're in for some mystery, good storytelling and a close examination of friendships, you'll be pleased with this one.

~ Bel


Trigger Warning

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suspicion of cheating, unwanted touching, unwanted sexual advances

The Break-Up Artist by Philip Siegel

* * * 3/4

Some sixteen-year-olds babysit for extra cash. Some work at the Gap. Becca Williamson breaks up couples. 



After watching her sister get left at the altar, Becca knows the true damage that comes when people utter the dreaded L-word. For just $100 via paypal, she can trick and manipulate any couple into smithereens. With relationship zombies overrunning her school, and treating single girls like second class citizens, business is unfortunately booming. Even her best friend Val has resorted to outright lies to snag a boyfriend.

One night, she receives a mysterious offer to break up the homecoming king and queen, the one zombie couple to rule them all: Steve and Huxley. They are a JFK and Jackie O in training, masters of sweeping faux-mantic gestures, but if Becca can split them up, then school will be safe again for singletons. To succeed, she'll have to plan her most elaborate scheme to date and wiggle her way back into her former BFF Huxley’s life – not to mention start a few rumors, sabotage some cell phones, break into a car, and fend off the inappropriate feelings she’s having about Val’s new boyfriend. All while avoiding a past victim out to expose her true identity.

No one said being the Break-Up Artist was easy.

You know, everything about this screams absurd until you remember that the popularity contest is alive and well every day, in every school, everywhere. Compound that with the fact that these days these things seem to be starting at an earlier age (my first is in 6^th grade and oh, all that drama!) and The Break-Up Artist just may be a little insightful.

I started off having mixed feelings about Becca. She’s been hurt and holds a grudge against her ex-bestie Huxley. Their falling out is one of the reasons behind her skepticism of being in love. The other is the abrupt cancellation of her sister’s wedding at the 11^th hour. Seeing her sister become a shadow of herself, Becca has come to see love as the ultimate death knell to happiness. She thinks of herself as a hero to the many couples she has already broken up. While I was taken aback by her pessimistic view on love, I was also impressed with how she ingeniously set up her business, advertised herself and went about her way.

Things get tricky when her current bestfriend  Val starts making googly eyes at Ezra. She’s torn between wanting Val to be happy but is also apprehensive about what changes this could bring. Then there is her latest assignment: to break up the golden couple at school, Huxley and Steve. I was wondering the whole time how Becca was going to keep things straight between befriending Huxley again and maintaining her changing friendship with Val. There's also the that risk of being exposed publicly which becomes very possible as the story moves along. 

What comes as a pleasant surprise is when the dynamics begin shifting and Becca becomes caught up in the tangled webs of her own creation. In befriending Huxley because of her assignment, she has actually come to know Huxley again. Becca’s attraction to Val's boyfriend catches her off-guard, putting her in a precarious predicament where she must now reexamine her own principles about friendships and relationships.

In reading The Break-Up Artist I was hoping for a whimsical story about the ups and downs of friendships but I didn’t expect it to go deeper than that. Becca was all “bitter and revenge” until she had to do some soul-searching to reconsider her own well-meaning but misguided intentions. I was hell bent on disliking Huxley  -- the many outlandish PDAs and declarations of eternal, undying love had my eyes rolling so often they were doing cartwheels -- but then she opened up to Becca and there was a real person behind the show. I still couldn’t wrap my head around Huxley’s and Steve's intensity but it was nice to see her character develop. But what I really appreciate about the book, is how Becca manages to turn things around by the end. She seizes an unexpected opportunity that makes me wonder if there's a possible sequel. I'll just put in my two cents and say, yes please!!

~ Bel