I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Esme and Kayla once were campers at Camp Pine Lake. Now they’re back as counselors-in-training. Esme loves the little girls in her cabin and thinks it’s funny how scared they are of everything—the woods, the bugs, the boys...even swimming in the lake. It reminds her of how she and Kayla used to be. Before...

Because Esme and Kayla did something terrible when they were campers. Something they’ve kept a secret all these years. They vow that this summer will be awesome. Two months of sun, s’mores, and flirting with the cute boy counselors. But then they get a message:
THE LAKE NEVER FORGETS.

The secret they’ve kept buried for so many years is about to resurface.

Short and Sweet Review

Katie and Esme are going to Camp Pine Lake as counselors in training. Katie and Esme attended camp when they were kids but they did something bad and they’ve been keeping that secret for years. Katie and Esme are looking forward to being at the camp and having fun and forgetting that night, but someone didn’t forget and they’re going to make sure everyone knows what happened.

I have a love hate relationship with Preston’s books and this one falls on the hate side. I think this book was predictable I didn’t know what the girls did but I did figure out someone they were at camp with knew what happened. I’m just going to say it, Katie and Esme started a fire, yes arson is bad but at their age they should’ve gotten help. We only get the POV of Esme and she’s the only one who recognizes what kind of danger they’re in, Katie spends most of the book in denial and also shaking in her boots. The girls realize they’re in trouble when a good time at camp starts to feel like the camp from Friday the 13th. The ending of this book reminded me of the ending of one of the Fear Street books I read (The Dare). This book was a sad attempt at horror. The characters were bad, the plot was poorly executed, and it feels like you’ve wasted your time.

Overall, I didn’t like this book at all. I’m not sure why this book is called The Lake, when there’s really not much focus on the lake it should have been called The Camp. Anyway this is not a book I would recommend.