The Perfect Couple (Elin Hilderbrand)

I used to be a pretty faithful reader of Elin Hilderbrand but had stopped for a few years. I was intrigued enough to begin again after finding out that The Perfect Couple was her first murder mystery. Would she be successful at this initial foray into a new genre after being known as the Queen of Beach Reads? The answer is mostly yes, but don't think that this novel isn't ideal for the beach, too!

As does every Hilderbrand novel, this one takes place in Nantucket (which happens to be the author's home). Everyone gathers on the island for the fantastically rich wedding of Celeste and Benji; however, the festivities come to a grinding halt the morning of the big day when the maid of honor turns up dead. The novel abruptly switches from what could have been a breezy summer wedding book into a murder mystery, jumping between time periods and alternating narrators as the police rush to solve the case.

Much of The Perfect Couple works, especially Hilderbrand's writing, which is always interesting and believable. The mystery itself is also rock solid; I thought for sure that I had it all figured out, and then not five minutes later, Hilderbrand explained my whole theory away. The ending, however, was abrupt, and the entire mystery was over in just a few pages. I also would have appreciated an epilogue to tie up the loose ends of all the many characters. But all in all, this is a pulse-pounding book that's perfect reading on or off the beach.

MY RATING - 3

The Rumor (Elin Hilderbrand)

I always look forward to Elin Hilderbrand’s new books with great anticipation. Her novels are what I like to call “smart chick lit” and are always set in Nantucket; she writes about life on this island so beautifully that she makes me want to book a one-way trip there.


The Rumor, her latest novel but definitely not her best, kept me turning the pages, but for the most part, I found it filled with clichéd characters doing despicable things. This is the story of two families whose wives, Madeline and Grace, are best friends. Madeline is a prominent author who is suffering from a lingering case of writer’s block, and Grace is a wealthy gardening connoisseur who falls hard for her landscaper. Eddie, a prominent seller of real estate on the island, is Grace’s husband who finds himself in financial turmoil. He seems to be a big believer in desperate times call for desperate measures. And of course to connect the families even more, Madeline’s teenage son Brick and Grace’s daughter Allegra are dating in soap-opera fashion.


Calling The Rumor a soap opera is not a case of overstating anything. With the exception of one or two, the characters are hard to care about, especially since they’re always feeling so sorry for themselves. Not Hilderbrand’s best by any means.


MY RATING - 3

Summer Secrets (Jane Green)

I'm always up for the latest Jane Green novel, as I find her books comforting after a long day.  They're relatable, and more often than not, have likable characters that you root for.  I unfortunately didn't feel that way about Summer Secrets, and while I like Green's writing style as always, I found parts of the novel just too unrealistic.

Cat Coombs has a stressful job as a London based journalist, and she deals with that stress in a most unhealthy way -- plying herself with alcohol.  After way too many benders, she finds herself one morning waking up in a strange man's apartment.  Jason hadn't taken advantage of her; he simply wanted to make sure she was safe as he too is an alcoholic.  Jason begins to take Cat to AA meetings, but all that is interrupted when she goes to Nantucket (!) to meet her long-last father and siblings.  Her love of alcohol gets the best of her, and she soon winds up doing something there that she will regret for years to come.  The remainder of the novel picks up later in time, but Cat always has that incident in the back of her mind.  Time to make amends?

Much of this novel is very far fetched, and I found a lot of cliches that I don't usually find in a Jane Green novel.  It's not my favorite, but her novels are still perfect for packing in a beach bag for a long day near the water. It IS called Summer Secrets, after all.


MY RATING - 2

The Matchmaker (Hilderbrand)

Elin Hilderbrand is definitely now getting the recognition she deserves in the literary realm.  I've always said that her books are great for the beach as "chick lit", but also just as ideal for curling up with next to a fire.  I call her the "just one more chapter" author; the late-night minutes tick by but you just have to see what's going to happen to these beloved characters. The Matchmaker is no different.

Hilderbrand's novels all take place on Nantucket but are very different from each other.  In The Matchmaker, Dabney Kimball Beech is married to John Boxmiller "Box" Beech, but her heart has always been with Clendenin Hughes, a journalist who moved away from Nantucket a long time ago.  Box has been raising Dabney and Clendenin's daughter, Agnes, as his own, but now Clendenin is back in Nantucket.  Dabney, who has set up a multitude of other couples, now must make a decision between the two while dealing with her own personal tragedy.

I pretty much sobbed uncontrollably for the last few chapters, and that is purely due to Hilderbrand making you care so much about these characters.  Heartbreaking read.

MY RATING - 4

Island Girls (Nancy Thayer)

There are some books that were just made to be thrown in a beach bag with your sunblock and towel.  Island Girls by Nancy Thayer is one of them, from the picture on the cover to the very implausible plot, to the wealthy, gorgeous characters.

Rory Randall has just died and stipulates in his will that his three daughters (from his three wives) must live together in his Nantucket house for a summer.  At the end of the season, Arden, Meg, and Jenny will be allowed to sell the house and split the money.  The three women have barely been speaking, due to a long-ago incident involving Justine, Jenny’s mother.  As the summer eases along, the women discover that their forced togetherness may not be so bad after all.

When Island Girls gets the moms involved, it becomes a little too unbelievable (literally) for my taste.  It’s like The First Wives Club in book form.  You can see that Thayer tried to impose a little substance into the material, but it succeeds more as a breezy beach book.

MY RATING - 3

The Island (Elin Hilderbrand)

As I’m gradually making my way through Elin Hilderbrand’s books, one thing is for certain.  Because her novels are set on Nantucket, her current home, the beautiful setting is almost always as integral a part of her books as the main characters are.  The Island is set on nearby Tuckernuck, the ultra-exclusive, privately owned island with no shops or restaurants to speak of.  In fact, the characters summering there need to give a grocery list to their caretaker, who goes back and forth from Nantucket.  While I probably will never see Tuckernuck’s light of day, Nantucket is definitely on my must-do list.

The Island revolves around four women, each harboring secrets and/or pain.  Chess has just cancelled her wedding to a guy deemed perfect because she’s in love with his brother.  That “perfect guy” is soon found dead, but what are the circumstances surrounding it?  Tate, Chess’s sister, is trying to find a life outside of work.  Birdie, their mother, is trying to pick up the pieces of her life after her divorce, while her sister, India, is still coming to terms with her artist husband’s suicide.  The four converge on Tuckernuck for a month’s respite, with only themselves and their caretaker, Barrett, for company.  The ins and outs of their day, filled with drama after drama (no surprise), then ensue.

The Island is the perfect summer read, as there’s really not much substance to it.  As opposed to Hilderbrand’s later novels, Summerland and Silver Girl, I wasn’t that enthralled with any of the characters.  In fact, some attempts at garnering sympathy went out the window because the characters just weren’t that likeable.  However, Hilderbrand has a huge fan base for a reason.  Even her breeziest of books are still fun and great to take on vacation.

MY RATING - 3

The Castaways (Elin Hilderbrand)

I’m slowly working my way through Elin Hilderbrand’s repertoire, my latest being The Castaways.  The setting, as usual, is the author’s hometown of Nantucket; after reading so many of her novels, I really need to get there!  Part soap opera, part unsolved mystery, The Castaways is the perfect mental escape.

Four couples have become the best of friends since meeting on the island.  Some are related (Tess and Andrea), some have even dated each other in the past (Jeffrey and Andrea), but all have secrets.  After an accused infidelity, Tess and Greg are trying to repair their marriage by taking a sailing trip.  Unfortunately, they do not come back alive, causing a sordid web of backstory and grief.  Hilderbrand lets each character (except Tess and Greg) narrate as the huge puzzle they’ve all gotten themselves into slowly comes together.

While I enjoyed The Castaways and found it difficult to put down, I was not enthralled with the ending.  You never really know the true story of how Tess and Greg died; Hilderbrand lets the theories of the other characters influence your conclusions.  I’m all for open endings, but in a supposed mystery, this is ridiculous.  How did a piece of Tess’s hair get ripped out?  Why did Greg have cuts and bruises? 

However, the soap opera of the novel is what truly keeps it going.  Some characters are more likable than others, but all have interesting stories to tell.  This is a great, breezy read for vacation…just not a sailing trip!

MY RATING - 3

Nantucket Nights (Elin Hilderbrand)

Nantucket Nights…just the name sounds like it should have Fabio on the cover and give Fifty Shades of Grey a run for its money. It practically screams Don Johnson running down the street with a pastel t-shirt and white jacket. If you think all of this sounds dumb, that’s because Nantucket Nights is a dumb novel. While there is a plethora of intelligent chick lit out there (Hilderbrand’s latest books, Silver Girl and Summerland are two examples), this is not one of them.

Kayla is a Nantucket housewife married to Raoul with four children (one of which is a central character). Val, Kayla’s friend, is a high-powered attorney. Antoinette is…um, just someone that they both know (You can’t really call her a friend because in her words “she doesn’t want to have any friends.").  Twenty years ago, these three women started a ritual where they went swimming on the Friday before Labor Day and shared their innermost secrets. They named themselves the “Night Swimmers.” Now, it’s time again, with all three having big secrets, to grab lobsters and champagne and go swimming! But one decides to dance straight into the water, and lo and behold, goes missing! Did she drown? Did something more sinister happen?

Does that paragraph entice you to read Nantucket Nights? Probably not. However, just because the plot leaves a lot to be desired doesn’t mean Hilderbrand isn’t a great writer. I’ve given plenty of her books a 4 or 5 and am reading one now that I love. While there are some exciting parts, the storyline and extremely unsympathetic characters make this novel one I wouldn’t recommend.

MY RATING - 2

Barefoot (Elin Hilderbrand)

I picked up Elin Hilderbrand’s Barefoot because I loved her other books so much.  Her latest, Summerland, is outstanding, and I also greatly enjoyed last year’s Silver Girl.  In Silver Girl especially, she had the Jodi Picoult-like knack of making the reader feel for unsympathetic characters.  I read The Beach Club in the last few weeks, which was a nice, breezy summer read.  Barefoot, while not my favorite by-far, still manages to tell a good story.

As is usually the case with Hilderbrand’s books, the setting is Nantucket.  Three women come here to “escape” their problems.  Vicki, diagnosed with lung cancer, brings her two young boys and leaves her husband at home.  Brenda, Vicki’s sister, is just recently fired from her job as a professor due to a liason with one of her students and an accidental case of vandalism.  Melanie, Vicki’s friend, is hurting over her husband’s affair and finds out that she is finally pregnant at the same time.  When these women make their entrance at the Nantucket airport, a worker, Josh, notices that they seem very unhappy.  As Josh finds himself intertwining with their lives, he must make some hard decisions.

Some reviews of Barefoot have been negative because some feel that the characters are unsympathetic.  While this works in Silver Girl, it does not really work here.  While I loved reading Vicki’s story and was anxious to know what would happen to her, I could not find myself wanting to read about Melanie, Josh, or especially Brenda.  However, as is always the case with Hilderbrand, she is a wonderful storyteller, and any book written by her is worth your time.

MY RATING - 3

The Beach Club (Elin Hilderbrand)

Elin Hilderbrand was an author I knew nothing about until I discovered she grew up in a neighboring town.  I started off reading Silver Girl last year and then continued with Summerland this year.  Even though she is a great summer read, she is by no means a frivolous one.  Her stories revolve around characters you truly grow to care about.  More than possibly any other author I’ve read, you can get completely lost in her books, with hours passing before you realize you read half of the novel already.

The Beach Club is an older novel, and, while not quite as good as Silver Girl and Summerland, still an intriguing story.  Mack is the manager of Bill and Therese’s Nantucket hotel/beach club.  Having lost his parents in a tragedy, he must decide what to do with the family farm and with his relationship with his girlfriend, Maribel.  Lacey is an 88-year-old fixture at the hotel, spending every summer there.  Jem, who quickly falls in love with Maribel, is happy to get a job as a bellman under Vance’s watch.  Love comes to the island from Aspen, after Bill offers her a job as a front desk clerk, but she has an ulterior motive.  Each character interweaves seamlessly with the others, creating a story that is summer breezy at times, but has real heart always.

With the exception of a line involving Cecily (Bill and Therese’s daughter) that could have come straight out of a romance novel with Fabio on the cover, I found myself hanging on every word.  I’m reading Barefoot right now and loving it, and I can’t wait to read Hilderbrand’s others.  She is a gifted storyteller whose novels are just right for the beach or a nice summer escape in the dreary cold winter.

MY RATING - 4

Summerland (Elin Hilderbrand)

When you see someone on the beach with a beverage in her hand, chances are she’s not reading War and Peace or Crime and Punishment.  Summer is a time for what is commonly called “chick lit.”  However, no matter how mindless you want your book to be, some of it can be just plain awful.  Very few books that take place in the summer and are geared towards women can be considered quality books.  Elin Hilderbrand is one of those authors who writes these types of novels…books where you can do your “mind escaping” but completely enjoy the story along the way.  Hilderbrand’s latest, Summerland, will take your breath away.

We begin the night of Nantucket’s high school graduation.  Sitting in the audience are the main cast of characters...Zoe, mother of twins and an established caterer; Hobby, one of her twins; Jordan, the head of the local newspaper; and Jake, Jordan’s son.  Penny (Zoe’s daughter, Hobby’s twin sister, and Jake’s girlfriend) is on stage singing the National Anthem with the voice of an angel.  Later that night, a tragedy occurs that affects the life of every Nantucket resident.

Characters take turns playing the narrator in Summerland, which is very effective at allowing the reader to see the plot from different angles.  Your heart aches for each and every one of them as they deal in their own way with the unimaginable tragedy.  This is the best type of novel…the type that you can’t wait to see the ending, but you also don’t want it to end.  Both Summerland and last year’s Silver Girl were beautiful reads, and I can’t wait to delve further into Hilderbrand’s past books.

MY RATING - 5

Silver Girl (Elin Hilderbrand)

I was looking through my posts today and noticed that it has been quite awhile since I was able to give a book a "5" rating. The authors I normally love, such as Jodi Picoult (a "2" for Sing You Home???) and Jennifer McMahon just didn't put out the work that I expected from them this year. I love, love, love Bethenny Frankel, but she can't really write a book. The last "5" I gave was to Jane Green on June 2 for the lovely Promises to Keep. I was getting a little discouraged. Then came Silver Girl.

Ironically, it was Jane Green herself who told me about Hilderbrand. I e-mailed Ms. Green to let her know how much I enjoyed Promises. Imagine my surprise when, within minutes, this New York Times bestselling, very busy author, e-mailed me back to thank me and tell me about Elin Hilderbrand. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Hilderbrand grew up right down the street from where I am living now!

Silver Girl is just a treasure, and I was actually sad when it ended. It is a fictional account that is ripped from the headlines. Meredith Delinn is the wife of Freddy Delinn, who is in jail for life for cheating investors out of billions of dollars. People think that Meredith knew what Freddy was up to, and so she is scorned and rejected by everyone she knows. To make matters worse, she and her son (who she is forbidden to have contact with) are under investigation by the FBI.

Connie is Meredith's old friend, who she has not seen or talked to in years due to a falling out. Out of Meredith's desperation, she contacts Connie, who reluctantly agrees to give her refuge at her summer house in Nantucket. Even though Meredith is out of Manhattan, she still is in danger by people who want revenge for her husband's dealings. Meredith never truly feels safe, even as she begins to get some people back into her life, including her ex-lover, Connie's brother, Toby. This is not only Meredith's story of trying to get her life back, but also Connie's, who is still grieving for her deceased husband and trying desperately to get back in touch with her estranged daughter.

What a beautiful, beautiful book. From the gorgeous cover, to the picturesque setting throughout, the reader will become enchanted with Meredith's story. Read this book slowly, and treasure every word. One realizes from reading this that life is not about what car you drive or how big your house is, but who you can count on when life unexpectedly goes awry.

MY RATING - 5 (YAY!!!!)

Part of this review can also be found on http://www.bookloons.com.