The Hotel Nantucket

Author: Elin Hilderbrand
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2022
Pages: 416
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: Fresh of a bad breakup with a longtime boyfriend, Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton is desperately seeking a second act. When she's named the new general manager of the Hotel Nantucket, a once Gilded Age gem turned abandoned eyesore, she hopes that her local expertise and charismatic staff can win the favor of their new London billionaire owner, Xaviar Darling, as well as that of Shelly Carpenter, the wildly popular Instagram tastemaker who can help put them back on the map. And while the Hotel Nantucket appears to be a blissful paradise, complete with a celebrity chef-fun restaurant and an idyllic wellness center, there's a lot of drama behind closed doors. The staff (and guests) have complicated pasts, and the hotel can't seem to overcome the bad reputation it earned in 1922 when a tragic file killed nineteen-year-old chambermaid Grace Hadley. With Grace gleefully haunting the halls, a staff harboring all kinds of secrets, and Lizbet's own romantic uncertainty, is the Hotel Nantucket destined for success or doom?

Review: The Hotel Nantucket is classic Elin. It's over-the-top in her signature way, and I loved every second. I tried to read slowly to savor and make it last longer with minimal success. The perfect summer beach read (even though there's no beach in sight from my patio which is where I read most of this).

This is exactly what I expect from Elin Hilderbrand, an entertaining escape.

Other Elin Hilderbrand Novels:
The Five-Star Weekend
Summer of '69
The Blue Bistro
Golden Girl
The Island
The Castaways

The Winter Street Series
Winter Street
Winter Stroll
Winter Storms
Winter Solstice

The Winter in Paradise Trilogy
Winter in Paradise
What Happens in Paradise
Troubles in Paradise

The Summer of Lost and Found

Author: Mary Alice Monroe
Genre: Southern Fiction 
Publisher: Gallery Books, 2022
Pages: 368
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: The coming of spring usually means renewal, but for Linnea Rutledge, this spring is only bringing challenges. Linnea faces a layoff from the aquarium she adores, and her family's finances, emotions, and health teeter on the brink. To complicate matters, her new love interest, Gordon, struggles to return to the Isle of Palms from England. Meanwhile, her old flame, John, turns up from California and is quarantining next door. She tries to ignore him, but when he sends her plaintive notes in the form of paper airplanes, old sparks ignite. When Gordon at last reaches the island, Linnea wonders - is it possible to love two men at the same time.

Love in the time of COVID-19 proves difficult, at times humorous, and ever changing. Relationships are redefined, friendships made and broke, and marriages tested. As the weeks turn to months, and another sea turtle season comes to a close, Linnea learns there are more meaningful lessons during this summer than opportunities lost: that summer is a time of wonder, and that the exotic lives in our own backyards.

Review: I wasn't sure I was ready to read a book set during the COVID-19 pandemic. Having just lived through it, and now living through the repercussions of decisions made by the government during that time, it is still really raw.

I enjoyed this novel. It is worth noting that this is the 7th book in the The Beach House series, a fact that isn't noted anywhere on the book itself. That was frustrating, but it makes sense. I found the introduction of characters in the first chapter to be rushed and confusing.

If I have one criticism it's that the departure of one beau was just too simple and convenient. It suits this subgenre though so it's not reason enough to not read the book.

I requested Book 1, The Beach House, from the library.