Tag: elin hilderbrand

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romance
Read if you liked: The Perfect Couple

Jenna and Stewart’s families gather on Nantucket for their wedding, planned using The Notebook that Jenna’s mom left behind for her before she died. As the ideas in The Notebook come to life, it stirs up emotions for all the family members, leading to reassessments of many of their lives.

This book is classic Elin Hilderbrand, with a primary focus on the lavish setting of Nantucket and the personal drama of the characters (of which there are a lot), without a ton of action. It was exactly what I wanted from a book I read by the pool. Most of the characters are entitled and somewhat unlikable, but I enjoyed watching them tangle and untangle their lives. I ate up the drama as the wedding drew closer.

I liked how messy and complicated this story was, and of course, I loved the way Hilderbrand made Nantucket come alive as she always does.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Beautiful Day on Goodreads
Buy Beautiful Day at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Fiction

The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand ~ Book Review

Morgan

Fiction
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪

Ahh this book was so good!! To be back in Nantucket with Elin Hilderbrand and a new story is always such a joy. Hollis and her husband argue one morning before he leaves for a trip and when he dies in a car accident hours later, Hollis is left with more questions than answers. Months later, as she continues to process her loss, she organizes a five-star weekend with four friends from different parts of her life. Although they’ve never all spent time together before, Hollis hopes the camaraderie and support will help her to feel whole.

Hollis is a food blogger so you already know the descriptions of food and hosting details are spectacular. As always, Hilderbrand did not disappoint with creating an atmosphere you can practically feel coming to life around you.

The five “stars,” plus Hollis’s daughter are all dealing with a different kind of life event, either publicly or privately. They were all very distinct experiences and I found it really compelling to get to see inside each of their heads and to understand how they chose to deal with what they were going through. Although the amount of people to keep track of got a little confusing at times, by the end I was invested in each individual one.

There were definitely some things I didn’t see coming and the amount of drama combined with the bougie Nantucket summer vibes made this book hard to put down.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Five-Star Weekend at an indie bookstore near you
The Five-Star Weekend on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Fiction

When Meredith finds out that her husband cheated his investors out of billions of dollars, her world is turned upside down. Meredith was truly in the dark about her husband’s crimes, but finds herself struggling to convince anyone or to know who to trust. When Meredith hears from her old friend Connie with an offer to stay with her on Nantucket, it seems like the perfect place to escape and regroup.

This was one of Elin Hilderbrand’s less standout stories for me. The Nantucket setting was, as ever, beautifully depicted, and I appreciated the emotional depth of Meredith’s character and her attempts to pull her life back together. The backlash Meredith received and her trying to sort through how to deal with her situation made for a really compelling story and I appreciated the premise a lot. Because this story was so focused on Meredith and Connie’s emotional states, I found the actual plot and action to be a bit lacking, especially for such a long book.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Silver Girl at an indie bookstore near you
Silver Girl on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Uncategorized

Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand ~ Book Review

Morgan

Little, Brown and Company
Genre: Fiction
Release Date: June 1, 2021
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

Golden Girl starts by introducing the reader to the novelist Vivi and then immediately killing her off. From there, it unexpectedly takes us to the afterlife where Vivi and the reader both watch her friends and family as they try to wrap their heads around Vivi’s sudden hit and run death.

This book has everything I love from Elin Hilderbrand — beautiful depictions of Nantucket summers, exquisite food descriptions, and lots and lots of drama. Vivi’s children and friends are wrapped up in a lot of deceit and confusion, creating a warped web that only adds to their newfound grief. As Vivi, just as shocked as the reader, watches everything unfold, she’s able to use three ‘nudges’ to influence what’s going on on earth. She has to act fast though — once the summer ends, she has to leave her vantage point.

As always, I appreciated the drama in this narrative, but I didn’t feel like the characters were deep enough to really care about. A lot of the information we got about them felt surface level, which made it hard for me to get invested in their stories. I didn’t understand their motivations.

I enjoyed this book for the setting and the summer vibes, but it wasn’t my favorite by this author.

Buy Golden Girl at an indie bookstore near you
Golden Girl on Goodreads