The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

HerKentucky Whiskey Glass Rating: 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃

Publisher’s Synopsis: Fresh off 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, Xavier 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-run 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 fire 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?  

Filled with the emotional depth and multiple points of view that characterize Hilderbrand’s novels (The Blue Bistro, Golden Girl) as well as an added dash of Roaring Twenties history, The Hotel Nantucket offers something for everyone in this compelling summer drama. 

HerKentucky Review: Beach Read queen Elin Hilderbrand is back with her 27th novel of impossibly beautiful and wealthy people leading wildly messy lives. The Hotel Nantucket, as its title suggests, is set in a luxury hotel on Nantucket. The titular hotel is a Gilded Age property that has been recently renovated after decades of neglect. Mysterious billionaire Xavier Darling purchased the hotel with the goal of attaining the elusive 5 Key review from mysterious hotel review influencer Shelly Carpenter. Hotel Manager Lizbet Keaton, seeking a fresh start after ending a longterm relationship, assembles a team of employees — many of whom harbor dramatic secrets of their own — to bring 5 Key service to the hotel guests. We learn that many of the hotel’s top employees are seeking fresh starts after past mistakes, we meet the hotel’s resident ghost — a beautiful young maid who was killed in a 1920s fire, and we cheer Lizbet on as she embarks on a new romance. It’s the perfect escapist summer read.

The Hotel Nantucket is the quintessential Elin Hilderbrand novel, as refreshing and decadent as a lobster roll and a glass of Sancerre. The callbacks to characters like realtor Fast Eddie Pancik from The Rumor or Mack Peterson from The Beach Club feel logical and organic, and the storylines tie together for a charming tale of second chances and new beginnings. Previous knowledge of Ms. Hilderbrand’s works isn’t necessary to enjoy the book, but I highly recommend reading The Blue Bistro before this one for some background information.

Please note that I received an Advanced Review Copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of this work. This review contains affiliate links; I will receive a small commission for purchases made through the links in this post. This commission does not impact the purchase price of the item.

A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand

HerKentucky Whiskey Glass Rating: 🥃🥃🥃🥃

Publisher’s synopsis: Claire has a problem with setting limits. All her life she has taken on every responsibility, assumed every burden, granted every request. Claire wants it all—and in the eyes of her friends, she has it: a devoted husband, four beautiful children, even a successful career as an artist. So when she agrees to chair the committee for Nantucket's social event of the year, she knows she can handle it. Claire can handle anything.

But when planning the gala propels her into the orbit of billionaire Lock Dixon, unexpected sparks begin to fly. Lock insists on working closely with Claire—often over a bottle of wine—and before long she can't ignore the subtle touches and lingering looks. To her surprise, she can't ignore how they make her feel, either. Claire finds the gala, her life, and herself spinning out of control.

A Summer Affair captures the love, loss, and limbo of an illicit romance and unchecked passion as it takes us on a brave and breathless journey into the heart of one modern woman.

HerKentucky Review: Glass sculptor Claire agrees to chair a large charity gala and soon finds herself emerged in a torrid affair with the charity’s director. This novel had some beautiful imagery, but I found it really hard to believe that someone with so little event planning expertise would be picked to chair a gala. It seriously struck me as less believable than the idea that her high school boyfriend grew up to be a famous rock star. Pedantic retired Junior Leaguer analysis aside, this is a fun novel about summer flings.

Buy A Summer Affair on Amazon or Bookshop.org

This review contains affiliate links; I will receive a small commission for purchases made through the links in this post. This commission does not impact the purchase price of the item.