(107)The Island by Elin Hilderbrand

Elin Hilderbrand has carved a niche market out for herself. She is the quintessential author of "beach reads". I have been reading her books for several years now and it only took reading two books to see the pattern. All of her books are set on Nantucket during the summer. Her new book, The Island, varies just a little. It is set on an little island right off of Nantucket.

It has been thirteen years since the Tate house had summer guests. The Tate women have all been busy with their lives. But right now they are all at a pivotal point in their lives and need the month long vacation more than ever before. Birdie is dating for the first time after her divorce. It is a new experience for her, but when her daughter Chess asks to go to The Island, Birdie is not going to tell her no. For Chess has just broken off an engagement and within days, her ex-fiance falls to his death while rock climbing. The guilt is eating her alive. Birdie asks her other daughter, Tate to join them. And then there is India, Birdie's sister. It has been fifteen years since her husband committed suicide. She is on the cusp of a romantic relationship that will shock her family. She needs the break to gather her thoughts and process her priorities. Will the Island be able to provide the healing that each woman is seeking? Or will it only shatter their fragile relationships?

There is something about Elin Hilderbrand's novels that just draw me in. I think I have figured out why. Living in the Midwest all of my life, and now the "Wild Wild West" I have never had the experience of a summer home, let alone a summer home on an island that sits on an ocean. It is just a foreign concept to me. Reading about Nantucket is probably as close as I will ever get to actually exploring it, so I devour every book I can find set on the island.

The Island is a wonderful beach read about relationships between sisters, and mothers and their daughters. It is an achingly sweet story with a satisfying end. Despite what my "Now I Am Reading...." I read this book very quickly. And now I wait for next summer and Hildebrand's next book.