Summertime is the best time to read any book by Elin Hilderbrand. Her books are fantastic beach reads and with summer coming to an end I went on a bit of a binge with her books. The Hotel Nantucket did not disappoint as another great summer read from her. There were ghost stories and love stories beautifully entwined, and, of course, the novel takes place in the summer on Nantucket.
In 1922 a fire in a hotel ended up killing the 19 year old chambermaid, Grace Hadley. After the fire, The Hotel Nantucket never really recovered. For a long time it was an abandoned building that no one wanted to touch. That is, until a London billionaire, Xavier Darling, decides to purchase the hotel. Xavier brings on Lizbet Keaton, Nantucket’s “sweetheart”, to be the general manager of the hotel. Lizbet hires a great staff, although very inexperienced. Grace Hadley continues to haunt the hotel in order to get the true story revealed.
I found this whole story to be really interesting. I loved all of the characters and the way each story interwove together. There were many layers to the story and all of the characters throughout the novel. I also loved the small little twist at the end. I honestly did not really see it coming. With most of Elin Hilderbrand’s books, I do find that I get a bit bored in the middle. I tend to lean towards thrillers though, so it is not anything against her writing.
I gave this book 3.5/5 stars. I really enjoyed the book as a whole. I just found it to be a bit slow in the middle. Sometimes, I felt as if there was some information that did not really need to be added. I did find the character development and the overall plot to be very well done. I genuinely liked every character and I liked the underlying ghost story that took place throughout. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes a good beach read, or contemporary fiction. There are love stories, drama, and ghost stories. I look forward to reading more books by Elin Hilderbrand.