The Love Season

I dunno who the (expletive) titled this book, but they were on crack.

A frustrating read. Hilderbrand apparently operates under the delusion that a book takes only a few stock characters and a hint of mysterious mystery that isn't explained until the very end, bake at 500 degrees for fifteen minutes stir twice, success!
Why, Elin? (Can I call you Elin?) You had the ingredients for creme brulee au chocolat and you settled for microwave brownies. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO YOURSELF? & more importantly, why would you do it to me?

Here is the story that should have been written:

Marguerite (plain; long hair; super-excellent chef) spent fifteen years on the end of the line jerked by Porter (wealthy, pretentious, selfish). He gave her a show more restaurant; she gave him good sex. Meanwhile, Marguerite is immediate BFF with his sister Candace (blonde; artlessly beautiful). Meanwhile, Candace has married and borne a child (Renata). Meanwhile, Marguerite has fallen in love with Candace.
On the night Porter breaks it off for good, Marguerite realizes/confesses her love to the leggy and ethereal Candace, who is overwhelmed and a bit squicked out -- either by this revelation or by Marguerite's insistence that her sudden desire be returned in kind. Candace decides she needs a breath of fresh air. Candace goes for a run. Candace is hit by a truck.
And so Marguerite wants to die too. She has placed all her emotional well-being in a single basket and it is sunk to the bottom of the reedy river. She has never been beautiful, never been strong or free in the way Candace was, so effortlessly graceful. So she goes to the woods and makes a fire and puts in one of her lovely silver spoons and burns the fuck out of her tongue, because destroying the last remaining joy in her life is the only sacrifice she can make that comes close to the pain of the loss of Candace. It swells up; she nearly dies; she is hospitalized (incarcerated) for a long time; she withdraws from the world and certainly from the restaurant ... until her god-daughter Renata calls and wants to meet her. I'm getting married, she says. I know I'm too young, but I'm in love.
That's wonderful, darling, says Marguerite, desperate to see this girl, this image of Candace, this miracle. Why don't you come over for dinner and we'll talk.
If it's okay, I had some questions about -- about my mum. He never talks about her.
Marguerite closes her eyes even though the child cannot see her. She does not choke. She says, so gently she does not recognize her own voice, it's been stiff from the salt of Nantucket and held-back tears since Candace died and here it is again, almost new, almost whole -- Whatever you want to know. I'm here.
And on opposite sides of the island, the women hang on to the telephone wire like it's the only solid thing in the world.

The real book has various drawn-out dinner parties, nasty rich white people, nasty poor black people, various omg-are-we-lesbians?! friendships, unfinished business, men who exist on the tangent of women's emotional lives and in the foreground otherwise, lots of lobster, and is penned by an author who knows a lot about cooking but very little about baking bread.
I like my version better. show less

This novel takes place in one 24 hour period but covers many years with two backstories. Marguerite Beale was a renowned chef with her own restaurant. She meets Porter in Paris as a young women after which they live together during the summers on Nantucket. When her best friend Candace, Porter's half-sister, was killed, she ended up in a mental institution and later became a recluse in her home on Quince Avenue because she felt responsible for Candance's death. Enter her 19-year old god-daughter, Renata, who she has not seen or talked to in 14 years. Renata calls to tell her that she is engaged to Cade Driscoll and wants to meet with her. Marguerite invites her for dinner and plans and cooks a real gourmet meal for the occasion. Renata show more is having her own problems when she is left on her own at the Driscoll house and goes to the beach with Miles, the hired help. The history of the two women is told as reminisces by the two women: Marguerite from the time she was a ballet student as a child, through her relationship with Porter, Candice's half-brother, and then her friendship with Candace; Renata from her time being raised by a single father, Don, up to the current time. show less

Intriguing book that unfolds over the course of one day, with flashbacks to the mysterious history of the characters. The Nantucket island setting is perfect for summer.

Marguerite Beale receives a phone call from her goddaughter, Renata Knox that she is on Nantucket and coming to visit. Renata has been forbidden to see Marguerite by her father for her whole life. Renata’s father has always loved her too much and felt too responsible for her and Renata feels as though he is weighing her down. Renata’s mother, Candace died when she was only three years old. Marguerite was Candace’s best friend.
Renata, recently engaged is on the island to visit her fiancé, Cade’s parents. She has overlooked the obvious objections that it was too soon and she was too young to get married, but can she continue to overlook these things?
Marguerite has pretty much been the island recluse for the last fourteen years. show more She used to be a famous chef and have a very popular restaurant, but after Candace’s death, Marguerite punished herself by becoming a hermit.
When Renata calls, old feelings rise to the surface for Marguerite. “There was a twinge on Marguerite’s heart, like someone tugging on the corner of a blanket, threatening to throw back the covers and expose it all.” Marguerite begins to feel all the things she has forbidden herself to feel for the past fourteen years.
There is a lot of drama on the island and secrets are revealed one by one. This is your typical juicy, summer read from one of my favorite author’s, Elin Hilderbrand. show less

This easily could have been just another sappy summer-on-Nantucket book; however, Hilderbrand's writing brought alive twenty-four hours in the lives of this quirky cast of characters. Love in its many forms, remembrance, forgiveness...all neatly wrapped in and around ex-restaurateur Marguerite's narrative of the preparations for the most important dinner of her life.

This is the story of Marguerite, a woman who is living alone on Nantucket after a mental breakdown some years before. The book begins on an optimistic note, re-introducing the people from her past into her life; but toward the end, it takes a chilling turn. I thought this novel was well-written, but it was definitely not a beach read and not quite what you'd expect from Elin Hilderbrand.

Just who is Marguerite Beale, one time chef of once hot Les Parapluies, a trendy Nantucket restaurant? This novel tells us that and more. The chef has kept herself in her house on the island, until her godchild, Renata, calls to announce that, while on the island meeting her newly affianced parents, she wants to visit Marguerite (or Daisy, as she is known by familiars) to find out anything she can about her mother, who died when she was about five. This is the story of Renata’s day on the island and how she comes to realize that her life is not really what she thought it was and of Daisy, who spends the day remembering her ties with Renata’s mother. Both are in for a whirlwind, turning and twisting day, where nothing is as it seems show more and nothing turns out as it was supposed to. The author has provided an excellent perspective on the lives of these two women as well as on island life for the fiancé’s rich and well-connected family. The short time span of this novel distinguish it from other of the author’s novels, but the overall themes of love, friendship, family ring true as in her other novels. This novel is a bit deeper because it probes many areas where novels such as his one tend to gloss over. The shortened timeframe make characterization, description of the then and now and memories more important, and the author has risen to this. This novel provides an excellent look into the life of a small group of people and their lives spanning a number of years. I found it interesting the way the author managed to seamlessly cross the years from present to past. This is a good novel for the reader who is interested in love and all its ins and outs. show less