Summer People

You may also read my review here: http://bookbybookreview.blogspot.com/2011/06/review-summer-people.html

FINALLY, a review from the May Book of the Month... only a few days late and really, not my fault... I was waiting patiently for the person ahead of me to return it to the library!

As always, Elin Hilderbrand describes the beaches/summers of Nantucket so well. Having never been there, it is now a place that I dream, one day, of vacationing with the family. Oh how wonderful it would be to have our very OWN summer house! The descriptive powers allowed for me to sit back and see the blue/black of the ocean, smell the suntan lotion and hear the seagulls. It truly is magical.

The story, however, was much darker/sadder than I was expecting. show more With Marcus' mother, Constance, having commited murder and Arch dying in a place crash on the way home from a business meeting about her trial, it really set up some dynamic ties between the two families. It was easy to feel the underlying current of the whole situation throughout the entire book... hard to imagine, but easy to feel.

Add to that, as secrets on the island, from a long ago past, are revealed, it only adds to the stress levels of everyone and leads Winnie and Garrett to get revenge on their mother in the best way they know how.

Overall, a book that deals with the end of one life and the beginning of another... a family that is changed forever. It was a great read! show less

It is an Elin Hilderbrand book. People need healing so the go to Nantucket for the summer. In this case it is a mother and her twin teenagers who lost their father/husband Arch in a plane crash. Arch was working on a case of a woman facing the death penalty and he had invited the woman’s son to join his family in Nantucket. Secrets are kept and exposed and some healing takes place. This came out in 2003 and it is when the author began to be a little too PC, probably to make her editors happy and to assuage her white privileged guilt of living in Nantucket and becoming wealthy. It doesn’t matter because her books are always enjoyable.

This is a nice beach read! The setting is, appropriately, a summer on Nantucket island. A mother has returned to her family cottage with her two teenaged children for the first time since the unexpected death of her husband. She brings with them a young guest who has been invited to escape from his own personal tragedy. I found the characters and conflicts very believable and very interesting. There is a murder as a context for the story. The account of the murder would be intriguing enough as a novel on its own.

Beth honors a promise her husband Arch made before his death, he wants Marcus to join his family at their Nantucket beach house for the summer.
Marcus is going through the worst possible time in his life.
Beth and her two teenagers are going through the worst time in theirs, having lost Arch.

In the background there's a lingering secret about Beth's ex boyfriend who lives on the island full time.

It's a story about this family (Marcus included) trying to get past their sadness and trying to heal.

I enjoyed the story, it was very well written, but the ending was a bit bittersweet.

Archer Newton, a lawyer, is killed in a plane crash leaving his wife, Beth and 17 year old twins, Garrett and Winnie. He had been working on the murder trial of Constance Tyler, mother of Marcus, who he had invited to stay the summer with them at their cottage on Nantucket. Beth decided that she would honor his request even though he was no longer with them. The three of them arrive on Nantucket and Beth, while shopping, runs into David Ronan, her former boyfriend of 6 years (16-21 years old). She invites he and his family to dinner. Garret is taken with 17 year old Piper Ronan and cannot spend enough time with her. Meanwhile, Winnie and Marcus become fast friends as they are both competitive swimmers. David is still attracted to Beth, show more but Beth in grieving, and does not want to see him although they are thrown together due to the closeness of Garrett and Piper. During the summer things happen between Garrett and Piper, Marcus and Winnie, and Beth and David. show less

Great read - awesome author! Have read all her books. Every summer the Newton family retreats to their beloved home on Nantucket for three months of sunshine, cookouts, and bonfires on the beach. But this summer will not be like any other. When Arch Newton, a prominent New York attorney, dies in a plane crash on his way home from a business trip, his beautiful widow Beth can barely keep things together. Above all, though, she decides that she must continue the family tradition of going to Nantucket, and at the same time fulfill a promise that Arch made before he died.

love her books! another perfect beach read. not too mushy!!!!