28 Summers

Wow, all the feels with this one. The true love story of Mallory and Jake through 28 Nantucket summers is both heart-wrenching and nostalgic. What starts as innocence turns into more, and as bad as it could be, it is such a sweetness.
The writing is, of course, impeccable- this is Elin Hilderbrand we’re reading. I simply love the chapter intros with the lists of what was happening, as I was able to take my own walk down memory lane! As a teacher who also lives at the beach (NJ, not Nantucket) I found so many connections with Mallory and hated to accept her circle of life. This is a hard one to put down.
*I received an arc from the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review

Seriously, a Summer is not complete without a great book from Elin Hilderbrand.

28 Summers did not disappoint. A mixture of sweetness and sadness. The ending definitely brought me to tears.

I loved the way this book was broken up by year and at the beginning of each year there's a summary of current events and pop culture from that year. It was a great trip down memory lane, but also as a quick way to set the scene for what was going on during that time.

I may just have to watch Same Time Next Year to try to extend my time with this book.

While Elin is the Queen of the beach read, you may not want to finish this one on the beach, unless you have a big hat and some big glasses to hide the ugly crying.

Okay...
I'm a fan of Elin Hildebrand's books and I love escaping to Nantucket (a place I can only imagine since I've never been). But 28 Summers is not a book I love. I hated the concept. I've never seen Same Time Next Year but know the premise. This novel follows that premise. I could not get over thinking about the wasted days, weeks, months, years. I liked most of the characters and was interested in their lives outside of their bubble. But choosing not to live with total joy for 28 years bothered me.

I am not a big “chick lit” fan, but I LOVED this book. I didn’t want to put it down, yet I didn’t want it to end.

Inspired by the concept of the film, Same Time Next Year, the story focused not only on the couple’s yearly rendezvous, but also how their separate lives evolved through the years. I really liked how each of the 28 years is prefaced with what we were talking about in that particular year. It was like going back in a time machine to reexperience those times.

I listened to 28 Summers through the LibroFM ALC program (an advanced listener audiobook reviewing program)and it was everything I ever wanted in a fiction audiobook.

I have been a fan of Elin Hilderbrand since the mid-2000s and will never forget exactly where I was when I read some of her first novels, hello The Blue Bistro!! Like almost all of her books, 28 Summers is set in Hilderbrand's beloved Nantucket. While I have never visited, over my years of reading her books I can picture it so clearly it feels like I been there. I love that she always incorporates local businesses and landmarks that help set the scene and also bring you back to her past novels.

I have to be honest for a minute and say that while I have continued to be a show more big fan, I haven't loved some of her past releases as much as her older books. I just didn't fully connect with the characters or feel like the plot was totally flushed out, but then I read this one.

28 Summers spans decades and we follow Mallory, Jake, and their families, over yes, 28 Summers, starting in 1993. First off, one of my very favorite parts of this book was Hilderbrand's inclusion of some pop culture references at the start of each chapter. Not only did it totally help set the scene but it also brought back so many amazing memories...for instance, it totally inspired me to listen to R.E.M. on Spotify...

The characters are multifaceted and while it is a total beach read in its accessibility factor, the plotlines were quite nuanced. It does have elements of infidelity which could be off-putting to some readers but I did enjoy that the characters were imperfect and while you might not agree with all of their choices, you get to know them and learn more of the "why".

This book made me laugh and it also made me cry, which doesn't happen a lot for me with reading, LOL. It definitely has some scandal and also some elements of hope. All in all, it is one I won't forget and I highly recommend it. Is this one on your reading list? I would love to hear!

Thank you to Little, Brown, and Company and LibroFM for providing a review copy in exchange for sharing my honest thoughts. I also purchased a hard copy to add my own bookshelves when it was released yesterday. show less

The title is a bit of a misnomer. The story centers on a love affair that occurs every labor day on Nantucket island beginning in 1993 and it ends with a death in 2020. It is a "same time, next year' affair. This is not a spoiler. This is how the story begins and the book chronicles the years events somewhat randomly it seems from the start to the finish. I grew very attached, if that is the right word, to the main character Mallory.

This is a novel with strong characters and a wonderful sense of place is given to the setting of much of the novel on Nantucket island. I liked this a lot although there are a few too many characters and relationships to try and keep straight, and there are a couple of misfires in the book from my show more perspective that took my enjoyment (and rating) down a notch. Overall, however, this is very good. I felt like I was reading about a real person, Mallory Blessing and her life, something that is not easy to accomplish. Midway through the novel the focus of the story shifts a bit. And then it shifts more, and near the end it makes a rather dramatic shift into the political arena. Most of the story parallels real life but it begins to skew off into an alternate reality and for me it was the weak part of the story because the focus needed to be somewhere else. I wish there was more of what worked so well early in the book and there should have been a much better resolution of the romance long before the end. But the end itself, it was done very well.

I might have a go at another of Hildrebrand's novels. If I do, Same time next year around labor day would be very appropriate. show less

I'm upping my rating to a 3.5.

I'm a big EH lover but this was good but not great in my opinion. It was 100 pages too long for me. The concept obviously was from "Same Time Next Year" and can't believe this relationship lasted so all those years. I know that people were suspicious after a while but it didn't take hold until maybe mid-way through the book and noone ever mentioned it. I liked the characters but had to refer back a couple of times to the minor characters and how they played a part in Mallory's life. She had a lot of relationships too but yet nothing permanent because of her love for Jake and their yearly "tryst" I guess you would call it.

I did like the beginning of the chapters when things were mentioned happening in that show more year. Brought back not only memories but things I need to Google now that I don't remember happening. show less