Book Review for 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand

 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand 

Genre:  Chick Lit, Romance

Hardcover, 432 pages

Published June 16th 2020 by Little, Brown and Company

 

Taken from Goodreads:  By the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Summer of '69: Their secret love affair has lasted for decades -- but this could be the summer that changes everything.

When Mallory Blessing's son, Link, receives deathbed instructions from his mother to call a number on a slip of paper in her desk drawer, he's not sure what to expect. But he certainly does not expect Jake McCloud to answer. It's the late spring of 2020 and Jake's wife, Ursula DeGournsey, is the frontrunner in the upcoming Presidential election.

There must be a mistake, Link thinks. How do Mallory and Jake know each other?

Flash back to the sweet summer of 1993: Mallory has just inherited a beachfront cottage on Nantucket from her aunt, and she agrees to host her brother's bachelor party. Cooper's friend from college, Jake McCloud, attends, and Jake and Mallory form a bond that will persevere -- through marriage, children, and Ursula's stratospheric political rise -- until Mallory learns she's dying.

Based on the classic film Same Time Next Year (which Mallory and Jake watch every summer), 28 Summers explores the agony and romance of a one-weekend-per-year affair and the dramatic ways this relationship complicates and enriches their lives, and the lives of the people they love. 

My Thoughts:  I am ashamed to say that this is my first Elin Hilderbrand book.  I am thrilled to say that I now want to read everything she has written.  Ever word, page, and chapter kept me entertained and needing to keep reading.  I could not wait to keep hanging out with Mallory and learning about her life.  She has some amazing friends, some loyal family members, a wonderful son, and an interesting Same Time Next Year guy. 

 

Jake and Mallory have had 28 Summers of having a one weekend affair.  That is their only contact each year is this weekend and something that neither of them are willing to give up.   Their relationship is complicated by a friendship to Mallory’s brother, a wife and daughter for Jake, and a son for Mallory.  I was intrigued by how much they were willing to risk just to be together.   There were times I wanted to yell at Jake to figure life out, he did not give up anything to be with her while I felt like Mallory was held back by Jake.   She had a few relationships throughout the years but nobody she was able to connect with like she did Jake.  

 

Elin Hilderbrand wrote a book that I could not put down.  I was invested in the characters.  I love the Nantucket setting.  The storyline was wonderful.  I wanted to root against the characters for the cheating and deceit, but I just could not.  I wanted them all to find their HEA.

 

**I read this book as part of my local book club.  All opinions are my own.

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About Elin (taken from her website):  Elin Hilderbrand is the author of twenty-eight novels, including the forthcoming THE HOTEL NANTUCKET (June 14, 2022). She is a proud 1991 graduate of Johns Hopkins University where she majored in Writing Seminars. In her senior year at Hopkins, Elin had her first short story, "Misdirection," accepted for publication in Seventeen Magazine.

After a short stint working in publishing and teaching in New York City, she moved to Nantucket permanently in 1994. She attended the University of Iowa writers workshop and earned her MFA in 1998, and published her first novel, THE BEACH CLUB, in the summer of 2000. Her 2019 novel, SUMMER OF '69 was her first novel to debut at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. She is the mother of three children and loves riding the Peloton, cooking, and going to the beach. She will retire with her summer of 2024 book and plans on becoming a book influencer.