Reviews

A Summer Affair, by Elin Hilderbrand

krislynv's review

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4.0

Good beach vacation read.

jennabaia's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.5

katkinney's review

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5.0

Elin Hilderbrand is one of my favorite authors and I always enjoy her summer beach reads set on Nantucket. In A SUMMER AFFAIR, Claire is asked by Locke, a local billionaire who runs a children’s charity, to co-chair the yearly summer gala. When she agrees, they start having an affair.

I found the cast of characters to be terribly interesting. I loved the descriptions of the setting, the foods, and the day-to-day details of the character’s lives. The author always does a fabulous job with descriptions as well as making you feel like you’re really on Nantucket. I thought having Claire, the main character, be a glassblower, was an especially cool touch. These characters had so many problems that were so intricately twisted up within their histories with each other that it made for a really juicy story. I particularly enjoyed the sister-in-law/best friends relationship between Claire and Siobhan.

This book contains a lot of cheating by multiple prominent characters in the story, including Claire, who has four young children at home. I really like Elin Hilderbrand, think she’s an amazing writer and I found the novel to be an interesting character study. I listened to the audiobook version and couldn’t wait to come back and read a little more each night. That said, if infidelity is a plotline you aren’t crazy about, you may want to skip this one.

cozylittlebrownhouse's review

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4.0

I picked this up randomly as I passed the new books section in the library, probably because it was -20 in Cleveland and the beach scene enticed me. I don't even think I read the inside cover, I just grabbed it. Which is odd, by the way, because I am kind of a book snob and I don't generally read books that have covers looking like this. HOWEVER, I was pleasantly surprised by a story that kept me extremely interested, characters that I liked and disliked at the same time (I love when authors make me do that) and a writing style that I really liked. This was a fabulous surprise, and I couldn't wait to read at night! I will be checking out more books by this author.

kportalareads's review

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slow-paced
  • Loveable characters? No

3.0

librarygirlreads's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

akuhlma03's review

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The affair made little sense and I did not understand the main character motive. 

smidge03's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

juliacath99's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Summer read

bellehile's review

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lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25