Family in crisis after eldest daughter calls off wedding and fiance dies tragically. Off they go to Tuckernuck Isl and recover. Good read.

Chess and Tate are the daughters of Birdie Cousins who is recently divorced and having her first relationship after the divorce. She plans Chess's wedding to Michael Morgan until Chess abruptly calls it off, quits her lucrative and glamorous food editor job in New York, and goes into a depression, cutting off all of her hair and being mostly incommunicado. After Michael Morgan falls while mountain climbing and dies, Chess feels guilty like she caused his death. Birdie decides to take Chess, Tate, and her sister India to their old family cottage on Tuckernuck Island off Nantucket. The island has no central power, no municipal water, little cell phone service, and all provisions have to be gotten on Nantucket. Bennett Lee has been taking care of the cottage while they had not returned to the house for 13 years. For this month, the 4 women work through their life concerns: Chess's loss of Michael and Nick; Birdie's divorce from Grant; India's relationship with an art protegee, Lulu; and Tate's love since she was 17 for Barrett Lee. ( )

The Island by Elin Hilderbrand was a contemporary, women's fiction read that had me hooked.

Content Warning: Suicide, death and cheating.

I picked up this book from a local indie bookstore as a "blind date book." It was one of those fun marketing ideas where they wrap the book up in brown paper and put some notes on the paper about what the book is about. The books were on sale for $6.00 too, so I thought... what a steal! I'll pick a unique book that I hopefully haven't read and give it a whirl! I was surprised and delighted to pick this book up, as I have been eying down Elin Hilderbrand for a while, but I just never managed to grab one of her books.

The Island didn't pull me in right away, but by 3/4s into it I was HOOKED. There's something about the drama and intrigue that brought me back to my soap opera loving days. I had to know what happened at all costs. The more I got into the book, the more I had to binge. It was quite the ride for me, and it made me smile. I miss these kinds of books that pull me deeper in as I go along. What a nice change.

But anyways, time for the actual content and review!

This book follows a set of four women in one family. Birdie, her daughters Tate and Chess, and her sister India. After a traumatic and tragic loss, the four set off to "The Island" - an old family cottage in Nantucket that will bring back many memories and make new ones. Of course, there's lots of drama going on for all four women - loss, love, grief, and careers. Each woman goes on her own journey, while simultaneously having effects on the others.

It's quite the women's fiction read. I definitely think it'll be a niche for some readers, but I also think it was very well written. I can tell why many readers wouldn't like it, but I enjoyed dipping my toes into the sand and watching the stories unfold. Each woman changes and grows throughout the book, which made it really stand out to me. I do love good old fashioned drama (which this book had a lot of), but the growth and discovery really stood out to me. Seeing these women deal with difficult issues and try to solve them in their own little ways made this book so special.

I'll definitely be trying to pick up more books by Elin. In fact, I already found one! This book is over ten years old, so hopefully I can pick up a few more recent ones and see what journey I go on with them.

If you love soap opera drama, character growth and development, potential love triangles, and a pinch of trauma... Check out this book.

Four out of five stars! ( )

FROM AMAZON: Birdie Cousins has thrown herself into the details of her daughter Chess's lavish wedding, from the floating dance floor in her Connecticut back yard to the color of the cocktail napkins. Like any mother of a bride-to-be, she is weathering the storms of excitement and chaos, tears and joy. But Birdie, a woman who prides herself on preparing for every possibility, could never have predicted the late-night phone call from Chess, abruptly announcing that she's cancelled her engagement.

It's only the first hint of what will be a summer of upheavals and revelations. Before the dust has even begun to settle, far worse news arrives, sending Chess into a tailspin of despair. Reluctantly taking a break from the first new romance she's embarked on since the recent end of her 30-year marriage, Birdie circles the wagons and enlists the help of her younger daughter Tate and her own sister India. Soon all four are headed for beautiful, rustic Tuckernuck Island, off the coast of Nantucket, where their family has summered for generations. No phones, no television, no grocery store - a place without distractions where they can escape their troubles.

But throw sisters, daughters, ex-lovers, and long-kept secrets onto a remote island, and what might sound like a peaceful getaway becomes much more. Before summer has ended, dramatic truths are uncovered, old loves are rekindled, and new loves make themselves known.

A little predictable and slow to start, but a nice beach read. All four women are having life crises and a month at the familey beach house is the perfect time to sort them out. ( )