I spent the week before Elin Hilderbrand’s latest novel came out trying to arrange my reading schedule to finish a book the night before The Hotel Nantucket showed up on my Kindle. I miscalculated, as always, but I came close. I really enjoyed The Hotel Nantucket, but I do wonder, would I have liked it as much if it had a different author’s name on it? I sought the expert opinion of my sister, and after intense analysis and examination, we agreed in our assessment of the situation.
The book is told from multiple viewpoints, including the ghost of Grace Hadley who died in the hotel in the early 1920, and a collective voice of Nantucket residents who love to indulge in some local gossip. Rumors are running rampant as the historic property of the Hotel Nantucket is purchased and completely renovated by London millionaire (billioniare?) Xavier Darling. Darling hires Nantucket local Lizbet Keaton as the hotel’s general manager, and Lizbet dives into her new role headfirst as she tries to get over her recent breakup. Xavier Darling is determined that his new hotel will earn an elusive 5-key rating from Shelly Carpenter, an undercover blogger who rates hotels all over the world.
Throughout the novel, we get to know the Nantucket locals hired by Lizbet, and learn about their lives outside of the hotel as well as their successes and conflicts with their colleagues in the hotel. Their stories are full of secrets and drama, which makes the book hard to put down. Hilderbrand includes plenty (maybe a tiny bit too much?) of detail, both about Nantucket and the sumptuous hotel. These details make it easy to visualize the stunning new hotel, but also make the book a bit heavy. Grace Hadley, the hotel’s ghost, has her own side story; she is unwilling to leave the hotel until she can find a way to let people know the truth about her death. Luckily for Grace’s spirit, a young hotel guest is just as determined to uncover Grace’s story as Grace is.
I loved The Hotel Nantucket, as I love most of Hilderbrand’s novels. I am often disappointed by books that have a ton of hype surrounding them, but hype isn’t what draws me to Elin’s books. Her characters, their dramas and life events and betrayals, and the author’s love for and descriptions of Nantucket, are what keep me looking forward to each new novel. As my sister and I ultimately concluded, does it truly matter if Elin’s fans love her books because they are her books? Nope, it really just matters that we do love her books, and highly recommend them.