28 Summers Kindle Edition

WOW. This is the best book I've read in a LONG time. I'm absolutely blown away.Mallory's aunt leaves her a cottage in Nantucket when she unexpectedly passes away. At a point in her life where Mallory is able to pick up and relocate, she decides to take advantage of the opportunity and move to Nantucket. Once on the island, she falls in love with the beach, the slower pace of life, and the cottage that brings back many happy memories.Mallory's brother Cooper is getting married and he wants to have a little getaway weekend with his friends. When he suggests staying with Mallory over Labor Day weekend, she's elated and more than happy to host Cooper and his two groomsmen, Fray and Jake. Mallory's BFF also decides to crash that weekend when she learns that her ex-boyfriend, Fray will be on the island.Cooper's fiance makes it her mission to ruin Cooper's weekend and he doesn't even last the day, refusing to let a weekend with the guys ruin his marriage before it starts. Leland, Fray's ex, decides to play with his emotions - making out with him at the beginning of the night and then leaving him for a group of friends later in the weekend. More charmed by her NYC friends' money and power, she ditches Mallory too. Fray, upset and drunk, nearly drowns and calls it a weekend as well, leaving Jake and Mallory alone.And so begins their love affair. At first, the weekend is fun and flirty. Two young adults enjoying summer and each other's company. As the weekend fast approaches its end, the two make a "same time next year" pact they agree to hold to no matter what. The rules are that they don't talk during the year at all unless someone gets engaged, gets married, has a child, or dies.Every Labor Day weekend for twenty-eight years, Jake and Mallory hold to their promise. As life throws wrenches every which way to interfere with their plans, nothing stops them from their three days of bliss each Labor Day weekend. Even when they both have a child, Jake gets married, Mallory commits to other men, and Jake's wife enters politics, Labor Day weekend in theirs.It was amazing to me how I strongly I felt for these characters. Hildebrand weaves a rich story full of history and passion. Even though the premise was horrifying to me (cheating on your spouse every single year with the same woman), I was still pulled in by the romanticism of the idea. Hildebrand used a variety of strategies to keep us rooting for Mallory and Jake, even when we weren't necessarily on board with what they were doing. I particularly loved how each summer opened up with what was going on that year in the world. The fun pop culture references brought me back and some of the points were well place foreshadowing tools. I also really liked the political aspect, especially that there were ribbons of truth but the actual politicians were fictitious.This was a beach read but it wasn't light. With strong themes such as infidelity, loss of a loved one, divorce, the #metoo movement, feminism, and so much more, this is a fantastic book for a bookclub. I can't recommend this book enough and it's without a doubt my favorite Hildebrand novel to date!

A romance novel interwoven with history, the characters are sympathetic. Hildebrand’s descriptive scenery and somewhat predictable plot are captivating.I couldn’t put it down!

1

"They would call for only four reasons: engagement, marriage, pregnancy, or death."Meet Mallory Blessing. She is 24 years old, living with her friend Leland Gladstone on the Upper East Side of New York (thanks to Leland...Mallory would never be able to afford this on her own). She soon learns from her father that her Aunt Greta has passed and left her a hundred thousand dollars and her cottage on Nantucket.She arrives at Nantucket and soon gets a call from her brother Cooper announcing he has proposed to his girlfriend Krystal. He wants to have a bachelor weekend at Mal's place on Nantucket, Labor Day weekend, with him and his friends Frazier and Jake McCloud. JAKE MCCLOUD. Mallory has had a crush on Jake for quite some time.The weekend does not go as planned...or does it? Cooper leaves almost as soon as he has arrived to go back to his fiance. Frazier almost drowns in a drunken stuber and leaves...leaving just Mallory and Jake....and Jake does not want to leave!!!And so it begins...28 Summers. 🌊🌞🌊That weekend they watch the movie "Same Time, Next Year" about a couple who meet at a seaside hotel and do this every year even though they live different lives and are married to other people. They decide this is perfect for them. They do not want to uproot their lives, but promise to spend Labor Day weekend together every year from there on out, NO MATTER WHAT! 🤞WHOA!!!! 😳 I LOVED this book but yet felt sooooo morally wrong for loving it so much since it was about infidelity. This was my first Elin Hilderbrand book and it will not be my last. She has a way of making you relate to the characters, like them, even love them regardless if what you morally believe differs. I was rooting for Mallory and Jake the entire time. 🤷‍♀️Also, I throughly enjoyed how she started each Summer (chapter) with an italicized section of what was going on that year. For example, "Summer #3: 1995, What are we talking about in 1995? The Oklahoma City bombing; Bosnia, Serbia; molten chocolate cake; the Macarena; Windows 95" etc. GENIUS! I loved reminiscing about years past and thought that was such a nice touch. 👌This is an excellent summer/beach ⛱ read. I would definitely recommend this book to those that like a good love story.My rating: 5 Blissful Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I enjoyed this a lot. Mallory is one of Erin's most lovable and fully fleshed characters and I could easily have read another two books about her, but alas it was not to be. In contrast, I found Jake to be a strangely spineless man for not leaving his cold hearted workaholic of a wife, when he and Mallory were much better suited and could have raised a family of Nantucket children together.Mallory's brother Cooper provides a well drawn foil for her enduring 28 year relationship with Jake - he is married four or five times within those three decades.I did find it odd that the mean girl characters - Ursula and Leland - were allowed to thrive while poor Linc is left without his mother or grandparents at the age of 18.I liked the 'what we are talking about' sections at the start of each paragraph - although strangely Trump's name is absent, perhaps a conscious decision.Looking forward to Erin's second novel of 2020, where she tackles the impact of a hurricane on the Caribbean island of St John.

I'm a great fan of Elin Hildebrand and this book does not disappoint. Loved it and didn't want it to end because you know the end is inevitable from the beginning. Even so, you read on...

What a beautiful story. Clearly it touches on issues that are morally divisive so i can imagine some will maintain the high ground - but at the heart of it there is an enormous amount of love and a recognition that people are not perfect. People are flawed. Some people may say it’s selfish to stay in a marriage that isn’t working, but in this story there is also bravery & selflessness in staying on the path you know isn’t meant for you, because you want to do the right thing. I loved every bit, I felt the summer glory of Nantucket with the food & sun, I felt the deep love between Mallory & Jake.Beautiful book. Beautiful writing.

I was already to give this book 5 stars I really enjoyed the way it was written and going back in time to what was happening each year was great and made me reflect on my own life at each point. I loved the relationship with the main characters and truly believed in their love. I liked the passion both happy and sad. What let this book down for me was the way it ended in a very abrupt way like it was finished quickly a prologue would have been nice.This is my first book by this author so it may be just her style.Overall I enjoyed it and will be looking forward to reading more books by this author.

Was recently introduced to this writer by a friend. I have read and thoroughly enjoyed her 'winter' series. This book is not my normal read but I could not put it down. Although the outcome is known from almost the first page it is still a compelling read. My only complaint, as with the writer's other books, they end very abruptly.