Book Review: The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

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Fresh off a bad breakup with a longtime boyfriend, Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton is desperately seeking a second act. When she's named the general manager of the newly renovated Hotel Nantucket, a Gilded Age gem rescued from neglect, she hopes that her local expertise and charismatic staff can win the favor of their London billionaire owner, Xavier Darling, as well as that of Shelly Carpenter, the wildly popular Instagram tastemaker who can help put them back on the map. And while the Hotel Nantucket appears to be a blissful paradise, complete with a celebrity chef-run restaurant and an idyllic wellness center - there's a lot of drama behind closed doors. The staff (and guests) have complicated pasts, and the hotel can't seem to overcome the bad reputation it earned in 1922 when a tragic fire killed nineteen-year-old chambermaid Grace Hadley. With Grace gleefully haunting the halls, a staff harboring all kinds of secrets, and Lizbet's own romantic uncertainty, is the Hotel Nantucket destined for success or doom? Filled with the emotional depth and multiple points of view that characterize Hildebrand's beloved novels as well as an added dash of Roaring Twenties history, The Hotel Nantucket offers something for everyone in this compelling summer drama. ~~~~ This is the first book I have read by Elin Hilderbrand even though I do have another of her books on my shelf waiting to be read. But this book is a July book club read for author Brenda Novak's book group (The Messy Lives of Book People being the other one which I am now reading) so I couldn't help but purchase the book. Having said that, I really didn't know what the book was about. I knew it was a book club read and wanted to be included. I also saw it everywhere. I didn't know whether it was a romance, which I thought it was, or what. It turns out it is categorized as a drama. There are many characters in this book. Some of them only appeared now and then which had me thinking "who are they again?" But that question was quickly answered within the story/paragraph. I didn't have to go flipping back through the pages. Since the sections and chapters are broken down by the different character points of view, it turned out to be a very easy read. No long drawn out chapters. It was interesting to see the stories behind the hotel employees as well as the guests and fun how they intertwined. This made for a pretty cool book. It was long at 368 pages, but with so many different breaking points it made it easy to push through. And of course I wanted to find out how everyone ended up, which the ghost was happy to provide that information. I would have liked to have seen more of the ghost. But that's just me. The ghost made for a good deal of the humor in the story. This is a good clean drama with no steam, no blood and guts, just pure drama with a little fun. I highly recommend this book.