Verdict: Very enjoyable book, covers a whole range of emotional ups and downs very well, a little too much "romance," a few loose ends. Nancy Thayer presents life on Nantucket beautifully. I feel like I understand the seasonal ups and downs, the cultural climate, and the everyday challenges of living on an island. The characters are well-drawn and, for the most part, likeable. Even Maud, who steals her best friend's husband, elicits some sympathy, as would a real-life friend caught up in trying to fight an attraction to an inappropriate man.
Carley Winsted is widowed suddenly at the age of 32 when her husband, Gus, suffers a fatal heart attack. Overcome by grief, she must support her two daughters, 12-year-old Cisco and 5-year-old Margaret, financially and emotionally. Her equally grief-stricken in-laws, both members of Old Nantucket familes, offer to take in Carley and the girls, but she chooses instead to turn her home (mother-in-law Annabel's family home) into a Bed & Breakfast called the Seashell Inn. Due to some very bad investments in recent years, Gus has left his family almost penniless. Carley's 2 best friends, Maud (long divorced and with 2 sons) and Vanessa (married to pediatrician Todd but unable to conceive a child) offer psychological and emotional support until an unthinkable betrayal tears apart the 3 friends. Carley also cautiously enjoys the attentions of Wyatt, a partner and friend of Gus and his father, worrying about how the girls, her in-laws, and the community might respond to a new man in her life (and her bed!). Overall, I enjoyed this more than Beachcombers, finding the characters more appealing and more realistic. Things might be a little bit too predictable here, but you will enjoy the ride so much that you won't care!
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