The Hotel Nantucket Review

Summary (from the publisher):After a tragic fire in 1922 that killed 19-year-old chambermaid, Grace Hadley, The Hotel Nantucket descended from a gilded age gem to a mediocre budget-friendly lodge to inevitably an abandoned eyesore — until it’s purchased and renovated top to bottom by London billionaire, Xavier Darling. Xavier hires Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton as his general manager, and Lizbet, in turn, pulls together a charismatic, if inexperienced, staff who share the vision of turning the fate of the hotel around. They face challenges in getting along with one another (and with the guests), in overcoming the hotel’s bad reputation, and in surviving the (mostly) harmless shenanigans of Grace Hadley herself — who won’t stop haunting the hotel until her murder is acknowledged.

Filled with the emotional tension and multiple points of view that characterize Elin’s books (The Blue Bistro, Golden Girl) as well as an added touch of historical reality, Hotel Nantucket offers something for everyone in this summer drama for the ages.

My Rating: 5/5 Stars

My Thoughts:

I am a strong believer, albeit recent circa 2021, that it isn’t summer reading without at least 1 Elin Hilderbrand book. The Hotel Nantucket follows the grand reopening of The Hotel Nantucket by a London billionaire. The hotel has a troubled past, including the ghost of maid, Grace, but the owner is committed to the hotel being the best of the best and earning a 5 key review from elusive hotel review, Shelly Carpenter. Having recently broken up with her long-time partner, Lizbet is the manager of the hotel and tasked with hiring the staff to bring the hotel back to life & keep it running throughout the summer.

The Hotel Nantucket is one of Elin’s best books. It is so, so well-written and it is so reminiscent of my all-time favorite book from her, The Blue Bistro. Yes, much inspiration comes from The Blue Bistro, given that they are a few characters from The Blue Bistro in The Hotel Nantucket, but also for the focus on the hotel & restaurant within. There are spoilers for The Blue Bistro in The Hotel Nantucket and while you absolutely don’t need to, I do recommend reading The Blue Bistro before The Hotel Nantucket. The hotel focus also reminded me of one of Elin’s earlier books, The Beach Club, which is mentioned in the book, along with its manager.

Elin’s books often follow a big cast of characters that you can’t help but get invested in. The Hotel Nantucket is definitely a case where some of the characters have definitely committed a wrongdoing or two, but we can’t help but be interested in their character development. I was wary going into The Hotel Nantucket for the ghost perspective, but enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Without spoilers, I loved the (two) ways that the story comes together in the end – both totally unexpected. It also goes totally without saying that I loveeddd the setting that is the hotel and its accompanying restaurant. To say it is atmospheric would be an understatement — I immediately want to book a room and spend the day at the pool with its signature cocktail.

I’m so sad that at the time of writing this review that I only have 3 published books of her’s to read – Summer People, The Island, and A Summer Affair – along with her upcoming 2023 and 2024 releases. And yes, I absolutely did read 24 Elin Hilderbrand books last year. However, I listened to The Shit No One Tells You About Writing Podcast’s episode with Elin & while discussing her retirement plans, Elin revealed that she doesn’t entirely plan on retiring from writing, just from writing about Nantucket and publishing at least one book a year. She also wants to focus on book influencing. She discussed her experience at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop & her love for literary fiction, so I could definitely see her writing literary fiction and creating her own type of Reese Witherspoon-esque book club. And if you’re like me who wants to visit Nantucket even more due to Elin’s work, she did include an ultimate guide to Nantucket at the end of The Hotel Nantucket.