GAH. Elin Hilderbrand is the Queen and can do no wrong.
I LOVED THIS BOOK.
If that's not a ringing endorsement, then I don't know what is.
Elin Hilderbrand is always an author whose new books are ones I highly anticipate. She's probably one of the only authors whose expansive collection of work I own in its entirety. Yeah - all 21 novels. And of those, this one ranks right up at the top of my favorites.
Want proof? Here you go:
The Perfect Couple is exactly the kind of summer novel I want to read. I was completely absorbed with the characters and plot pretty much immediately. It jumps right in to the action - a murder mystery in which the maid of honor at a Nantucket wedding is found dead in the water the morning of the wedding. With the maid of honor dead, it's left to Nantucket's Chief Ed Kapenish to find out what actually happened.
Basically this is a summer beach version of Clue and I am so here for it.
The Queen of the Summer Beach Read out did herself with this one. As usual, there's an incredible ensemble cast that keeps the reader engaged and questioning every one's motives. With interwoven storylines and betrayals - Hilderbrand does an outstanding job keeping everyone on their toes. There were so many times in this book that I thought I had it figured out but kept changing my mind. In the end, I had a pretty decent idea of what actually happened - but was never sure until the last page.
I loved catching up with some of my favorite characters from past novels - Roger Pelton (Beautiful Day) is one of my favorite Hilderbrand characters and I think every bride deserves to have someone like Roger at her side for the big day. The new characters were fabulous - Featherleigh cracked me up (especially while she was hitting on Nick (The Greek) during her questioning). The bride's mother Karen, who is battling breast cancer, was also one of my favorite characters. Her wisdom and courage were some of the best parts of the book, I LITERALLY CRIED.
With memorable characters from Hilderbrand's backlist (Nantucket Nights, Beautiful Day, The Castaways, and A Summer Affair) and of course the charming Nantucket backdrop that we expect and love about Elin's books, this is exactly the kind of book you want to bring with you to the pool or anywhere. If you loved her earlier work you'll enjoy this - and if you're new to her work I think you'll enjoy this. Definitely one of my favorites so far this year.
The Book Gawker's buy it or borrow it recommendation: Buy It
Buy It
