A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand Review: Love, Secrets and Summer on Nantucket

A Summer Affair explores love, family, betrayal and difficult choices as one woman discovers that doing good can come with consequences.

Summary:

Claire Danner Crispin, a nationally renowned glassblower and mother of four, finds herself overwhelmed after agreeing to co-chair Nantucket’s biggest summer charity gala, where the involvement of her famous former high school sweetheart, rock star Max West, brings both excitement and complications. As she juggles creating a one-of-a-kind glass masterpiece for the auction, managing clashing personalities, supporting friends, raising her family, and running her business, Claire is drawn into an unexpected affair with the event’s executive director, forcing her to confront the messy realities of love, loyalty, ambition, and the consequences of the choices she makes.

My Thoughts:

Elin Hilderbrand is one of my favourite authors, and I’ve read many of her books over the years. I particularly enjoy her stories set on Nantucket, so when I recently looked through her backlist and realized I had read the other books in her Nantucket series but had somehow missed A Summer Affair, I knew it was time to go back to the beginning. As the first book in the series, it was interesting to see an earlier Hilderbrand novel and get a glimpse of the author she would become.

Sheila Crispin Cook is the mother of four young children and a nationally renowned glassblower who has put her career on hold following the difficult birth of her youngest child, who was premature and spent an extended period in the NICU. Sheila carries a great deal of guilt over the experience, so when she is asked to co-chair Nantucket’s Summer Gala, she knows it will stretch her already limited time and energy, but she feels it is something she needs to do. Things become even more complicated when she agrees to create a “museum-quality” glass piece for the auction. This is meant to be her comeback piece, and Sheila knows she has to create something extraordinary. She is also asked to approach her former boyfriend, Max West, now a world-famous rock star, about performing at the gala.

As is typical of Hilderbrand’s novels, there are plenty of characters and storylines to keep things moving. Among them is Lockhart Dixon, the charity’s Executive Director, whose interest in Sheila soon becomes more personal than professional. Despite the fact that an affair goes against everything Sheila has ever stood for, the two become involved, creating even more turmoil in her already complicated life. Her best friend and sister-in-law, Siobhan, is not fooled by what is happening, and I absolutely loved her no-nonsense attitude. She was one of those characters who tells it like it is, even when Sheila doesn’t necessarily want to hear it.

As the gala approaches, Sheila becomes increasingly overworked and overwhelmed, and the consequences of trying to juggle her family, career, marriage, the gala and her affair begin to catch up with her. What starts as an opportunity to do something meaningful for the community becomes a much bigger emotional and personal challenge, forcing Sheila to confront some difficult truths about herself and the choices she has made.

While A Summer Affair wasn’t my favourite Hilderbrand book, I still enjoyed it. I found it particularly interesting to read one of her earlier novels after having read so many of her later Nantucket stories. You can see the beginnings of many of the elements that have become synonymous with Hilderbrand’s books—complicated relationships, family dynamics, Nantucket summers, flawed characters and the way seemingly perfect lives can unravel beneath the surface.

The Narration:

I listened to the audiobook, performed by Isabel Keating, and she did a good job bringing the story to life. I especially enjoyed her ability to take on Siobhan’s accent, which added another layer of personality to a character I already enjoyed.

Final Thoughts:

If you’re a fan of Elin Hilderbrand and haven’t yet read A Summer Affair, it’s an interesting one to add to your list, particularly if you enjoy reading authors’ earlier works and seeing how their writing evolves over time. It may not have topped my list of Hilderbrand favourites, but spending another summer on Nantucket was still time well spent.