Review: Summerland by Elin Hilderbrand

Summerland: A Novel
Reagan Arthur Books
Little Brown & Company
Hachette Book Group
Available Now

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It’s graduation day at Nantucket High. On the warm June evening the parties have moved to a bonfire at the beach. Four teens decide to leave the party and tragedy strikes when the driver of the Jeep floors the gas pedal and the vehicle goes airborne then comes to rest on a beach. Penny Alistair is dead, her twin brother Hobby is in a coma with 16 broken bones. Penny’s boyfriend, Jake and their friend Demeter are unhurt physically. They had on their seat belts. They are so many questions and the survivors will continue to be haunted by what happened.

Zoe, Penny and Hobby’s mother has raised these kids alone. She would be called a “free spirit” who raised two wonderful and talented children. Hobby was a star athlete and Penny had the voce of an angel. How can she survive without her daughter and does she have enough strength to help Hobby recover?

The summer is spent trying to figure out why the accident happened and parents doing everything they can to protect their children. For some that means really seeing their children for the first time in years and realizing they have not been the parent their children needed them to be. They key to understanding the accident means finding out what happened at that bonfire. Will all the secrets be revealed?

Dollycas’s Thoughts
Told from several points of view this story gives honest portrayal of lives changed in a split second. For one there is no turning back but for the rest of individuals involved it is a chance to make better choices, to reach out for help, to reflect, to be honest with themselves, and to try to move forward in a better direction.

There is so much happening in this story. The characters and the situations they find themselves in are very complex. It reads almost like a mystery as you follow the clues to try to figure out what happened in the dunes on the beach and what made certain characters fall so far. Emotions run the gambit as we try to empathize with each and every character.

This is a wonderful beach read but not my favorite my this author. Silver Girl still holds that spot. Just one note to the author, people can be paralyzed side to side. My right side is paralyzed, but not the left.

About the Author*
Elin Hilderbrand: novelist, mother of three, sports enthusiast, avid fan of Bruce Springsteen, Veuve Clicquot, and four-inch heels. She sits on the Board of Directors at the Nantucket Boys & Girls Club and Nantucket Little League. Her resting pulse is 65.

*From Amazon.com

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”