DELIGHTFUL NARRATION GIVES THIS PLOT A BOOST

books:


	• A Summer Affair: A Novel Elin Hilderbrand Little, Brown and Company, 2008 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

From J. Kaye's Book Blog

Do you remember when Oprah was overweight and she use to pick out a rock-on book every month? You know, back in the days of OPEN HOUSE and DROWNING RUTH? If we could go back in time, this might have been one of those books she selected.

This book doesn't reach out and grab you at the beginning. Instead, the author eases you into the story. I absolutely love Claire, the main character and once the story took hold, I had trouble putting the book down.

DELIGHTFUL NARRATION GIVES THIS PLOT A BOOST

Take A Summer Affair to the beach and take it with a grain of salt. It's a tad difficult to believe how or why an intelligent, caring woman who has it all - good husband, four fine children, a career as an acclaimed artist - would risk throwing it all away for a summer spin in the sand? However, credulity can be easy to suspend when a narrative is filled with pretty people, dreamy scenes, and pulsing passion. So, forget the how's and why's if you've a mind to, and join the fray.

Fray is precisely what it turns out to be when Claire Danner Crispin agrees to chair the Nantucket's Children summer Gala. Not only will she serve as chair but she'll also create an original art piece - a gorgeous glass chandelier. It's not that Claire doesn't already have her plate piled high with house, husband, and kids, as most everyone can see save for Claire. But we're told she suffers from an inability to say no or even not now.

Billionaire Lockhart Dixon directs Nantucket's Children (why are these fellows always millionaires, billionaires or zillionaires?) Whatever the case he and Claire are soon having an affair. Lock's wife was involved in a tragic auto accident which left her mentally impaired.

Problems? What else? Claire has husband problems, lover problems , best friend problems, and problems with her New York co-chair.

How did a rational woman ever get herself into such a mess? One cannot help but wonder. The one thing this listener didn't wonder about is the reading by Tony Award nominee Isabel Keating. Her delightful performance makes a lighter than a cumulus cloud plot seem almost plausible. Once again star quality narration gives a boost to an unremarkable story.

- Gail Cooke

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A charming "woman's fiction"

All of the benchmarks in Claire Danner Crispin's love life have started in the summer. It was summer when her childhood friendship with Matthew Westfield grew into love. It was also summer when Matthew became Max West, world-famous rock star, and left Claire behind. It was summer when Claire started dating Jason Crispin, and it was summer when she nearly threw away her marriage to him. And finally, it was being co-chair of the Nantucket's Children's Summer Gala that led her to reevaluate what she truly cherished in life. Author Hilderbrand, known for capturing the breezy, relaxed feeling of life on Nantucket, returns to the island again. Centered around the planning for the Nantucket's Children's Summer Gala, A Summer Affair focuses on Claire and her family from the time she agrees to co-chair the event through Claire's epiphany shortly after the event is over. Involvement with the gala committee stirs up many feelings in Claire. There are problems from the start.

Isabelle French, her co-chair, proves to be more of a rival than a partner. But rivals for what? The Gala brings Lock Dixon into her life, whose wife has never recovered from an accident Claire feels she could have prevented. Suddenly she's with people interested in things outside of soccer schedules and school field trip--people who listen to classical music and understand wine.

She contacts her former high school sweetheart, the now famous rock star Max West to perform at the Gala, and when asked, she agrees to create a special piece of glass art for the auction, even though both cost her dearly. All of these things help to drive a wedge between Claire, her family and friends.

Many women will read this book and see parts of themselves in Claire. The events leading up to the Summer Gala cause Claire to reexamine the decisions she has made in her life. To do things over again, would she have changed any of them?

Armchair Interviews says: A Summer Affair is a nice read women will relate to.

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Must read!

Imagine my surprise when I walked into Mitchell's Book Corner on Nantucket and not only do I spot Elin Hilderbrand's new book, but I also spot Elin herself!!!!
I was like a kid meeting Mickey Mouse! I LOVE all of her work!
A Summer Affair was just as good as all of her previous work! I could not put it down! I find so much joy in reading books that are set in Nantucket- makes me feel connected to the island even when I am not there!
If you love Elin, you will love this book!!!

Not As Good As I Expected...

I have read all this author's books. I was anxious to read this one. As a previous reviewer said, it definitely feels like the reader is reading a "Lifetime Movie". The book starts our ok. Once Claire and Lock start the affair, the story is somewhat stagnant. There isn't much more happening. The book drags on. The Max West character didn't fit in the story line. Overall the story just doesn't go anywhere interesting.

The book is only ok.

I noticed on the inside jacket flap the Gala cochair, Isabelle, is listed as "Isabelle Dixon" not Isabelle French. Major misprint. Guess evryone was in a hurry to pump this book out.

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reviews: page 1, 2

Sheila Crispin Cook, mother of four young children and nationally renowned glassblower, bites off more than she can chew when she agrees to co-chair the Nantucket's Children Summer Gala. Sheila is asked to chair the benefit, in part, because she is the former high school sweetheart of rock star Max West. Max agrees to play the gala and it looks like smooth sailing for Sheila-until she promises a "museum-quality" piece of glass for the auction, offers her best friend the catering job, goes nose-to-nose with her Manhattan socialite co-chair, and begins a "good-hearted" affair with the charity's Executive Director, Lockhart Dixon.
Hearts break and emotions are pushed to the limit in this riveting story of one woman's attempt to deal with loves past and present, family, business, and high-powered social pressures. Elin Hilderbrand's unique understanding of the joys and longings that animate women's lives will make this her newest summer bestseller.

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