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The best Elin Hilderbrand books
Do you get disappointed in the middle or at the end of reading a story?
Reading fiction should be entertaining. It has become increasingly hard to get a book that will capture your attention to the end. Hilderbrand has twenty-five books in her name. She is mainly known for describing a summer setting in Nantucket, where she has set most of her stories. Her stories are engaging, thought-provoking, entertaining, and emotional.
In this article, we have ranked ten of her best work to help you get the best of her. The books are an excellent way to unwind anytime since they have a size that is easy to carry around. Check out this list for some of the most meaningful entertainment of your life!
Golden Girl
Golden Girl
Despite being an emotionally intense story, the story is captivating and entertaining, with twists that make you never want to stop reading.
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What would you do if you had the opportunity to influence the lives of your loved ones after you pass on? Elin Hildebrand’s Golden girl story revolves around a fantasy with powerful emotions to keep you reading every chance you get. Vivi Howe, a mother of three, dies at fifty-one after a hit and run accident. Three kids succeed her. In this three-hundred-and-eighty-four-page story, the author takes us through an imaginative tour of what it would be like in the afterlife after sudden death. Vivi gets a guide named Martha, that grants her three chances to alter the happenings in her grieving loved one’s lives during summer.
The plot thickens as investigations into her death continue, and she wants to protect her secret, contained within the last book she wrote that could tarnish her reputation. The story is an emotional roller coaster with suspense and vivid descriptions of food, places, and characters that draws you into their world. Eventually, Vivi lets her family find their way without her influence. It is a fantastic summer book that easily fits your bag, and you can carry it around.
However, the story portrays an image of heaven or the afterlife contrary to what we expect. For instance, you expect people in heaven to be without flaws; hence no need to wear glasses even if the person used them while still alive.
Summer of ’69
Summer of ’69
It is a very relevant and relatable story. It reminds you of how family reunions of imperfect people can go—however, the love for one another triumphs over overall differences.
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A summer read should enable you to relax and enjoy the story. Therefore, Elin Hildebrand writes this story in a light and breezy nature to keep you entertained. However, that does not mean you miss out on the author’s characteristic twists, turns, and drama. This relatable story has a summer setting of 1969 that makes it a perfect read during summer blues. It is the story of four siblings of the Levin family who always spent summer together but have different commitments this year, leaving just the youngest, her mother, and grandmother in Nantucket’s historic town and home.
Like any other tightly knit family, this family has secrets, bad choices, and misunderstandings that threaten to tear it apart. Elin brings the characters to life so beautifully that you will feel like you have met them. The book rouses curiosity and entertaining drama from the start that is relatable and leaves you feeling nostalgic.
Eventually, the family members get past the turmoil brought by their different lifestyles to become one big happy family again. While I find the happy ending gives closure, it is also less realistic to imagine that the very different family members lived happily ever after. It makes the story less authentic, and the sappy ending seems forced.
Winter in Paradise
Winter in Paradise
The story feels real and relevant. With the descriptions, you get immersed into the world of the characters and can relate to how they feel.
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We know Elin for her exemplary novels with a Nantucket setting and prowess in giving vivid descriptions of places, food, clothes, and other things that paint a general picture of the culture of the people. Therefore, you may worry that this book is set in St John, a Caribbean setting, and will not match up. How wrong! The author took this story and ran away with it. It has excellent descriptions and character development. The excellent choice of words makes this an easy read that will captivate you.
You can easily sympathize with the main character Irene Steel as she goes from happily married to widowed mother of two. On top of that, she finds out that her late husband had a secret life. On the other hand, Irene’s sons- cash and Baker- are having fun eating, drinking, snorkeling, and chasing after the same girl. She has to handle parenting, mourning, and uncovering the secrets her husband kept from her. The drama in the story is thrilling just as much as it is emotionally involving. The compelling 320-page story will keep you entertained from beginning to end.
The ending of the book is very disappointing. For the price, you expect a full story. The book has no anticlimax to prepare you for the end. Infact, you can say it does not end. Even as part of the series, the story should be able to stand on its own. It feels like a strategy to get one story for a price of three.
Winter Solstice
Winter Solstice
Even though the book is an epic finale to a series, you can still enjoy reading it as a stand-alone story. The author writes in a way that still enables you to relate with the main characters.
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We all have unforgettable memory from our previous family reunions. Even though we want a joyous reunion, family drama is often inevitable. The Quinn family is not an exception. Elin Hildebrand takes us through the bittersweet interactions of a family eager to uphold its holiday tradition of reuniting. Reading this story will leave you feeling nostalgic. The author does an excellent job describing the characters that you feel like you know them and let them take you into their world.
The Quinn family is not perfect. It is faced with misunderstandings among members who have different personal problems and points of view. Elin brings this story to life, pulling at your heartstrings with strong emotional occurrences and balancing well with light moments. Eventually, all family members find their way back up from rock bottom. They deal with release from prison, retirement, addiction recovery, and romantic relationship drama. The members accept each other’s differences as part of what makes them a complete family.
Despite the special delivery of the story, the author keeps adding minor characters from other stories that make it difficult to follow. If you haven’t read the other books, connecting and relating with these new characters gets difficult.
The Perfect Couple
The Perfect Couple
The story is unpredictable. It has you trying to figure out who the murderer could be and changing your mind as you keep reading until you get shocked at the end.
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Only Elin Hildebrand can expertly turn a typical beach wedding into a full-blown murder investigation with intriguing twists and turns that will keep you reading. In this book, she shows how there’s no such thing as a perfect couple. The thought-provoking and entertaining 496-page tale consists of characters that get memorable they hoped for, only with unexpected memories. Even with a story as intense as a murder investigation, Hildebrand finds a way to make it light and breezy.
The Otis-Winbury wedding exposes the ugly underbelly of couples that appear perfect. The summer setting is perfect, with descriptions so vivid you are immersed in the character’s world. This novel has entertaining twists and turns and a thick plot.
But, to give readers a background story, the author uses a style where she keeps jumping back and forth in time. This style caused unnecessary interruptions to the flow of the story. Some readers may find this interesting.
Silver Girl
Silver Girl
It is a relatable and thought-provoking story. It makes you understand that sometimes the challenges we face are not of our doing but consequences of someone else’s decisions. But, we can get pat them.
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In this book, Hildebrand writes about how sometimes we face so much hardship in our lives that never seem to ens. However, we can find a silver lining at the end of it all. She tells the story of Meredith, a woman whose life changes drastically when her husband is arrested and imprisoned for financial crimes. Devastated, she decides to take a trip to help her get through the tough times with her friend Constance. The story is well written with an excellent choice of words that make it easy to read and good descriptions of the island and the character’s emotions.
The irony when Meredith decides to lean in on her friend is that Constance, too, is a suspect in the very crime her husband committed. As you keep reading, you can’t help but wonder with her if she is making the right decisions. However, the story revolves around the strength of friendship, dealing with a broken relationship, change, and perseverance.
Even though it is a captivating read, the story’s end is predictable. It is engaging but lacks the thrill of uncovering a major mystery.
The Island
The Island
Despite having many characters that make the story complex, the writing is simple and easy to follow.
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Elin Hildebrand is arguably the queen of summer stories. She sells nothing short of excellence in this story. It is not an easy task to write an intense yet entertaining story revolving around three themes – family, love, and loss. She marries these beautifully in a well-described summer setting on an island; how she describes the people and culture makes you feel like you have been there and met the characters.
Faced with the bad news of a canceled daughter’s wedding that she was excited about, Birdie and her family decide to take time off their troubles on an island over the summer. However, where there are family reunions, the drama follows. The family members created new trouble with exposed secrets and rekindled romances that will keep you glued to the book. It stays interesting throughout all 624 pages.
The downside to this story is that it has many stories within the main story, such that you sometimes forget what the main issue was and how it is being resolved as you keep reading.
The Matchmaker
The Matchmaker
It is a direct and simple story, easy to read and understand.
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Sometimes we read a book to the end, not because of how captivating it is but because we like to commit to things we start doing. If you have ever felt like that, why not dive into this masterpiece that will leave you dreading its end, every entertaining page after the other? You can trust Hildebrand to keep you at the edge of your seat for all 368 pages as she tells the story of Dabney while showing off her prowess in plot twists, vivid descriptions, and fantasies. The story has more than one narrator and side stories that shed more light on Dabney’s background to make her character more relatable.
The story is a roller coaster of happy and sad emotions. The author finds a delicate balance between entertainment and realistic, thought-provoking occurrences. Dabney gets pregnant by a man who abandons her and finds someone else but gets involved with the first man again. She later finds out she has cancer. While it is sad for the most part, the story questions how much we can trust our decisions when in love and encourages seeking therapeutic help when we need it, for our sakes and those around us.
If you are looking for an uplifting story that is comical, this is not the book for you. The mood is mostly somber.
Barefoot
Barefoot
The story is very realistic and relatable. The characters go through real challenges that can happen to anyone in real life.
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In this book, Elin brings together the story of three women, each facing their challenges. It is relevant and relatable because we all have our burdens to bear. The first woman, Vicki, was diagnosed with lung cancer. Brenda lost her job after having an affair with a student she was teaching. On the other hand, Melanie has finally gotten pregnant after trying for a while but finds out her husband is cheating. So, what happens when all three women decide to catch a summer break at Nantucket? They all interact with a young man called Josh.
This captivating 416-page story takes you through the struggle of getting past life’s harsh realities. The author builds the characters so well that you have a perfect imagination of them and a connection to how they feel. Each lady feels like the other is better off than they are. The story arouses more curiosity with each passing page till you reach the end. It is also a thought-provoking read.
However, the ending of the story is unsatisfying. After everything the ladies go through, you expect their character to grow. But, it appears as if they go right back to where they started, with all of them accepting the abandonment of their men.
28 Summers
28 Summers
The story is captivating from start to finish. It does not drag and is not predictable.
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Elin Hildebrand expertly tells this bittersweet story about an extraordinary love affair. Two people, Mallory Blessing and Jake McCloud have a long-term affair where they only meet one weekend each year. The affair beats many odds, including Jake’s marriage to a popular presidential aspirant. The affair could have stayed a secret longer, except Mallory was on her death bed and asked her son Link to call Jake. Link is confused as to how the two know each other. The readers are left to start guessing right from the start, and the author does not disappoint with unique plot twists.
The author breathes life into her characters, making you form an attachment and relate to them. She grows the story from a common love affair to a drama-filled yet epic 448-page tale of fate and love. The story shows how decisions we make at an early age could alter our lives in the future and those around us.
Even though the story is entertaining, the end is tragic and might be too sad for lovers of a light and happy story. But, it is thought-provoking and educational.
What to look for in a good Elin Hilderbrand book
Fantasy vs. reality
Before deciding which book to read, think about whether you want to be taken into a world of fantasy or prefer to stay in a more relatable setting. For instance, you can decide between ‘Dream girl’ and ‘Barefoot.’ The first book has a main character in the afterlife and gives a perspective of what it would be like after death. On the other hand, the second one is about real women facing real challenges that can happen to you.
Intense emotion vs. light and breezy
Sometimes we want a light story with some comical relief and entertaining drama you can read without getting emotional. If that is the case, you should grab ‘The perfect couple.’ You can read ‘ The matchmaker’ if you want a more emotional and deeper story. All of the stories are worth spending time on, but for different outcomes or times.
Summer vs. winter setting
Finally, you might want a story in a familiar setting or one you would like to imagine. If you want to dive into a summer setting, you have plenty of options. Hilderbrand has a hobby of writing about Nantucket during the summer. If you have had enough of the summer heat, why not try ‘ Winter of 69’ for a new experience with this author?
FAQ
Which book should I read first?
The decision on which book to read first depends on what you want. The books have different general moods and settings. The reviews can help you decide on what interests you most. However, consider reading books that are part of a series in order. Even though they often are readable as stand-alone, it helps to stick to the order to relate more with the characters as they grow.
Are all of Hilderbrand’s books connected?
Other than sharing an author, some of the books are part of a series and share characters. However, the author tells the stories from different character perspectives. At the end of a series, the reader understands most of the characters and their points of view.
Are there alternatives to hard copy books?
Yes. You can read the books online or even check to see if you can download audio and listen.
