Top Ten Reasons I Love Elin Hilderbrand's Novels

I just finished reading Elin's latest book, Silver Girl, and said to myself, "Wow!" Honestly, when I picked it up, I was pretty convinced that I was chasing a dream by assuming I would continue to enjoy her books. 

Why? 

Because she writes, exclusively, summer beach-reads set on Nantucket. Now, I adore Nantucket. If I could afford to live there, as she does, I would do it in a heartbeat. I also love beach-reads and anything summer-oriented (one of my favorite seasons in New England, where the winter can be brutal, the spring often too cool, and the fall glorious but fleeting). 

But I thought, how much more can she milk this thing? The answer: she doesn't milk anything. She writes great books that, yes, happen to be set on Nantucket and do happen to be beach-oriented, but they are truly excellent reads. If you looked at my bookshelf, you'd notice that I have pretty much every book she's written. 

Having read the body of her work, I think I'm one of her biggest fans (Oh, no! Visions of Kathy Bates with an ax! No, not that kind of fan!). She keeps me as a fan for many reasons. Silver Girl, one of her best books yet, is one of them. Elin has clearly grown as a writer and

What’s a “Beach Read” Anyway?

Although I generally love the weather in North Carolina where my husband and I live, this spring has been ridiculously summer-like with its hot days and heavy humidity (today, it's 84 degrees). While this has most locals speculating about whether this summer will be an inferno so hot we’ll be frying eggs on the sidewalk, but what it got me thinking about is the term “beach read”. I guess all this steamy heat has me yearning for cool sea breezes and the roar of incoming waves against the shore.

So, what does this term mean, anyway? Isn’t every book a book you can read on the beach or by the pool? Honestly, I read all kinds of books on the beach (and everywhere else). I’ve read scary horror novels on the beach and touching memoirs on the beach and nonfiction how-to’s on the beach. I don’t have a particular kind of book I search for before I go to the beach – do you? So, what’s up with this silly seemingly-meaningless term?

You might be asking: “Why do you care, Tara? What’s the big kerfuffle?” (Damn, I’ve always wanted to use that word in a blog post, and I finally got my chance! Kerfuffle! Kerfuffle! Okay, calm down.) The answer: it’s one of the search terms on online book stores for Barefoot Girls.

So, I decided to do a little research, and this is what I found out