Thursday, July 9, 2009

Book Review & Blog Tour: The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand


The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand definitely fits the category of summertime escape reading. It's the perfect book to take on vacation to read at the beach, poolside or sitting in your backyard soaking up the sun. This is the story about 4 couples who become dear and close friends. They become friends after they all find their way to the island of Nantucket. As they marry and have families they become inseparable, loyal and devoted friends. Then, there is a turn of events, a tragedy that rocks their world. Friendships are questioned...realities are made clear and they each find that there were many hidden secrets that they all were part of protecting. There is mystery surrounding the tragic death of one of the couples that devastates the core of their friendships. They each must decide if they will divulge their own secrets and grieve and move forward in a way to honor their friends deaths.


I liked the mystery angle to the story told in The Castaways that made you wonder where the story would go and what would be unearthed....did the couple die in an accident or where they murdered? I liked how the author chose to tell the story from the varying perspectives of the 6 remaining friends. Although, there were parts of the story that dragged for me at times. When the characters went into details about their pasts or reminiscing in details, it tended to be a bit too drawn out and slow for me. I loved reading about the details of life on the island of Nantucket, this was an added bonus for me. I have been to Martha's Vineyard, which is a beautiful island but I have not had the opportunity to visit Nantucket. Reading about the island of Nantucket in The Castaways makes me want to whisk away and jump on the Ferry to escape for a summer vacation there!


Thanks to Miriam from Hachette for organizing this book blog tour. You can check out other tour stops here and make sure and check out Elin Hilderbrand's wonderful website here.


You can read an excerpt here.

Check out The Castaways Book Club here.


Check out the Original "The Castaways" cocktail recipe here.



About the Author:

Elin Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket with her husband and their three young children. She grew up in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and traveled extensively before settling on Nantucket, which has been the setting for her five previous novels. Hilderbrand is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the graduate fiction workshop at the University of Iowa.





11 comments:

  1. This book was definitely not as light as I expected it to be, but I sure did enjoy it. Great review.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love the mystery aspect as well and really enjoyed this one too. Great review.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I saw this book at the bookstore the other day. Thanks for the review, I'll have to put it on my list Bonnie.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You know how there are movies that you see previews for and you think that it will be good to see when it comes out on DVD? I'm getting the definite impression that I would check this out from the library but I probably wouldn't want to pay money for it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. sounds like a fun book. glad you liked it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've read a lot of good reviews on this one and I enjoyed reading your perspective on this one Bonnie.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was surprised by this book. I had actually thought it was just going to be light and fluffy but it turned out to be much more.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I will have to wait till this book arrives in my library. Nice review. I hope you don't mind me awarding you THIS :) Enjoy

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great review! Yours is the first review of this book that I have read, and I had been curious as to what the book is about.

    ReplyDelete
  10. After following the tour, I'm really looking forward to reading this one. I like books that tell a story from more than one perspective. Thanks for the review!

    --Anna
    Diary of an Eccentric

    ReplyDelete
  11. I too would so love to go to Nantucket.. it sounds wonderful. Great Review.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting and sharing a comment!