"The Hotel Nantucket" by Elin Hilderbrand tells the story of a wealthy London businessman, Xavier Darling, who purchases a once-grand, but now struggling hotel, in attempt to raise it up to its former glory. He hires a local business woman, Lizbet Keaton (eager for a fresh start following a breakup), to act as general manager and hire a team of staff. Meanwhile, Grade Hadley, the ghost of a chambermaid who died in a fire at the hotel 100 years ago, hopes the hotel's restoration will uncover the truth about her death.
The Hotel Nantucket soon becomes a highly coveted destination. However, despite its success, Darling won't feel satisfied and accomplished until his hotel achieves a 5-key rating from infamous hotel reviewer, Shelly Carpenter--a feat that has never been accomplished.
There's so much going on in this book, it's hard to even boil it down into a synopsis.
There's Lizbet's love triangle between the hotel's chef and her prior boyfriend who runs a competing restaurant, The Deck. There's Alessandra, the front-desk manager whose past does not quite add up. There's Edie, who works the front-desk with Alessandra and struggles to understand why Alessandra won't warm up to her. There's Chad, a classic Chad, who joins the hotel's cleaning crew in attempt to make amends for a privileged past. There's Magda, the head of housekeeping, who goes through a 100-point checklist to ensure the hotel is always in tip-top shape. There's Yolanda, the yoga instructor; Zeke, the bellman; Bibi, the housekeeper who works alongside Chad; Richie, the night manager of the desk; and the Marsh family, who've decided to stay the entire summer with their dog, Doug.
Even I'm losing track of some of the storylines, and I only finished it yesterday.... and there lies my biggest complaint with the book. There were so many characters with complex story lines, I don't feel like any character or storyline was every fully developed... not even Lizbet or Grace, who the book focuses the most on. The book gave me "White Lotus" vibes in the way that there were so many smaller plots going on within the larger plot/setting of The Hotel Nantucket.
Yes, it was an easy beach read type of book. And yes, I read it quickly and didn't hate it. Yes, it does make me want to visit Nantucket, and yes, it makes me long for a summer vacation. I know these books were not written for their literary merit, but I do wish Elin Hilderbrand would have focused more on just a few characters, and would have loved to see some more character development.
You can check out Elin Hilderbrand's website here.
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