The Rumor

Title: The Rumor
Author: Elin Hilderbrand
Published: June 16, 2015 by Little, Brown and Company
Pages: 384
Source: Publisher at BEA
Rating: 4/5
Goodreads

Madeline King and Grace Pancik are best friends and the envy of Nantucket for their perfect marriages, their beautiful kids, their Sunday night double dates with their devoted husbands. But this summer, something's changed, and if there's anything Nantucket likes better than cocktails on the beach at sunset, it's a good rumor.

And rumor has it...

...that Madeline, a novelist, is battling writer's block, with a deadline looming, bills piling up, and blank pages driving her to desperation--and a desperately bad decision;

...that Grace, hard at work to transform her backyard into a garden paradise, has been collaborating a bit more closely that necessary with her ruggedly handsome landscape architect;

...that Grace's husband, successful island real estate developer "Fast Eddie" Pancik, has embarked on quite an unusual side project;

...that the storybook romance between Madeline's son, Brick, and Grace's daughter Allegra is on the rocks, heading for disaster.

As the gossip escalates, and they face the possible loss of the happy lives they've worked so hard to create, Grace and Madeline try mightily to set the record straight--but the truth might be even worse than rumor has it.

My review:

Let me say first off that I don't begin reading a novel by Elin Hilderbrand expecting the literary equivalent of a prize winning book. I read her books because they always have an engaging plot, lots of characters that give you a choice about who to root for, and they just make me want to go to Nantucket! The Rumor did not let me down on any of these things. The plot was fun.....who hasn't engaged in, or been the subject of a rumor? As with all rumors, some were legit, and some were not. I also really liked the idea of a novelist as one of the main characters, it was a fun insight into the trials that can sometimes occur leading up to a completed story. Madeline and Grace's husband were probably my favorite characters, but there was a little something for everyone. As in all of her books, the author (who lives on Nantucket) does such a wonderful job of describing the island life. The people (tourists, summer people and year round dwellers), the food and local businesses, the beaches, and the weather. I've never been to Nantucket (although I have been to neighboring Martha's Vineyard), but I always want to go after reading one of these books. Kudos to the lovely cover as well!

A quick, light read, I really enjoyed The Rumor. I had the pleasure of hearing Elin Hilderbrand speak at the Triangle Reads event (as part of the Southern Independent Bookseller's Association conference), and she was delightful!