Elin HilderbrandBarefoot: A Novel

I absolutely loved this one! Three women step off a plane in Nantucket, each with their own very complicated situations. They were dealing with heavy things, but add in a summer romance, and it was still addicting. I don’t want to give anything away, but each woman has her journey she has to go through to get her life “back on track” but in very different ways.

I think this is the first Elin Hildebrand book I’ve ever read. But I really liked it! I will definitely get another one!

She might be my favorite author. Very touching story and an easy read.She is one of my favorite authors.

As always, Elin Hildebrand has a way of making you fall in love with the characters she so meticulously develops in her novels. This one was no exception. The imagery and descriptions make you feel like you are there, amongst the characters, living their stories- their lives- along with them.

I should've read this book in the Summer. As a Fall read, it just didn't quite click with me. That's my fault. But! My main qualm with this book is: It felt rather open-ended to me. I wanted to know what happened to the other characters, preferably with more detail than just a side comment from Vicki's end-of-the-book sign off. It read like Hilderbrand got tired, thought it was a good time to end the book, and stopped writing. I realize the Summer ended, and yes there is an epilogue, but I just wasn't satisfied. I don't need a happy ending, but some sort of *resolving* closure would've been nice. Obviously Melanie's story isn't over, so perhaps she'll pick that up in another book. As for Brenda, other than romantically, what happens to her in the end??? She realizes money isn't as important as her sister, but... she still has to worry about the money situation. How could Hilderbrand leave that issue hanging!I don't completely agree with the other reviews that say the characters are un-relatable or annoying. I didn't love any of them, at all, but I wouldn't say they're un-relatable. They were shallow and self-centered, or perhaps too self-important. The majority of the main male characters felt undeveloped, except for Josh. I felt like I understood where the characters were coming from in a lot of ways, but would I want to be friends with any of them? Absolutely not.Overall this book was just so-so for me. It was a tad bit wordy, but I can forgive that. I wish the ending was different, or that it provided a sense of closure.

Your would think that these books about Nantucket would feel repetitious after awhile, but now having devoured most of Elin Hilderbrands novels, this one kept me glued to it until the very last page! The main characters are the young man Josh, who becomes the caregiver for the summer of 2 small children and, unwittingly, the 3 women who accompany them to the Island. As you would expect, romance is on the menu for the summer, as well as life threatening illness, infidelity & marital discord, and coming of age angst. I loved the characters, the story line and how it all comes together for this group!

Lost this book when I was 1/2 way through. So happy I cab now finish it. Well worth the read!!

This is a novel difficult to put down. The chararacters engage you from the moment you are on the first page. Three women arrive on Nantucket Island for the summer; they are met by a young man who feels that a story will emerge from his having picked them up, driving them to their summer place. There are two sisters and the friend of the older sister, and the cottage has been in the family of the sisters for 3 generations. All have come together for an unannounced sharing of a bitter expulsion from the life they've known. Vicky, the older of the sisters, has lung cancer at 32: wife and mother of a delightful 4 yr old and a 9 mos. old. Brenda, her younger sister, a much lauded professor, has committed a transgression at the college in which she's taught and has been expelled. Melanie, friend to Vicky, has discovered after 10 years of marriage and 7 in vitro failures that not only has her beloved husband carried on and is still in the midst of an affair, but that she is pregnant and only she is aware of this early stage. Josh, who has picked them up, is a junior in college with a great interest in literature; he had the past year an instructor who made a great impression on him and he is keen to know the stories of these women. As it happens, he is offered the job of baby sitting and he eagerly accepts. He becomes a part of this family's dynamics, adoring the two little ones, feeling for the women. In fact, he falls in love with Melanie and a tangential female in his life, a high school romance turned sour, turns up to create a dissident note in all their lives. The story is one that pulls you in, becoming part of each life and the struggle for each of these women to succeed in changing the outcome of their lives. You want Brenda to accept the love offered to her and to complete her script, Melanie to accept the alteration in her marriage and Peter's total need for her as well as her abiding love, and Vickie to be not only the survivor, but the mother and wife she had been with the greater knowledge of what she is now. This is a book which will leave you thinking about it for quite some time.

Christmas present worked out well.

Die Geschichte der drei Frauen geht tief ins Psychologische, ihre Gedanken und Gefühle werden beschrieben, während sie jeweils eine kritische Lebensphase bewältigen. Es ist kein leichtes Buch und definitiv kein „Summer Read“. Mir persönlich war es etwas zu schwer und deprimierend.

Easy read but again as usual, characters really well defined.Interesting storyline too ending a little sudden and perhaps could have been more fleshed out. My fourth book by this author read back to back. All terrific reads.

I enjoy a beach novel after I have read a fewer more serious books.. it’s a nice break. This one surprised me. It has a really good story instead of just boy meets girl.

I enjoy her books!