Author: Elin Hilderbrand
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Genre: Fiction
Source: BEA 2016
Goodreads: Three romantic rivals. One crowded house. Plenty of room for jealousy.
Laurel Thorpe, Belinda Rowe, and Scarlett Oliver share only two things; a love for the man they all married, Deacon Thorpe–a celebrity chef with an insatiable appetite for life–and a passionate dislike of one another. All three are remarkable, spirited women, but they couldn’t be more different. Laurel: Deacon’s high school sweetheart and an effortlessly beautiful social worker; Belinda: a high-maintenance Hollywood diva; and Scarlett: a sexy southern belle floating by on her family money and her fabulous looks. They’ve established a delicate understanding over the years–they avoid each other at all costs.
But their fragile detente threatens to come crashing down after Deacon’s tragic death on his favorite place on earth: a ramshackle Nantucket summer cottage. Deacon’s final wish was for his makeshift family to assemble on his beloved Nantucket to say good-bye. Begrudgingly, Laurel, Belinda, and Scarlett gather on the island as once again, as in each of their marriages, they’re left to pick up Deacon’s mess. Now they’re trapped in the crowded cottage where they all made their own memories–a house that they now share in more ways than one–along with the children they raised with Deacon, and his best friend. Laurel, Belinda, and Scarlett each had an unbreakable bond with Deacon–and they all have secrets to hide.
Before the weekend is over, there are enough accusations, lies, tears, and drama to turn even the best of friends–let alone three women who married the same man–into adversaries. As his unlikely family says good-bye to the man who brought them
together–for better or worse–will they be able to put aside their differences long enough to raise a glass in Deacon’s honor?
Ope’s Opinion: This book read like a day time soap opera. There were multiple marriages, affairs, drug abuse, lies, and drama all over the place. The Nantucket house never saw a dull moment.
Laurel was the only character that I had some sympathy toward and had some moral standards. Angie blindly loved her father and I understood how she had difficulty with relationships – she was watching all the other females in her life, who weren’t able to give her a decent road map.
The chapter before the epilogue wrapped up everyone’s story. The epilogue went back to Deacon’s story.