A Summer Affair: A Novel

Still have to read the book

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This my 8th book by Elin Hilderbrand and by far my least favorite. The title alone gave the whole book away. I enjoyed the character Claire but I wasn’t so keen on the male main character, Lock. Lock was not like able or relatable. If there had been more focus on who he was it may have been better. I really hate to give such a low rating but I just couldn’t get into this book.

All of Elin's books leave me not wanting to put them down, I have been very happy with all of her novels, including this one. I hope she keeps writing. I find it amazing how you can feel like you know so much about not only the main, but also sidebar characters from her writing, even when not alot is written about them - it's the way she writes about them. Great author - please keep your novels coming Elin!

I bought this at Barnes and Noble and only because I was walking by and the cover caught my eye. I loved this book and could not put it down!!! I want more books like this.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have not been so emotionally disturbed by a story since watching Diane Lane in "Unfaithful". When you are married to a good person, who loves you, and you love them, why are you doing this? Claire is like so many other moms, my wife included. So much going on and stretched to the breaking point but still can't say, "no". Claire's husband is a good guy and excellent father (yes he is) who, clearly, never got the wife user manual, "How to Feed and Care for your Lovely Wife". As a result, Claire, although she has a rich life in many respects, is left with two huge emotional vacuums, 1) professional satisfaction and fulfillment; and, 2) "just hold me, not bang me" intimacy. You can like both the Jason and Claire characters while wanting to slap, no,... I mean, douse them with ice cold water shouting, "wake up"! It is not like Claire is looking for trouble but when it is clearly there she does not back away. Adultery is bad. In this story the adulterous situation is a train wreck of humongous proportions you know is going to happen. The train wreck unfurls in a very deliberate manner with lots of interesting characters and twist along the way. I never really despised, but also never liked, Locke, Claire's lover (I am closer to Locke than Jason intellectually). I think I didn't despise Locke because he was starting from such a lonely place emotionally. He was very needy considering who he was. On the other hand, you might see the whole situation as Locke taking advantage of Claire to some extent... but, all Claire had to do is not play ball so to speak. One the more amusing aspects of an adulterous affair is when one of the perpetrators becomes jealous of their lover having to do "romantic" things with their spouse. Ouch! Lastly, the cover has to go. Whoever selected that cover should be fired. The cover has nothing to do with the book. This was a "dark, winter" affair on Nantucket conducted under cover of night and in an office conference room. No, no, no, no barefoot walks in the sand. Sorry. One last thing in the course of disclosures, I did this as an unabridged audiobook. Clearly, I would highly recommend this audiobook, notwithstanding the cover image.

When Claire Danner Crispin---wife, mother and artist---agrees to chair the Summer Gala on Nantucket, she doesn't realize that she is turning her life upside down. But then, as Claire describes herself, she is a person with "no boundaries". She can't say no, and she allows others to use her. What seems like an ordinary social event becomes a trip into obsession...First, Claire finds herself drawn more and more to the director of the event, a somewhat sad, but wealthy man, whose wife has turned into a bitter, angry creature after an unfortunate car accident left her "impaired" mentally. An accident that Claire blames on herself, as she and her friends failed to persuade their inebriated friend to take a cab that night. Then Claire has to revisit an old love...Matthew, a now famous rock star. Her task is to convince him to do a concert for the gala. And finally, Claire is persuaded to create a museum piece for the event...she is a semi-retired glass-blower, who has previously created such pieces. But because Claire had an accident in her "hot shop" while pregnant with her youngest child, and because that child was born prematurely and may have been damaged, Claire meets resistance from her husband, who is bitter and angry about her obsession with her art. And blames her for what happened to their baby. All of these events combine to create the perfect maelstrom for what then transpires. The guilt, the angst, the neediness...these feelings lend vulnerability to Claire's life, somehow causing it to spin completely out of control. Over a period of a year, while Claire and others on the committee team up to create the perfect event, there is almost an inevitability in how things play out. Does Claire find the love she lost in her marriage? Can she recreate the "perfect" first love with her rock star ex-boyfriend? Will she be able to create that museum piece, while juggling all the balls in her life? What, finally, will happen when the Summer Gala is presented, and will Claire find the answers she seeks? What could have been just an ordinary beach read has turned into an exploration of the human needs, flaws and urges that plague all of us at one time or another. Ms. Hilderbrand skillfully leads us down a path of discovery...not just of the characters in the story, but of our own human frailties. A wonderfully engaging tale of human self-discovery.

Do you remember when Oprah was overweight and she use to pick out a rock-on book every month? You know, back in the days of OPEN HOUSE and DROWNING RUTH? If we could go back in time, this might have been one of those books she selected. This book doesn't reach out and grab you at the beginning. Instead, the author eases you into the story. I absolutely love Claire, the main character and once the story took hold, I had trouble putting the book down.