Wife and mother rebels from being perfect to having an affair with the director of a charity event she volunteers to co-chair. Fair read.

Claire Donner Crispin has 4 children from 8 months to 8 years and is married to Jason, a carpenter. She is an artistic glass blower who closed her shop when she passed out while pregnant with the fourth child while blowing glass and now worries that there is something wrong with him because of that. Her best friend is Siobhan, her sister-in-law married to Jason's brother Carter. She is asked to co-chair an annual fundraiser because she knows the person they want to perform, Max West, her childhood sweetheart. She is also asked to create a glass sculpture to auction at the affair, the g.d. chandelier during which she again passes out from dehydration. Unfortunately, she falls for the director or the charity, Lock Dixon, and they have an affair. Max is addicted to alcohol, Claire is addicted to Lock, and Carter is addicted to gambling. ( )

Predictable, repeating thoughts yet there was interesting twists to keep you thinking Now what is going to go wrong for another character. ( )

A Summer Affair (Nantucket Series 1) by Elin Hilderbrand

2008
Rating: 4/5

Claire Danner Crispin can't seem to forget that night back in 2003 when Daphne's car hit that deer. She had been very drunk when she got behind the wheel that night. Claire has always felt some responsibility for not insisting she take a cab with the rest of the ladies.

Although Daphne was fortunate to survive the tragedy, she was still left with a traumatic brain injury. Claire doesn't know what to expect when Lock, Daphne's husband, approaches her in 2007 to co-chair the Nantucket Children's Fund. She soon learns his motives are to utilize her connection with an old boyfriend turned musician to play at the event. He isn't hesitant to ask her to also create a dazzling auction piece since she is a well respected glass blower.

Claire agrees to take on these extra responsibilities at the dismay of her husband who would prefer she stay home and care for their 4 children. The meetings for the charity begin to become more frequent and more intimate between Claire and Lock.
The ethical questions arise about marriage, family and commitment.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/373426702

https://www.bookbub.com/books/a-summer-affair-by-elin-hilderbrand

https://bookwormreviewblog.blogspot.com/2017/07/a-summer-affair-by-elin-hilderbr...

The Castaways (Nantucket 2)
Little, Brown and Co
2009

Beautiful Day
2013

The Perfect Couple (Nantucket 3)
Little, Brown and Co
June 19, 2018 ( )

Eh I feel bad rating something of Elin Hilderbrand's two stars.
I just didn't like the story very much and I didn't have much love for the characters.
I will give the author all the credit for the fact that I enjoy her books so much that sometimes I buy a book of hers that I wouldn't buy based on the description alone if it had someone else's name on the cover. But my goodness, she just has a way of writing that makes her characters seem glamorous yet relatable , and sometimes they are people with faults but you can almost forgive them.
I just couldn't do that here. I don't get why these characters fell for each other or why I should have felt that badly for them.

That being said, I already have Elin Hilderbrand's next two books on my wish list so I'm hardly holding it against her. This particular book just didn't work for me. ( )