Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Barefoot	Customer Rating:
This was a pretty fast read. I, at first, had a hard time getting into it. But after chapter 3 I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. Ms. Elin Hilderbrand has a wonderful way of making you feel like you are right in the book. I cried, laughed, and got ticked off, all in one book. If a book can do that for me it is great! I am also reading her book now, Summer Affair, and I highly recommend that one as well.

A Pleasant Surprise

Customer Rating:

This is the first Elin Hilderbrand novel I have read. I just grabbed it on my way out of a store attracted by the "summer read" it appeared to be. I had no idea what it was about, I just took a chance. I am very glad I did since I enjoyed it so much I finished it in two days and started reading it over again! I enjoyed the way the author introduced her characters slowly only giving you enough information you needed for just that moment. Later she opened up more of the past while adding in the what was happening there in Nantucket. I just knew from the beginning that Josh would be the spark that help the women come back from the despair they had been in when they arrived on the island. I loved the fact that Vicki had a normal marriage, not one littered in affairs and severe problems. It made her struggle with cancer so true to life, so real. Brenda's situation was very interesting, her career in academia over and a new one trying to blossom. Melanie's handling of her marriage issues may not have turned out the way many women thought it should, but the way the author described the character Melanie was, it made perfect sense that she would make that decision in the end. I ordered three more of her books on amazon because I could not wait to start reading more.

Outstanding Summer Read!

Customer Rating:

As a two and a half year survivor of breast cancer and mother of two young daughters, I couldn't believe the accuracy and emotional connection I felt with the main character, Vicki. While You feel no one can ever understand what going through cancer is really like, Elin Hilderbrand nailed it. I loved the rest of the characters and twists and turns. Ironically I read this book while recuperating from an elective oopherectomy. I cried when Vicki lived! Praise for cancer survivors! Praise to Elin Hilderbrand! Today I am off to buy her new novel, and to try and book a get-away to Nantucket with my husband!

Great Summer Read	Customer Rating:
I really enjoyed the three different personalities of the ladies in the story. Well written. Great easy read.

Unable to Relate to Weak Female Characters

Customer Rating:

I love a good novel about women going through hard times, but this certainly isn't one of them. Each of the three main characters have such unattractive flaws that it made the novel difficult to read. One of the women is groveling for her cheating husband to want her again. Another is a self-absorbed professor who spends most of her time thinking only of herself and not of her sister, Vicki, who has lung cancer. I couldn't identify with the women; even Vicki who seemed the strongest. The consistent references to the less than glamorous sides of motherhood (i.e. a breast feeding baby constantly tugging on Vicki's breasts in public) were unnecessary. Perhaps my discomfort stems from not having children, but it made me lose sight of the story. If you're looking for a powerful woman's story I would try "How Venus Was Born" or for a fun read I would try Emily Giffin's four novels.