Summer Light on Nantucket by Nancy Thayer

Summer Light on Nantucket by Nancy Thayer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
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A touching novel about parenthood, first love, family bonds, and rekindled relationships from the New York Times bestselling author and beloved Nantucket storyteller Nancy Thayer.

Blythe Benedict is content. Her life didn’t end when her marriage did. In fact, she’s more than happy living in her comfortable house in Boston, working as a middle school teacher, and raising four wonderful children. With three of her kids in the throes of teenagerhood and one not too far behind them, Blythe has plenty of drama to keep her busy every single day.

But no amount of that drama could change the family’s beloved annual summer trip to Nantucket. Blythe has always treasured the months spent at her island home-away-from-home, and has fond memories of her children growing up there. But this summer’s getaway proves to be much more than she bargained for.

Yes, there are sunny days enjoyed at the beach. But Blythe must contend with teenage angst, her ex-mother-in-law’s declining health, and a troubling secret involving her ex-husband. Meanwhile, Blythe reconnects with her first love, her former high school sweetheart Aaden. But their second-time-around romance becomes complicated when another intriguing man enters the picture.

It’s all a bit out of Blythe’s comfort zone. This particular island summer may not be as relaxing as Blythe had hoped, but she’s never felt that life has given her more than she can handle—especially when she has the love and support of her family around her.
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Every summer, I look forward to a new Nancy Thayer novel. After all, what summer would be complete without a trip to Nantucket, if only in my mind? Her ability to capture the beauty and magic of this island (which I have never actually visited) is a delight. I also look forward to the relationships she writes so well, whether they are romantic relationships or friendships or family relationships. She has a real ability to capture the day-to-day nuance in the interactions between people and make them come alive.

That being said, this one was a little less interesting of a story for me. While it still had all the elements that make Thayer’s books special for me, I found myself caring just a little bit less than usual about the love story than I usually do. It wasn’t enough to make it a bad read for me or for me not to recommend it…fans of this type of book will still really enjoy it. But it was not a one-sitting book like so many of Thayer’s books have been in the past. Still, I would give it a solid four stars and recommend it to fans of women’s fiction who enjoy Elin Hilderbrand, Mary Alice Monroe, Dorothea Benton Frank, and similar authors.

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