Barefoot

by Elin Hilderbrand

From marriage, infidelity, and the mayhem of motherhood to scandal, tragedy, and illness—three women seek peace and comfort in Nantucket as they cope with life's challenges. Three women—burdened with small children, unwieldy straw hats, and some obvious emotional issues—tumble onto the Nantucket airport tarmac one hot June day. Vicki is trying to sort through the news that she has a serious illness. Her sister, Brenda, has just left her job after being caught in an affair with a student. And their friend Melanie, after seven failed in vitro attempts, is pregnant at last—but only after learning that her husband is having an affair. They have come to escape, enjoy the sun, and relax in Nantucket's calming air. But into the house, into their world, steps twenty-two-year-old Josh Flynn.
​
Barefoot weaves these four lives together in a story with enthralling sweep and scope—a novel that is as fun and memorable and bittersweet as that one perfect day of summer.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Romance, Beach Reads, Book Club, Summer, Audiobook

720 pages, Paperback

First published July 2, 2007

About the author

Elin Hilderbrand lives on Nantucket with her husband and their three young children. She grew up in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and traveled extensively before settling on Nantucket, which has been the setting for her five previous novels. Hilderbrand is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the graduate fiction workshop at the University of Iowa.

Facebook.com/ElinHilderbrand

Pinterest.com/ElinHilderbrand

Reviews

[Kelly Ballard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don’t do it. I bought this book after returning from the beach in Martha’s Vineyard this past summer. I thought it was about girlfriends at the beach…What I didn’t know was that none of the female characters were likable. I think this is an important hook for any book – likable characters…instead we are presented with the worst of feminine traits – martyr, hysteria, anxiety, selfish…Ughh.

Honestly I couldn’t get over the beginning when they head to the beach and all hell breaks lose – a child goes missing, cancer illness, pathetic behaviors of so-called “dear” friends…I made myself finish the book in hopes that I might like one of the women, but alas no. So, please cross this off the Christmas list and replace it with something fantastic

[Sheyla ✎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

*My review will contain some spoilers*

I could say that Barefoot is my least favorite book by Elin so far. Even the epilogue didn't answer all my questions about the characters' future. Yet, I still enjoyed the story about these three women spending their summer in Nantucket.

The first woman is Victoria Lyndon Stowe. Vicki has been recently diagnosed with lung cancer despite never smoking. She decides to leave her life in Connecticut and take her two young kids, Blaine and Porter, to spend the summer in Nantucket. She plans to get her chemotherapy there. Chemo is never easy and Vicki will have to deal with her feelings about her own mortality.

The second woman is Brenda Lyndon. She's Vicki's younger sister. She had the perfect job in Academia until she met her new Australian student, John Walsh. He's one year older than her but a relationship with him will cost Brenda her beloved job and plenty of legal issues.

The third woman is Melanie Patchen, Vicki's best friend who's escaping with them in order to avoid her own problems. Melanie has tried seven rounds of in-vitro treatments in hopes of getting pregnant without any success. Then, she discovers she's pregnant but she also learns that her husband, Peter, is cheating with a woman at work.

Last but not least, we meet Joshua "Josh" Flynn. A twenty-two-year-old man who crosses paths with them as they get off the plane. By serendipity, they meet a few more times and Josh ends up becoming their nanny for the summer.

As you can see there's enough material for plenty of drama in the making.

So why didn't I love it? Well, a few reasons.

It was hard to like Melanie. She behaved childishly and never really helped Vicki throughout the summer. I also thought she took advantage of Josh's feelings and young age. Worse, her decision at the end made me lose all respect for her. I hated Peter. He had it too easy and I didn't believe his apology. He will cheat again.

In the beginning, I wasn't crazy about Brenda. She could be selfish but she did help her sister. She was there for her. I wished there had been more info about Walsh. Where was he during all those weeks? Why didn't he call her more times? Why didn't he show up to look for her?

Vicki's storyline was the saddest. I felt sorry for her. She was dealing with the unthinkable. Cancer is a scary word and she wasn't sure if she would be there for her two small kids. She had many bad days ahead of her. I love her two kids.

I thought Josh had a rotten deal. He was indispensable to them while they needed him but I thought they didn't tell him how much he meant to them and when it was time to let him go, neither women batted their eyelashes. No offer to stay connected either.

Cliffhanger: No

3/5 Fangs

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[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

In BAREFOOT, three women come to Nantucket for the summer trying to escape their regular lives. Vicki has cancer and worries this might be her last summer with her two young sons as she begins chemo. Her sister Brenda is a former professor who was caught having an affair with a student. Her friend Melanie has been struggling with fertility and just learned her husband is having an affair—just as she found out she is pregnant. I always love Elin Hilderbrand’s books for the way they completely immerse me in life on Nantucket, the beach and the food, in the lives of her characters. The three women struggle through personal issues and get entangled with their college aged male babysitter, who is having issues of his own with an ex. I would not always call these characters likeable (I agree with other reviews on that point), but I found their stories interesting, and I confess, I am always up for a good bit of drama. So I rather enjoyed this story of three women struggling to find themselves, set on the backdrop of the beach.

[Myra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd like to begin by stating that once I started this book, I truly did not want to put it down. The lives of Brenda, Vicki, Melanie, and Josh are so captivating and genuine, making it hard not to become invested. The setting is summer on Nantucket, and Hilderbrand's artful use of descriptive language truly made me feel as if I was there, providing yet another reason for why I couldn't put this novel down.

While there is a certain, underlying thread of sadness that runs through the story, there are also comical, sentimental, and bittersweet moments sprinkled in abundance. I found myself alternating between bursts of laughter and silent tears, and where good writing is concerned, reactions like those are hallmarks of a well-told story. The characterization is top-notch, making it easy to identify with all of the major characters on many levels.

Barefoot is a quick and easy read, and perfect for those warm and lazy days. Allow yourself to get lost on Nantucket this summer...I think you'll enjoy the stay. :)

[Kira · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'd give it a half a star if that was possible. In fact, I'm contemplating taking the one star away but I figured I had to give it something. This book disappointed me. (**WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD**) First, the book was all over the place. One minute I'm following Viki, then Brenda, then Melanie, and then Josh... oh and then there are flash backs too, so it just gets confusing most of the time. Second, it didn't end at all the way I wanted it to and that upset me. I thought the story of everyone together at the beach house was sweet but I was really disappointed that Josh comes into their lives (and was SO good with the children) and then just disappears. He was with Melanie for a while and their love is real and genuine and amazing. The man isn't even fathering her child but cares enough about her to touch and kiss her belly?? And she tosses him aside to work things out with her lying, cheating, ba*tard of a husband who wouldn't even be with her if she wasn't pregnant??? It really upset me and made me wish I had left this book on the discount rack at B&N and not bothered paying the $6.00 for it. I left the price sticker on the back of the book to remind me how much money I wasted. It angered me and not only did I waste my time reading it all but now I just feel sad about how it all ended. I want a book that is going to make me feel good when I'm done with it, not like the love train ran over me. ::sigh::

[Taury · Rating 4 out of 5]

When life gets too serious Elin Hilderbrand is a perfect read.

Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand is not her usual Nantucket sex, love, beach in paradise.

3 sisters escaping reality of their lives to the sunny beach of Nantucket.
Vickie married with 2 boys and cancer
Brenda, Vickie’s sister, in love with a man from Australia who was her student,a huge no no
Melanie in a marriage that is doomed by an affair, and pregnant
Josh, the babysitter

This all ends in a predictable way. But a lovely predictable way.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Looking for something light and summery, I took the front cover and read the back and thought it'd be perfect for a weekend at the lake. What the back of the book doesn't tell you is that from the very first chapter, the 3 main characters are annoying and never get any better.

There is a martyr sister with lung cancer, a selfish professor sister and a poor-miserable-me friend who escapes because her husband cheated on her then ends up cheating on him. The children are brats, the husbands alternate between completely weak and emotionally detached to practically cave-men in the way they treat their wives. There was not a single character I felt any compassion or sympathy for, including a woman with lung cancer!! At the end of the book, we found out what happened to each and I realized I didn't care how their stories ended.

To be fair, I set the book aside and waited a year to reread it. I thought maybe if I already knew their stories, I'd have more feelings for them. Nope - still hated it.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

I love a good book set in a beach town. I mean, the beach makes everything better, right? This story has beautiful and loving characters who help one another get through "life" one particular summer.

[Bambi · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was horrible. One star is really too many. This was my first Elin Hilderbrand novel and frankly, I will never read another one. Can someone please tell me why this book was a national bestseller? It read like a soap opera would if it were a novel. The characters were one dimensional, at best. I kept waiting for a climax to the book and there never was one. These women supposedly were to experience this summer that would change their lives, but they never changed. Vicki beat cancer, Melanie took her low life, cheating husband back and Brenda stayed with her student/lover that helped her wreck her life. And Josh, he might have been the only character that had potential but he just goes away in the end and we don't even know what happened to him. It was an awful book. Are all her books this horrible???

[Carrie Runnals · Rating 3 out of 5]

BAREFOOT ~ A beach house, two sisters, and a girlfriend...Sounds heavenly--relaxing, even with a couple kids in tow…

Now, I can handle a bit of vomit and lost luggage, but Hilderbrand mercilessly tugs at all of my feminine heartstrings; marriage, motherhood, sisterhood, and friendship…oh, and that pesky fear-of-death thing.

Meet the Girls:

Melanie deals with infertility overshadowed by infidelity, and then further complicated with pregnancy — “POW!”
Brenda’s promising academic career hangs in jeopardy due to an entirely separate affair—this one seemingly harmless, except for the minor detail that it was with one of her students — "ZING!”
And then there’s Vicki hit with every woman’s worst nightmare—a cancer diagnosis with two small children to raise — “BAM!”
Pan to the dark clouds parting, casting light down upon the crown of an attractive college student, Josh, who ends up being so much more to these conflicted women then a “Guy Friday” (Hence, Self magazine’s “Beaches meets The Graduate” review).

And this is all just in the first chapter…

Phew! And here I thought I was in for a relaxing day on Nantucket’s shores. I need a vacation, just trying to keep up with these gals.

All facetiousness aside…Barefoot was my first of Hilderbrand’s books, but not my last. It’s a quick read with a poignant underlying theme and resolution. Her descriptions made me anxious for that coveted time at my family’s North Carolina beach house. Thank God, I don’t have to deal with all the Barefoot turmoil.

I love what Hilderbrand shares in the “Conversation" at the end of the book. She says, “I had claimed that, after A Summer Affair (her next novel due out July 1st). was complete, I would take a ‘year off.’ My ‘year off’ lasted for about two weeks. Writing is like a genetic disease…and I can’t seem to find a cure!”

Now, THAT’s good news for us!!

[Meredith · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Oh poor us! We are just so fabulously wealthy and have so many problems! We just have to spend the summer on an island doing nothing but wallowing in our sorrow! And even though we aren't, like, working or anything we are still going to hire someone to watch the kids! And it's a boy, isn't that so funny? Hahahaha a guy watching kids, just imagine that! And we will drag him into all our rich people problems and ruin his happy summer too!"

Ugh. Just awful.

[♥Xeni♥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alright, if you would delete all pages from about 30% to 75% this book might have gotten 4 stars.

First off, no one can identify with these characters. The women are all totally pessimistic and broken, the children are your typical American kids: spoiled brats and all the men have macho-man issues (with the exception of John Walsh, but we don't get to know him well enough). I understand that sometimes life gets you down and occasionally you might feel like there's nothing left except despair, but seriously, I just hate people who hide all their problems inside and then are surprised when they get sick physically. Like, Hello! You're internalizing all this poison and then you're surprised when your body reacts? Come on...

Secondly, the author sucked at writing. Perhaps some of her other books are better, but in this one (the first one I ever read by her) I just felt that it was very disjointed. She was aiming to go towards a slowly uncovering all the past, step by step, type of telling and instead I just felt bored out of my skull for the gist of the book. Yeah, we know Brenda hurt a painting. You've alluded to how it happened 12 times already. Now we get the full details described in 15 pages and yet I don't feel like I learned anything new.

There were a whole bunch of other, smaller, flaws as well. The author just writes about the setting as though we've all been there. I haven't. I don't even know where Nantucket it... except maybe that it's pretty far from Connecticut that you need to fly there. Caribbean? Canada level? Up near Greenland? In the Pacific? No clue! The only time I've ever even heard of the island were those bottled juice drinks they sold at specialty high-level stores and breakfast places made by Nantucket... presumably from the island but who knows? That aside, I figured out it was an island and not just a peninsula or a block of land a while of the way in.

So why did I give this book 2 stars, and not just 1? Well, the story itself wasn't bad. The premise was interesting and the flow wasn't horrendous. As an editor I would have cleaned up a bit (more?) and changed things and simplified other things, but in general, overall, the book wasn't bad.

I am still seething over the character depictions (very controversial at times!) and how much mind mud I had to slog through to get to the end of the novel. So I'll just try and focus on the beginning and how much more lovely that was in comparison to the rest of the book.

Not sure if I'll be picking this author up again.

P.S. This was a summer-read choice for my bookclub, Serious About Books.

[Brady Lockerby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would give this a 2.5 if I could. I feel like you typically can't go wrong with an Elin book, but this one just missed the mark for me. Definitely interesting at times, but again not my favorite.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start by saying I was expecting this to be a throw-away book. Something I could start, put down if something else caught my attention, and/or never pick back up (and never regret missing out on if I didn't return to it). I think that impression was the fault of the editors, or whoever put the front cover together. With the tagline, "Three women. Three Secrets. One long, hot summer." and a quote reading, "Summer reading fun. ... Twenty pages in, you'll be ready to drop everything and head for the beach yourself." I was only expecting fluff.

So when I ended up neglecting all chores around the house for an entire day while I devoted all my spare, non-parenting time to reading this book that I was hard-pressed to put down, I was really surprised.

This book is, indeed, the story of three women who travel to the beaches of Nantucket for a summer, but it's also about so much more than that. This is the story of three women who may look like they have it all together from the outside, but who are falling apart at the seams internally. Their summer spent together, crammed into a tiny, older-than-dirt beach house does not make them fast friends, but enables them to work out for themselves how to deal with the hands life has dealt them.

I would not classify this as a beach read. To me, those are books that are picked up and easily put down. I wasn't able to easily put this down; I was wrapped up in the characters and their lives (and the drama within their lives). I wanted to follow through to the end. In the end I was left satisfied and wanting to read more books by this author, and that's always a good feeling to have at the end of a reading.

[Bonny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe I don't like "chick lit" or a "great beach read" but Barefoot doesn't even come remotely close to either of these. There are "chicks" and a "beach", but just getting to the beach is a simple task that almost defeats these three women. None of the characters were very likable, and Melanie was just plain pathetic. I realize this is fiction, but I personally like fiction to have a storyline that at least makes sense. Sadly, Barefoot fails there also. Not many lung cancer patients are out dining, drinking, and dancing after receiving chemo. I would fire my babysitter if he was drinking while he was responsible for my children, not give him coffee to sober up. I couldn't find any developed characters, good storyline, or elegant prose in Barefoot. How did this book get a 3.61 average rating??

[Alissa Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

On a summer vacation in Nantucket, three women arrive at the local airport- two sisters and one friend-- They're all trying to escape from their real life problems.

Melanie, after several failed attempted to conceive, discovers she is pregnant. Right after her husband tells her he is cheating on her with his co-worker.

Brenda , a prominent professor, has a scandalous affair with an older student that got her fired from her job

Vickie, mother to two small boys, has been diagnosed with lung cancer.

Brenda was an awful woman and I hated her chapters. I think my eyes got stuck in my head from rolling so much. Melanie was a huge whiner and I was not happy with the direction that her story went. Vicki was the most tolerable, but she even had her moments where I grumbled at her.

I definitely cannot recommend this one. So far, it’s my least favorite EH novel I have read.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book I've read by Elin Hilderbrand, and I really enjoyed it. While I would initially classify it as a chick lit beach read, it deals with some serious issues that make it a little less fluff. There's the gorgeous "Sconset setting, the women and the beach house, marital and family issues. But there's also cancer. The characters are really well developed, all different and compelling in their own ways. Hilderbrand's writing is flawless and easy, I couldn't put this book down.

[Angie Hay · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is about these three ladies in their 30’s that go to Nantucket to get away from their life issues from CT and NY. One character is named Brenda who is a promiscuous type character but goes after much younger men than her, at least that is what it seems. She ends up losing her job as a professor at a well-known college because she was caught having sexual relations with her student. Meanwhile, as she is having an argument with some of the staff that is in her English program, she accidentally damages a well-known art collection. She has legal issues to deal with so she goes off to Nantucket to get away from it all. Then we have Melanie, who is a sweet, gentle, caring, loving lady but has her own issues to deal with. She’s tried 7x to get pregnant through in vitro with her husband, but her husband is losing interest. He’s losing so much interest he finds love with his co-worker! But is it true love? Meanwhile, Melanie struggles to find the strength to ask him one more time to try in vitro, but when she tries, he drops the bombshell that he is with someone else! She packs up her things and leaves for Nantucket with her friend Vickie (who you’ll meet) to run away from her husband for the summer, but finds out while she’s there, she is pregnant with a baby girl. Whoa. Vickie is the one that put all this together. She wanted to get away for the summer with her two little boys, her sister (Brenda) and her best friend Melanie. But deep down, she’s trying to escape her denial that she has lung cancer. Everyone knows about it, but it doesn’t seem they notice her struggles. She battles through her treatment at a hospital on the Island, juggles having both her boys there, and can’t wait for the weekends when her husband, Ted, comes to visit. Her and Ted go through a roller coaster of sexual and emotional issues of their own all the while trying to enjoy their time together. Then we meet Josh, the babysitter. Josh is a fun character but has issues of his own, his mom committed suicide years prior to meeting the ladies. You can’t help but to think, he just wants motherly love in his life and he’ll find it with Vickie! But that’s not all, he ends up sleeping around with one of the ladies! It isn’t who you think! This was such a beautiful story!

[Emily Riser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another classic Elin Hilderbrand book. This one had everything I love about her beach novels. The Nantucket beach, a cast of characters, drama, friendship, and romance.

It follows three women, Vicki, Melanie, and Brenda, as they spend a summer in Nantucket trying to move through the drama taking place in their lives back home. Vicki has just been diagnosed with lung cancer. Melanie finds out she is finally pregnant with her husband’s baby just to immediately find out he’s having an affair. And Brenda has just been fired from her job as a professor for having an inappropriate relationship with one of her students.

I really enjoyed this one. It wasn’t anything mind blowing and I felt like it didn’t have quite as many details as she usually puts in her books (this could have taken place on any beach honestly) but it had a good, entertaining plot. It was a solid beach read and one I would recommend for sure.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three women and two children step off a plane in Nantucket. There's Vicki, mom to the small two boys, who has recently learned that she has lung cancer. There's her sister, Brenda, an academic reeling from losing her job after having an affair with one of her students. And then there's Vicki's friend, Melanie. After many IVF treatments, Melanie is finally pregnant; but, she's also found out husband, Peter, is having an affair with a colleague. They've come to Nantucket to try to heal Vicki--who will be going through chemo--and escape their problems. Watching them is twenty-two-year-old Josh, an aspiring author stuck working at the airport. Soon the lives all three women (and kids) with intertwine with Josh's.

"Three women step off a plane."

"The most miserable-looking people he had ever seen. That's what Josh had thought right from the beginning. And no wonder."

I read this book while away for work, away from my family, stuck in a hotel room in the evenings, exhausted and spent. It might not have been the best choice in hindsight, as this book is rather brutal and sad in its own right, but it wound up being a great diversion. I love Elin Hilderbrand's books, and this was an enjoyable one, despite the sadness. I liked the characters, but loved the Josh the most, our wannabe writer who finds himself caught up in the drama of these women.

And it was easy to get caught up in their lives and craziness. Brenda and Melanie had melodrama, but Vicki, oh Vicki, her storyline broke my heart. I've always had this fear of cancer and leaving my own kids, so this one struck me right in the gut. This book is really heart-wrenching--and doesn't shy away from the hard stuff: Vicki's chemo, her fears of dying and leaving behind her kids, how sick and terrified she feels. It's a tough read, but it's also hopeful and a great story of friendship and family.

Overall, I enjoyed this one, and it only cemented my desire to keep reading Hilderbrand's back catalog. 3.5+ stars.


I received my copy of this book through one of my favorite websites, Paperbackswap.com, where you can swap copies of all your favorite books (hardcover, paperback, and more).


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[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's summer, and even lovers of YA books need a beach read sometimes! I picked this up at my local public library because the cover was about worn out--proof it has been loved!

Three women arrive on Nantucket for the summer. Vicki needs to get away from home because she has lung cancer and needs to begin chemotherapy. She doesn't know how to handle it--but at least her two boys can play at the beach if she's at the family cabin. Brenda is running away--she was just fired as a university professor for sleeping with one of her lit students, even though he was older than her. She's hoping to write a screenplay and make her problems disappear. And, I guess, she is trying to help with her sister's kids. Melanie is there on a fluke--she found out that her husband is sleeping with a butch co-worker and doesn't want to stop cheating. Melanie, however, knows that after years of trying, she is now finally pregnant.

All three women have some stories to tell and I was fascinated. Josh, the boys' babysitter, adds in the romance/intrigue, but also has a great story to read about. All in all, this was the perfect poolside read--I'm going to add this author's other books to my Goodreads to-read list.

[Stefanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great read to bookend the summer with!

Elin Hilderbrand is becoming a fast favorite of mine and Barefoot is my third novel by her.

Barefoot take you on a Nantucket summer journey with three women, three women with three very different sets of problems as they embark on a summer together.
Vicki, diagnosed with lung cancer and on the verge of starting chemo, terrified that she’ll die and her two young sons will be left without a mother. This summer she is determined to soak up every sun-filled day and love on her boys as much as physically possible.
Brenda, Vicki’s younger sister, has just lost her job, her career ruined and on top of that she’s being sued. It all happened so suddenly and in one moment or many moments of weakness she ruined it all.
Melanie, Vicki’s best friend has just discovered her husband is cheating on her. For years the struggles with infertility and she finally decided to stop trying and now she’s pregnant. Pregnant with her cheating husband’s baby.

This book is filled with rocky roads, as the women work through their problems and discover not only themselves, but deep friendships over their Nantucket summer.

I enjoyed this book although it was a heavier read, not quite what I was expecting, but nonetheless I recommend it!

[Kathy McC · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of three women and the trials that life brings to them. It is a bittersweet novel depicting the importance of family and friends when life hits a rough patch. It also demonstrates that one never knows where help might come from. This was a well written fluff novel. It dragged slowly by in certain parts. I felt the end wrapped up too nicely and too neatly for all of the characters. It would be great if life worked in such wonderful ways, but alas I found the ending unrealistic.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The criticisms of this book may be true but Hilderbrand writes beach books that are like candy. I love them!

[Peaches · Rating 1 out of 5]

***Spoilers included***
There are many issues with this book, one of the least severe being that no one in the novel titled Barefoot actually goes barefoot aside from perhaps the kids! Why were there continuous inclusions of people stuffing sand in each others’ shoes (my worst nightmare) when Hilderbrand desired the title to be the opposite? Maybe the publisher had her change it.
I read in her Acknowledgement that this book marks a new beginning for Hilderbrand, which I guess means she had kids. As I’ve read books written before this one and after, the plot definitely deviates from her usual standard in a displeasing way. Usually, readers get vivid descriptions of Nantucket, food, whiny teenagers, and older woman sex. Woooo, summer! (I guess.) In this one, we instead get a cancer scare, an OD, people mostly too sick (physically or emotionally) to eat, and murky morals. I may have preferred to read The Innocent Imposter.
Plot: Vicki, her sister Brenda, and Melanie go with Vicki’s four-year-old and baby to Nantucket for the summer so Vicki can get chemo at a less renown hospital away from her husband who desires to take care of her. She spends her time accusing said supportive husband of cheating, skipping chemo treatments, and almost dying because she hates the hospital all to wind up surviving in the end. Yeah, this is a summer read, so we can’t have dark cancer where the person dies and leaves her children like in real life, right? If I were someone with cancer, a survivor, or someone with family who were, I would be really triggered to read Vicki’s story. Meanwhile, Brenda has been kicked out of academia because she had an affair with her college student (but of course, he’s older than her and waits around all summer for her to call, then shows up to Nantucket so they can have more sex). She’s supposed to be writing a screenplay, but instead pawns her nephews off on a babysitter, kisses said babysitter, and at the end somehow gets a screenplay deal by calling one of her former students at 2 am. Brenda is so worthless that even Hilderbrand does not give her a followup in the Epilogue. Melanie is pregnant with her cheating husband’s baby, takes him back because he shows up one day and merely says he’s sorry because “vows are vows,” but spends her time having sex with the babysitter.
Babysitter Josh is a more interesting character, but his refusal to dump Didi (even though he goes to a great college and could undoubtedly find a girl there) and his mommy issues were just weird. I’m sure I’d love a young hot guy to watch my sons if I were sick, but it was especially problematic that these women seemed to pass him around for whatever they needed: sex, support, childcare, etc. and he is just dropped at the end. Sadly, he didn’t make it in the Epilogue except to write Melanie a note that should have said: “You’re pathetic for going back to a guy who doesn’t even know how to apologize properly. And who cheats with a woman named Frances?!”
The story was definitely not something I’d desire to read at the beach for the above reasons. Hilderbrand has a model that readers come to expect, and cancer doesn’t fit. As previously mentioned, Vicki clearly can’t die because that would be too depressing, so Didi gets to, but that can’t even be a tragedy because Hilderbrand paints her as a prostitute, unhinged, overweight unfortunate townie. There is a clear agenda: The young women (Didi and Frances) cannot keep the men in this book because the older women are more “mature” and do everything for the men, including being willing to jump out a window whilst pregnant to meet them for sex on the beach! Then, there’s the whole “be a pushover to get the man” agenda. Plan a lobster picnic while cancer is eating your body because your husband wants to fish? Sure! Cry in a bathtub while your husband goes to have office sex and often doesn’t come home? Sounds like a typical Saturday night for Melanie! Have sex with a student because he can’t wait a few months until he is no longer your student? It must be true love! Also, Walsh was Brenda’s only real relationship and they mainly just had sex, but they’re happy in the end?
Another unsettling presentation of this book was how the university was presented. Brenda, a new professor, only taught two undergrad classes capped at around twelve students…was she making $6,000 for the year?! She was a “celebrity” because of teacher evaluations? A department handles accusations of misconduct by inviting another professor and a student who are accusing you to meet in the cafeteria, and then your side is never asked? What the hell school is this?! Also, why give us the whole plot of The Innocent Imposter if it really doesn’t relate to the novel I’m reading at all, and why didn’t Hilderbrand ever explain her own connection to it?
The only thing I liked was the idea that Josh and “the three” were connected, and maybe some of the sister backstory (although Vicki agreeing to go with Brenda’s friend to prom and deciding not to just because she didn’t feel like it was a bitch move).
This is tied for my least favorite Hilderbrand along with Nantucket Nights!

[Jennefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barefoot is a book that was recommended to me (Thanks Lani) because I really enjoyed The Castaways by this author and I wanted to read more of her books. I actually started out not liking any of the characters, and surprisingly by the middle to end, I ended up loving them all! Each character had their own reason for being who they were, and I was endeared to each of them. However, it wasn't until halfway through the book that I became involved enough with the characters that it became a page turner for me.

The story is about 3 women who disappear for the summer to Nantucket at a cottage near the beach. Vicki is diagnosed with lung cancer and decides to go away for the summer to get her chemo. She takes her sister, Brenda, her friend Melanie, and her 2 children with her. Brenda is saddled with money problems and a broken heart. This is due to her affair with one of her college students which gets her fired, and destruction of property that lands her in a law suit. Melanie finds that her husband is cheating on her after a lost battle of them trying to get pregnant. Once she finds out about his ongoing affair, which he does not plan to end, she discovers she is pregnant. A perfect reason to disappear for the summer. A college student home for the summer meets the women upon their arrival at the airport and eventually ends up working for them to watch Vicki's 2 boys each day. His presence in the story seems to confirm the fact that Brenda and Melanie are very self centered women, because instead of helping Vicki out as they were intended to do, they instead let a stranger do it, while they wallow in their own pain. But I like this type of story, because it is realistic.

I recommend that women who are reading Romance Novels or like Chick Lit put Elin Hilderbrand books on their list of things to read. I look forward to the next Elin Hilderbrand novel!

[Keris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of three women and their young, male babysitter unfurls during the hot summer in Nantucket. All of them have a story. Vicki has lung cancer, Brenda, Vicki’s younger sister is in disgrace after having an affair with one of her students and Melanie, Vicki’s friend, is newly pregnant with a long fought for baby, only to discover her husband is having an affair. Josh is a twenty one year old writing student on his summer holidays in the right place at the right time.

Vicki and Brenda have inherited a little cottage on the island so have decided to spend the summer there whilst Vicki has her chemotherapy treatment and Brenda sorts herself out emotionally whilst also

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[Julia Jackowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was strangely addicting, despite unlikeable characters and uncomfortable topics (infidelity, cancer, inappropriate relationships). However, I was thoroughly invested in the story following the three women’s summer in Nantucket. A very long book for a “beach read” and I didn’t like the fact that there were no chapters to break up the book, but overall, it was a pleasant read!

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is about 3 friends that have had catastrophic recent events in their lives, who escape for the summer to Nantucket. Very good character/relationship study.

[Susan Crowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book. Heart wrenching at times. Definitely deals with real life situations.