She stops and stares at her phone’s screen. With all of Elin’s trademark beach scenes, mouth-watering meals, and picture-perfect homes, plus a heartfelt message-the people we lose never really leave us- Golden Girl is a beach book unlike any other.EXCERPT: The song changes to opening guitar chords that seize Vivi’s attention.

But when hidden truths come to light, Vivi’s family will have to sort out their past and present mistakes-with or without a nudge of help from above-while Vivi finally lets them grow without her. Vivi also is granted three “nudges” to change the outcome of events on earth, and with her daughter Willa on her third miscarriage, Carson partying until all hours, and Leo currently “off again” with his high-maintenance girlfriend, she’ll have to think carefully where to use them.įrom the Beyond, Vivi watches “The Chief” Ed Kapenash investigate her death, but her greatest worry is her final book, which contains a secret from her own youth that could be disastrous for her reputation. She ascends to the Beyond where she’s assigned to a Person named Martha, who allows Vivi to watch what happens below for one last summer. On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three nearly grown children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident while jogging near her home on Nantucket. In this #1 bestselling page-turner from “the queen of beach reads” ( New York Magazine ), a Nantucket novelist has one final summer to protect her secrets while her loved ones on earth learn to live without their golden girl. I hope to plow through and read all 30 of her novels.

Golden Girl wasn’t my favorite Hilderbrand book, but I am really glad I stuck with it until the end. Overall, I really ended up enjoying it, but it was a slow start for me. Then, each character is brought to life and I started to make connections with them. It felt a little far-fetched and awkward. With the narrator positioned in heaven watching over her children’s day-to-day lives as the island of Nantucket worked to solve her own hit-and-run murder mystery, it was hard to get myself engaged. To be perfectly honest, I was a chapter or 2 into this book and wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to finish it. LATEST READ // GOLDEN GIRLĪlthough I idolize Elin Hilderbrand and this was her 8th book I’ve read, it was just okay.

To catch up on all my latest reads, click here. There isn’t as much steamy romance as there is a combination of nostalgia and sweet memories of a family who end up having to deal with the tragic loss of their mother mixed with an unsolved hit-and-run. While the story’s setting still took place on Nantucket, several chapters were written from the point-of-view of Vivi, in heaven. This read, Golden Girl had a slightly different vibe than Elin Hilderbrand’s typical beach reads.

Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand