Mirkat Always Reading

This was one of the recommended books for the "beach reads" week in my library's summer-reading program.  This is one of those books I probably wouldn't have chosen of my own volition, though I'm glad to have experienced it.  Its setting in Nantucket was nice, because I honeymooned there in addition to having other special vacations there.

The book is set in the summer of 2009; many characters are having financial problems because of the economy.  Fifteen years before, Danielle Fox drowned; whether the drowning was accidental or intentional,  no one knows for sure.  She left behind her husband Jim, a contractor, and three daughters--Abbie, who was 15 at the time; Emma, who was 13; and Lily, who was only seven.  As the oldest daughter, Abbie, stepped up as caretaker to her younger sisters.

As the book opens on its present-tense narrative, Abbie rushes home at Lily's urging, after having spent two years in London working as an au pair.  Lily's worried about Emma, whose fiance Duncan dumped her for another woman right around the time she lost her finance job in Boston.  Emma returned to the family home and took to her bed.  Lily's also worried about their father's business, as contracting jobs are becoming less plentiful.  He has rented out the guest cottage, aka "the playhouse," to Marina--whom she characterizes in an email to Abbie as a sexy woman who is after their father.  Six months earlier, Marina's husband Gerry and good friend Dara threw her a surprise party to celebrate her 40th birthday--only to reveal the next morning that they'd fallen in love and were expecting a baby.  Gerry wanted a divorce so he could marry Dara.  Gerry bought out Marina's half of their ad agency and their condo, in Kansas City, MO.  Marina has rented out the cottage for a six-month term, to give herself the chance for a new start.

So there are multiple romances in this book, and I'm not usually a romance kind of girl.  But there was enough other drama going on to make this generally a fun, frothy read for me.  Sometimes, I became irritated with certain characters.  Okay, mostly Lily.  At times, she acted more like a toddler than a 22-year-old, but this was somewhat explained by her sisters having babied her--and she does go through a trajectory.  There's some insta-love here, and I'm not generally a fan of that.  But fortunately, things weren't 100% wrapped up with a neat bow.  More like 85%.