The Perfect Couple

I couldn't put this book down! So many twists and turns that I felt as though I was on a really great rollercoaster. I certainly recommend reading this before watching the series. I did!

What in the world is up with Hilderbrand's character's names? It seems like every book has at least one off-the-wall identity. In this one, it's Featherleigh. But hey, at least it's not as bad as Celery, a previous character. Goofy names aside, this is a fantastic read. I started it late yesterday evening and finished less than 24 hours later. I could hardly put it down. I know some are referring to it as Hilderbrand's first suspense/mystery novel...and they'd be correct. But...it's a fairly elementary whodunit. Any reader who regularly devours this genre won't really find it much of a mystery at all. That doesn't take anything away from this story, however. The Perfect Couple is captivating, evocative, and is chock-full of what Elin Hilderbrand does best...help her reader feel the Nantucket experience. I could read her books solely for the food descriptions alone. Her character development is top-notch, as is the dialogue. Throughout the years, I've read nearly all her books, and I can't recall a single plot hole. Her stories are always tidily put together and complete, which I appreciate. The Perfect Couple is told from multiple perspectives, and bounces around throughout a 2 year time period, but it never becomes convoluted or confusing. The timeline was masterfully rendered. Final thoughts--a truly fun story. Probably one of my favorites from the Hilderbrand library. And for those of you who read her works fairly frequently, you might just find the return of some well-loved Nantucketeers. 4.5 stars rounded down

Great book! A must read!

I was immediately drawn in to this story when I started. We go to Cape Cod & Nantucket for vacations and I have an obnoxiously rich relative who has owned a home on Nantucket all her adult life. My middle name and my Mom’s first name come from Nantucket. Having known people like the groom’s family, I found the descriptions of the homes, clothing and attitudes to be true and very entertaining. To be able to put so much detail into the people, places, things etc, and then spend only two pages on a lame and, in my opinion lazy, reveal of what happened was incredibly disappointing. It felt like the author got a call from her agent saying she missed her deadline so she took 20 minutes to finish the book. To be so incredibly descriptive of everything in the book except the reveal of what happened was a huge letdown. The father’s kayak was given a better description and detail than the reveal of the details of how the victim died. It even took me a moment to realize I had finished the book until I turned the page and saw the author’s acknowledgements and immediately thought, “What the heck, did I miss something?”. I guess I was looking forward, while reading, for the exploding fire cracker reveal at the end and got a dud that wouldn’t light. I wish the end could have been as detailed and exciting as the rest of the book.

Elin Hilderbrand once again brings her readers to the shores of Nantucket, this time for the event of the season. The wedding of Celeste Otis and Benji Winbury promises to be an epic party, and no expense has been spared. Tragedy strikes on the morning of the wedding, however, when a body is discovered just hours before the festivities are set to begin. With the immediate family and bridal party all staying at the house where the wedding is, everyone becomes a suspect in the ensuing murder investigation. As information is gathered and suspects are questioned, it becomes clear that each and every person at the beach house has secrets to hide. With the Netflix adaptation for this novel dropping in September, I wanted to make sure that I read the book first (because in almost every case, the book is better than the movie). I have read books by Elin Hilderbrand before, and have thoroughly enjoyed them, so I was excited to give this one a try. Almost instantly, she draws the reader in. The plot is super fast paced, and it fluctuates back and forth between present day, and events that happened in the past which culminate with a body in the ocean. There were so many characters in the book, but while there was a perpetually changing POV, it was still easy to follow along with what was going on. One of the things I loved most about the laundry list of characters was that each one of them had some aspect of their backstory that let the reader believe that they had something to do with the suspected murder. My convictions over “who dun it” changed with almost every chapter, and I found myself second (and third, and fourth) guessing my conclusions as the story progressed. This book truly had a little bit of everything. It was part murder mystery, part romance, part family drama, part wealthy society chaos, and I ate it all up. There were characters to love, characters to hate, and everything in between. I loved the Agatha Christie feel of having all the suspects forced together while the detective works his magic. I also loved that it checked off the boxes for both page turning suspense and perfect beach read. I had high expectations for this book from the start, and it absolutely delivered.

First off, I’m a guy. I get that I’m not exactly a part of Ms. Hilderbrand's target audience. But I decided to show some courage and post a review from a regular guy’s perspective. Whether that’s good or bad I’ll leave to you. How’d I get into this? Well, I spend Summers on Nantucket, I was looking for something to read, and I was curious to see what all the excitement over the The Perfect Couple was about. (A starred Kirkus review? That’s pretty serious stuff). So this was an experiment of sorts. I think it was a successful one in that I finished the book. This in spite of the authors chronically pretentious and unnecessary name dropping of every trendy high end fashion brand known to man. (No, that’s not quite fair. I should have said every trendy high end fashion brand known to woman). Is this great writing? No. But it’s not meant to be, is it? It’s not Hammett, it’s chick-lit. Still, I’m embarrassed to say, I really enjoyed the story. It was very easy to follow; and knowing a lot about the island made it fun. There were a lot of twists and turns and the characters were interesting; I think I recognized a few of them in real life. I’ve seen guys like the Benji character. Although a cynic may see him as a bit of a blind sucker, there was something noble about him that fostered sympathy. He could have murdered his best man and it would have been justifiable homicide in my book. But the focus of the story wasn’t really about the guys, was it? It was all about the girls. Most of it wasn’t flattering from where I was sitting. Maybe it was the overdose of fluff that came with every description of what they were wearing that did me in. Nevertheless, I was reasonably successful in separating the confection from the meat of the story, even though I complained and rolled my eyes all through it, right to the bitter end. I know, it’s bad. Yet, here I am confessing that I wanted to read her book. I liked reading it, complaining about it, and I felt compelled to finish it. Apparently, Ms. Hilderbrand has an addictive formula that hooked this guy at a perfect moment in time. She deserves 5 stars for that alone.

A love story with the wrong people in love with each other. Gratuitous sex breaks the hearts of those unaware of duplicity.

I am new to Elin Hilderbrand. I started reading this book because I read The Academy and loved it. I read this book FAST! It’s so well written and I found the ending very satisfying considering the themes of the book. The title is apt! I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Great read!

Très déçue de ce livre qui promettait un style similaire à celui de Liane Moriarty. Je m'attendais à que le livre soit meilleur que la serie Netflix, mais en fait pas du tout. L'intrigue est assez plat, les personnages ne sont pas bien définis et l'écriture est médiocre tout au long.

My first Elin Hilderbrand enjoyed the book. Descriptions of the the characters were all very well done. The story line too was good. Looking forward to read more of Elin .

Great story, near the end, I kept reading chapter after chapter, I could not put the book down. Very interesting characters.

A good read. The series was great but the book was better, especially the ending