BOOK REVIEW: 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand

Today’s book review is for 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand, a contemporary romance with a secret love affair and deathbed confessions!

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Book Synposis

By the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Summer of ’69: Their secret love affair has lasted for decades — but this could be the summer that changes everything.

When Mallory Blessing’s son, Link, receives deathbed instructions from his mother to call a number on a slip of paper in her desk drawer, he’s not sure what to expect. But he certainly does not expect Jake McCloud to answer. It’s the late spring of 2020 and Jake’s wife, Ursula DeGournsey, is the frontrunner in the upcoming Presidential election.

There must be a mistake, Link thinks. How do Mallory and Jake know each other?

Flash back to the sweet summer of 1993: Mallory has just inherited a beachfront cottage on Nantucket from her aunt, and she agrees to host her brother’s bachelor party. Cooper’s friend from college, Jake McCloud, attends, and Jake and Mallory form a bond that will persevere — through marriage, children, and Ursula’s stratospheric political rise — until Mallory learns she’s dying.

Based on the classic film Same Time Next Year (which Mallory and Jake watch every summer), 28 Summers explores the agony and romance of a one-weekend-per-year affair and the dramatic ways this relationship complicates and enriches their lives, and the lives of the people they love. From Goodreads.

“And the worst thing about being young is not being able to appreciate that you’re young because you aren’t old enough to know any better.”

The Basics

• Category: Contemporary Romance
• Tags: Summer Romance, Historical Fiction, Affair, Beach Romance
• Author: Elin Hilderbrand
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, June 2020
• Where to Find: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads
• Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

**Spoilers Ahead**

If you want a fun book with a happy ending, this book is not for you. This is a sad book. Tears might’ve (who am I kidding I cried) been shed. You have been warned!

I both love and hate this book. To me, this book is heartbreaking. Love doesn’t conquer all. In the end, the main character doesn’t win.

Each chapter is a summer/year starting with the first summer in 1992 and going 28 summers to 2020. Our two main characters are Mallory and Jake. J. Mallory lives full time on Nantucket in a beach house she inherited from her aunt. The summer of 1992, Mallory’s brother asks to use the house for his bachelor party. Mallory stays that weekend when the boys come up and that is when she meets her brother’s best friend, Jake. They immediately hit it off. When Mallory’s brother leaves early, Jake stays the rest of the weekend with Mallory. They agree to meet at her house again, “same time, next year.” That is what they do for 28 years.

“No secret in the history of the world has ever been successfully kept. The truth always comes out.”

So Let’s Get Into it…

Throughout the years, many things happen with our main characters. Jake gets back together with his girlfriend (eventually marrying her and having a kid), but no matter what, Labor Day Weekend is spent with Mallory. Jake says it is a tradition he and Mallory’s brother have, so his affair is never found out.

As for Mallory, she has boyfriends, but none of them compare to Jake. Mallory gets pregnant by one of her brother’s friends at a wedding (not Jake thankfully) and keeps the baby. She devotes herself to motherhood and loves her son. No matter what, she makes sure she spends Labor Day Weekend alone with Jake.

“The anticipation is ecstasy. It’s a perfectly ripe strawberry dipped in melted milk chocolate; it’s a roaring fire on a snowy night; it’s a double rainbow; the green-glass barrel of a wave; the first sip of ice-cold champagne. And then… he arrives.”

I find this book so bittersweet because Mallory does not get a happy ending. She is in love with Jake. None of her relationships with other guys end up working out. Jake is jealous that Mallory sees other guys, but he is the one with a wife and a family. I think his judgements of her love life are unfair. He seemingly gets to have it all whereas Mallory gets one weekend a year with the love of her life.

The arrangement works for them, but an affair is an affair. They both know that it is wrong, but they do not care. It is unbelievable that no one found out about their relationship sooner (because it is eventually found out).

Jake loves Mallory (that much is clear), but he is too selfish to do anything about it. He says he can’t live without his wife (although his wife is portrayed as insufferable). He is unhappy in his marriage yet does nothing about it.

“The end of summer was the saddest time of year.”

So… Bookmark or Bin it?

Conclusion: Bookmark it

This book is as frustrating as it is addicting. You are rooting for Mallory even though you know what she and Jake are doing is wrong. You want them to get a happy ending, but that doesn’t happen. I look forward to reading more (hopefully with a happier endings) books from Hilderbran. 

Fun Extra Tidbit

Most of Elin Hilderbrand books are set on the island of Nantucket, where she resides. In 2019, New York Magazine called her “the queen of beach reads.” I’ve never been to Nantucket, but I did visit Martha’s Vineyard (another island off the coast of Massachusetts’s). I was disappointed that Martha’s Vineyard was not an actual vineyard.

Thanks so much for reading my book review is for 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand! Now it’s your turn. Have you read this book or any others by Elin and if so, what are your thoughts? Please feel free to share in the comments below!

Happy reading 😊