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Business Stationary Mart - A Summer Affair: A Novel
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List Price: $24.99
Our Price: $11.25
Your Save: $ 13.74 ( 55% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780316018609
ISBN: 0316018600
Label: Little, Brown and Company
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 416
Publication Date: 2008-07-01
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Release Date: 2008-07-01
Studio: Little, Brown and Company
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Watching a train wreck in slo-mo from a guy's perspective.
Comment: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I have not been so emotionally disturbed by a story since watching Diane Lane in "Unfaithful". When you are married to a good person, who loves you, and you love them, why are you doing this?
Claire is like so many other moms, my wife included. So much going on and stretched to the breaking point but still can't say, "no". Claire's husband is a good guy and excellent father (yes he is) who, clearly, never got the wife user manual, "How to Feed and Care for your Lovely Wife". As a result, Claire, although she has a rich life in many respects, is left with two huge emotional vacuums, 1) professional satisfaction and fulfillment; and, 2) "just hold me, not bang me" intimacy. You can like both the Jason and Claire characters while wanting to slap, no,... I mean, douse them with ice cold water shouting, "wake up"! It is not like Claire is looking for trouble but when it is clearly there she does not back away.
Adultery is bad. In this story the adulterous situation is a train wreck of humongous proportions you know is going to happen. The train wreck unfurls in a very deliberate manner with lots of interesting characters and twist along the way. I never really despised, but also never liked, Locke, Claire's lover (I am closer to Locke than Jason intellectually). I think I didn't despise Locke because he was starting from such a lonely place emotionally. He was very needy considering who he was. On the other hand, you might see the whole situation as Locke taking advantage of Claire to some extent... but, all Claire had to do is not play ball so to speak.
One the more amusing aspects of an adulterous affair is when one of the perpetrators becomes jealous of their lover having to do "romantic" things with their spouse. Ouch!
Lastly, the cover has to go. Whoever selected that cover should be fired. The cover has nothing to do with the book. This was a "dark, winter" affair on Nantucket conducted under cover of night and in an office conference room. No, no, no, no barefoot walks in the sand. Sorry.
One last thing in the course of disclosures, I did this as an unabridged audiobook. Clearly, I would highly recommend this audiobook, notwithstanding the cover image.
Customer Rating:
Summary: More than meets the eye
Comment: Claire is the shining star of this book. Hilderbrand has done a stellar job of presenting and developing her main character. Claire is complex, paradoxical and completely lovable - even when she is being maddeningly frustrating. She lives on Nantucket in a gorgeous house with her handsome, hard-bodied husband and their four young children, has a live-in au pair, yet schleps around town in stretched out yoga clothes with no make up and her hair pulled back in a careless bun. In short, Claire is the kind of girl you'd want to be friends with.
Against the backdrop of Nantucket and an upcoming fundraiser gala that Claire has volunteered to co-chair, she commences an affair with local millionaire Lock Dixon. Hilderbrand's portrayal of the affair takes this story to the next level. She eschews stereotypical treatment of the extramarital affair, refusing to make light of it or let it become a mere frivolous subplot. Masterfully, Hilderbrand conveys the depth of feelings - both good and bad - that stem from Claire and Lock's relationship.
Indeed, what I loved most about this novel was how real Claire's feelings seem. The passion and yearning associated with the affair, the overwhelming frustration of wanting something so badly, yet knowing that you aren't willing to do what it takes - or give up what is required - to have it. The guilt. The way it inevitably bleeds into every other aspect of your life.
Not until part two, 125 pages into the story, does Hilderbrand introduce other narrative voices. Siobhan is Claire's Irish sister-in-law and best friend, outspoken, sarcastic, pretty much the opposite of Claire but likable all the same. We also hear from Lock, who turns out to be a good guy despite his marital transgression.
It is interesting to see Nantucket from the perspective of year-round residents. Hilderbrand herself resides on Nantucket, enabling her to describe life on the island beyond the summer scene with authenticity. Siobhan owns a catering business and the descriptions of food throughout the book are mouthwatering - enough so to make one suspect that Hilderbrand just might be a bit of an epicure herself.
It takes a talented writer to present a story like this in a way that makes the reader feel sympathy even when the main character is by all accounts behaving badly. Hilderbrand's richly textured rendering of Claire and her life choices make this a book that will completely absorb you and leave you longing to read more of her work.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Hilderbrand has taken great strides in developing real, flawed characters
Comment: Elin Hilderbrand's seventh novel, A SUMMER AFFAIR, is once again set on tranquil Nantucket where Claire Danner Crispin's life is anything but. Juggling a household, four children and a husband leaves her little time for anything else. She used to be quite an accomplished glass blower. But after an accident in her workroom when she was pregnant with her fourth child, Claire hasn't returned to her work. Life is hectic enough. Claire, however, is a people-pleaser and has a hard time saying no, which is why she finds herself as the co-chair of the biggest charitable event of the season ---the Nantucket's Children Summer Gala.
Instead of much needed time with her family, she is running off to meetings with Lockhart (Lock) Dixon, the handsome founder of Nantucket's Children. But Claire is no fool; she knows full well why she was appointed. It's a semi-well-known fact that she used to date rock star Max West before he was an international superstar, and they hope she can get him to perform at the gala. Claire hasn't spoken to Max (or "Matthew," as he was known then) in years. Last she heard, he was doing another stint in rehab...or was he getting divorced? She hopes he will remember her fondly and help her look like a superstar to the gala committee.
But the beauty of this small island masks a lot of pain going on behind closed doors. Claire struggles with her memories of Max and simpler times. Even though she loves her husband, Jason, a burly island contractor whose favorite thing to do is relax with a beer and watch "Junkyard Wars," she sometimes wonders where their carefree spark has gone. She is also troubled by her recent attraction to Lock, who is also in a complicated marriage. Claire would go crazy if she didn't have her sister-in-law, Siobhan, to confide in. Siobhan runs a local catering business with her husband Carter, Jason's brother, and provides Claire with no-nonsense Irish wisdom while also acting as her moral compass. Siobhan has issues of her own, including Carter's growing gambling problem and her ex-fiancé's renewed interest in her.
Guilt seems to play a major role in A SUMMER AFFAIR. Claire feels badly that her workaholic ways led to her youngest child's developmental problems. She is conflicted about her burgeoning feelings for Lock, as well as feeling guilty that his wife, Daphne, has never been the same after an accident following a girls' night on the town with Claire and some other local women, where they knew she had too much to drink. Daphne recovers physically but constantly barbs and snipes at everyone. Lock feels tremendous guilt on behalf of his teenaged daughter, Heather, and sticks with Daphne mostly for Heather's sake and out of well-intentioned loyalty.
In addition to the characters who are donning hair shirts, we have Gavin Andrews, the slimy assistant at Nantucket's Children, who is brazenly skimming funds from the charity right under Lock's nose. Gavin hopes to abscond with the money before anyone is the wiser. And there's Isabelle French, the cold and capable divorcee who is co-chairing the event but seems more adept at making Claire feel inadequate.
A SUMMER AFFAIR captures the beauty and the small-town coziness of Nantucket but also demonstrates that islanders have just as many problems as city dwellers. We follow Claire and the other characters through treacherous waters as they try to navigate their complicated lives. The subplot of the returning rock star boyfriend ends up being a little superfluous, though the domestic issues prove more interesting. Hilderbrand has taken great strides in developing her characters this time out. They are real, flawed and struggle with their own inner demons. They may make mistakes, but they are truly human. And, as in life, their flaws and their labors make them much more relatable.
--- Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller
Customer Rating:
Summary: So So....
Comment: I have read every Elin Hilderbrand novel so far. This book held my interest, don't get me wrong. However, I felt like the characters could've been developed more. Why bring in the part about Siobhan's husband and his issue unless the author was going to more fully discuss it with the reader? Or talk more about Claire's feelings towards Max West? Or brought in Jason's first person point of view? Or maybe even Daphne. I just felt like many novels these days, the characters could've been more fully developed and discussed rather than brought in as an afterthought.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Summer read
Comment: I liked Claire and the book. You can't help but identify with her feelings. Her husband isn't bad - just not great. Her life is good but she is missing things since she quit her art. She feels guilt for things that are beyond her control. And somehow all of this seems to be relegated to the background when she meets Lock. Her attraction takes all the pain out of so many things.. Whether it should or not.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Sheila Crispin Cook, mother of four young children and nationally renowned glassblower, bites off more than she can chew when she agrees to co-chair the Nantucket's Children Summer Gala. Sheila is asked to chair the benefit, in part, because she is the former high school sweetheart of rock star Max West. Max agrees to play the gala and it looks like smooth sailing for Sheila-until she promises a "museum-quality" piece of glass for the auction, offers her best friend the catering job, goes nose-to-nose with her Manhattan socialite co-chair, and begins a "good-hearted" affair with the charity's Executive Director, Lockhart Dixon.
Hearts break and emotions are pushed to the limit in this riveting story of one woman's attempt to deal with loves past and present, family, business, and high-powered social pressures. Elin Hilderbrand's unique understanding of the joys and longings that animate women's lives will make this her newest summer bestseller.
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