The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

 Elin Hilderbrand dips into the supernatural in possibly her last beach read before winding up her career in that genre with The Hotel Nantucket coming out mid-June.

A tragic fire in 1922 killed the 19-year-old secret lover of the hotel owner and marked the beginning of the end for The Hotel Nantucket. Fast forward to 2022 when billionaire Xavier Darling restores the hotel to its previous glory, with help from Lizbet Keaton who is his general manager. Despite the full renovation, the locals still talk about the ghost of Grace Hadley who perished in the fire. Indeed, Grace is still haunting the hotel as she is not satisfied that her death was never declared the murder that it was.

Lizbet struggles with an inexperienced crew she must whip into shape to deliver that over-the-top service that Darling expects – and rewards with a nice bonus to any employee who is singled out in hotel reviews. A 5-key rating from hotel reviewer Shelly Carpenter is his goal as none has yet been awarded to any establishment.

An ensemble of characters unfolds the story along with Ghost Grace: Lizbet, who is recovering from a broken long-term romance; Alessandra, the front desk manager on the prowl for her next Sugar Daddy; Sweet Edie, a Nantucket girl who always goes the extra mile serving the guests from her spot at the front desk; Magda English, head housekeeper extraordinaire who was handpicked by Darling to head the cleaning team; and Chadwick Winslow, a rich kid who is redeeming himself from having done a misdeed by taking a menial job at the hotel – an eye-opening experience to how some people treat their hotel rooms.

The hotel team members are all hiding secrets that haunt them as they go about their day-to-day duties running The Hotel Nantucket. How will Lizbet open her heart to the famous chef who runs the in-house Blue Bar? How far will Alessandra go to get what she wants from married hotel guests and islanders? What could Sweet Edie have done to be the target of a blackmailer? How can Chad heal the wounds in his relationships with others and forge a career path for himself? Will their combined efforts bring about that coveted 5-keys rating? Will Ghost Grace’s death finally be vindicated?

Having long lived in Nantucket, Elin Hilderbrand has great insight about how things work on the island. At the end of the novel, she provides a bonus guide to all things Nantucket including lodging, eating, and adventure tips for island visitors. Her future involves developing a half-dozen projects in Hollywood. Rather than writing books, she hopes to be a book influencer like Reese Witherspoon and others who have their own book clubs.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting April 17, 2022.

I would like to thank Little, Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.