Nantucket Sisters: A Novel

This is one of those books I shouldn't have liked--the heroines are young for much of the book, and their bad choices are painful to watch. But ... I loved it! I felt like I was right on Nantucket, enjoying the sea and sun. The characters were believable just because they made a series of bad choices. Maggie's family is endearing, especially her step-father who makes all the difference in the world to her and her brother, Ben. And when these two finally got to their well-deserved happy endings, I balled through the whole scene. To me, it was THAT good.

This is just the type of "chick-read" I was looking for for a summer read. It had all the elements, and Nancy Thayer is a fine author of this type of book (I had read her book about Christmas in Nantucket -- at Christmastime -- and enjoyed it, for the same reason I read "beach books" in the summer. After introducing the characters, the plot moved along nicely -- of course the characters were painted pretty expectantly: the rich, blonde New Yorker, who summered at the Cape with her family, and the local dark-curly-haired much less than rich girl, and her handsome, hunky brother. It then followed the two girls -- the Nantucket sisters -- through their lives, catching up about every four years.About midway or so, the plot turned to a place that almost made me abandon the book. But, I didn't, and I'm glad I didn't. Bottom line, it turned out to be just what I wanted to read -- a light, summer read. I will certainly seek out and read other of Nancy Thayer's books.

In reading this story, there was never a time that I felt I was reading a story. Thayer dew me in and made me part of the story. These two girls were my friends and I shared their experiences. What more can an author do than to so take you away from your everyday life that you can experience a different time and place, a nicer time and place.

I liked how the author developed the main characters as they grew up. The use of adversity helped to keep the reader engaged. Very easy reading!

Ms Thayer always delivers a fun, quick read. This book doesn't disappoint. The characters do stretch believability, with their perfect lives and plot. Still it's a pleasure to disappear into their golden lives for awhile.

I would have liked a better ending. I did like the story but didn't feel that the ending gave a closure to satisfy the readers.

I have not read a book in 30 years. Nancy Thayer and her books on Nantucket are incredible! I am on my 4th book in 4 weeks! This book was fabulous! Highly recommend

This book is typically a romantic book. I thoroughly enjoyed the drama though I am older and I knew what was coming for some of it. There was a surprise, too. It was endearing and tender. I will read more of her work.

Loved this novel from a favourite author. Nancy's novels always have heart, exploring the love between two best friends and their journey from childhood to having children of their own. A treasure to be enjoyed and passed on to all the women you love.

I enjoyed this, it was an easy Summer read. The end wrapped up a bit too quickly and neatly for me though. A lot of suspended belief is required!

Possible spoiler? I loved Nancy Thayer’s books ever since her first - “Stepping” - very different from the books she writes nowadays. As a Brit who visited Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard 3 years ago i’ve become almost addicted to the American “beach novel” genre and so have found my way back to Nancy Thayer. These books don’t have the depth of her early novels, but are enjoyable, well-written escapism (in my humble opinion!). However, I personally felt this book wasn’t quite as good as some others i’ve read, mainly because of the strange character of Cameron! What on earth was that all about? It was as if Thayer couldn’t decide how to use him in the book. I expect others like myself wanted him unmasked as the mysterious father of Maggie’s child, proof of his womanising and lying. And how could Maggie accept, apparently so calmly that the man who had virtually seduced her then married her best friend soon afterwards, father to both their children? Very odd. But will still read Nancy Thayer’s books as I love the settings and the mainly happy endings!

Nancy Thayer is one of my favourite writers in the whole word and I've read all her books several times over. So it pains me to criticise her latest novel, but in the interests of honesty, I feel I must.As other reviewers have noticed, her later novels hold little of the depth and complexity of her earlier books. I don't know if it's deliberate or not, but these days she seems uninterested in producing anything other than lightweight 'beach reads'. There's nothing wrong with that, I suppose, but given her talent, it seems a shame that her writing is dumbing down.Her descriptive prose is lyrical and brings her beloved Nantucket to life in a way that makes the reader want to jump on a plane and go there immediately. (I've done it and the island lived up to its publicity). However, 'Nantucket Sisters' contains so many implausible scenarios and gaping plot holes that it made me want to scream in frustration. Even the synopsis at the beginning refers to one of the characters as Piper rather than Emily. This may be an error on the part of the publishers of course, but it's characteristic of a certain carelessness that runs throughout the book.I get the feeling that in placing Maggie and Emily in such an unlikely situation in the first place meant that Ms Thayer had difficulty in logically resolving it. For instance, we know that Emily had already mentioned her friendship with Maggie and Ben to Cameron before he went to Nantucket. It seems unlikely that when he met Maggie, he would not make the connection. Yet, there is no suggestion that he did. We also don't know why he didn't contact Maggie again after their island encounter, despite the idea that he may be in love with her. He seems to be a decent person, so why would he behave so caddishly? From that point onwards, the entire novel starts to fall apart, because each scene has been contrived to fit in with a plot line that wasn't really believable in the first place.After giving me more than thirty years of reading pleasure, I will remain loyal to Nancy Thayer. I'll continue to buy her books on the day they're published. But I would love to see her get back to writing the kind of amazing novels I know she's capable of.

The first Nancy Thayer novel I read was 'Nantucket Wedding", which I ripped through like a bag of potato chips. So maybe my expectations for this story were too high. I knew the story would span over a number of years, but somehow it felt like it dragged on. The characters were believeable enough, and I have my own life-long version of a Nantucket sister, but I don't know that I could be as forgiving as Maggie. Just an ok read.