Book Review: 28 Summers by Elin Hilderband

Synopsis from The Story Graph: 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.

Review:
Has a book ever made you feel like curling up with a blanket, a bottle of wine, and cry? That was 28 Summers for me. It's a 15 hour audiobook that I finished in 4 days. I thoroughly enjoyed how Hilderbrand told the story over 28 Summers and how we get to see families grow together through all of the milestones that life brings, including sending their kids off to college. Life takes us all in different directions and major world events affect us each in personal ways, yet also bring us closer together in so many ways. We learn that physical location doesn't matter much, yet it does at the same time.

Elin Hilderbrand's characters are like my family and I often feel like I'm part of the story when I read them. I definitely prefer her books in audio vs trying to read them in print because it's like someone else telling me the story.

There's definitely going to be a sequel just based on the ending, but I don't know if there will be some characters there to see it and that's a little heartbreaking. I am glad that I was home alone when it ended because I unexpectedly started crying when it ended.

Have you read this one? What did you think? If not, tell me your favorite Elin Hilderbrand or beach read.