Nan Powell is a free-spirited, sixty-five-year-old widow who’s not above skinny-dipping in her neighbors’ pools when they’re away and who dearly loves her Nantucket home. But when she discovers that the money she thought would last forever is dwindling, she realizes she must make drastic changes to save her beloved house. So Nan takes out an ad: Rooms to rent for the summer in a beautiful old Nantucket home with water views and direct access to the beach.

Slowly people start moving in to the house, filling it with noise, laughter, and with tears. As the house comes alive again, Nan finds her family and friends expanding. Her son comes home for the summer, and then an unexpected visitor turns all their lives upside down.

I picked this book up at a used book sale because I liked the cover. I’d honestly never heard of Jane Green, much less read any of her books, so I thought I’d give it a try.

It took a couple of chapters to get comfortable with the author’s style, but once I settled in, I was hooked. With several characters working through several issues in their lives, this is neither romance nor women’s fiction, though there is some romance in the story and the central character that pulls everyone together is a female. It was fun to see all of their lives weave together, sometimes in unexpected ways.

If you enjoy books by Maeve Binchy, you may want to pick up the book. It’s a little more crass than Binchy (a few more swear words and a bit more leading with sexual references, but nothing really shown), but very similar in style.

Rated PG-13/R for some swearing and suggested adult situations. Get your copy here!

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