The Nantucket Inn (Nantucket Beach Plum Cove, #1) by Pamela M. Kelley

The Nantucket Inn (Nantucket Beach Plum Cove, #1) Reviews

• 
  Laura Corriveau

  Very amateurish writing. I only completed this book to see how relationships would work out, but the end left me flat. I know Kelley is planning on a second book, but not sure I will put myself through another one. Don’t know what all the 5 star ratings are about ..... I only awarded the book 3 stars because I love Nantucket.
• 
  Elle G. Reads

  I saw someone post about this book on Instagram and decided to buy a copy because of their enthusiasm for it (and the entire series!). I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed it too. This is a women’s fiction novel that takes place on Nantucket and follows the Hodges family- the mother Lisa and her three daughters. Each has their own story to tell which will be relayed in later books so this one is basically an introduction to them and how their stories start, I think. It sort of reminds me of an Elin Hilderbrand or Kristen Woodson Harvey book (especially her Peachtree Bluff Series). So, if you enjoy either of those then you might really love this one! Would I recommend it? Absolutely. I already bought the second one in the series!
  
  𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗙𝗔𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗙:
  • Women’s Fiction
  • Family Dramas/Stories
  • Wholesome Reads
  
  𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
  
• 
  Obsidian

  Well I enjoyed all of the background on Nantucket and this book definitely made me want to visit there since everything sounds so fun. I think Kelley has a good eye for describing people, places, and food. Seriously the food that was described sounded awesome. I really wish recipes had been included. That said, I think it was a little lacking with the romance portion and character development. I also think that doing the whole fade to black then showing actual moments of intimacy between the heroes/heroines was a little lame after a while.
  
  "The Nantucket Inn" follows widowed mother of four, Lisa Hodges. Lisa finds out that her husband was a secret gambler who depleted their savings and retirement. If she doesn't find a job she will end up having to sell her home and even then, may not have enough to live on. Her friends come up with her turning her home into a bed and breakfast as well as advertising as an Airbnb since she has a large home with a ton of empty bedrooms. Lisa lets her children know (Kate, Kristen, Chase, and Abby) who all support their mom and do what they can to help. While this is going on, three of her kids (Kate, Kristen, and Abby) are going through some romantic upheavals.
  
  So, Lisa I thought was really level headed. It's shown she loves their children and I wish that Kelley had touched upon anger that she should have felt towards her dead husband. The way everyone kind of just glossed over it was a bit much after a while. I also don't know if I bought her romance either. There was no sizzle there.
  
  Kate's sub-plot was interesting, but once again things just kind of happen to her and everything works out. It just ends up fizzling out before we get to the end of the book. Her potential love triangle could have been interesting (and I say this as someone who loathes that trope) because at least we would have something more to read about than her writing process. Guess what, reading about a character writing a book is not interesting. Unless you are Stephen King and it's part of the plot (see Bag of Bones).
  
  Kristen's sub-plot once again could have been interesting, but girl needs help. She seems to be someone who needs to be in a relationship. I hope the next book actually shows more of her personality off since I found her to be pretty bland.
  
  Abby's entire sub-plot bugged the crap out of me. I don't want to spoil but she needed to get over herself. And once again things are just magically resolved. A normal person would have been really ticked off with her.
  
  Chase was barely in this, but we hear about how some random woman broke his heart when he was in high school so now his mother doesn't approve.
  
  There are a lot of secondary characters to keep straight in this one too (love interests galore and ex love interests too) so that's why I say more down below about the books needing to just follow one person per book.
  
  The writing was okay, I just needed more ompfh or something. Kelley plays with a few obstacles, but they are quickly dealt with. Lisa is initially denied the ability to advertise as a bed and breakfast though she can still rent out her rooms. We hear that some of the neighbors kind of suck, but we just get a few lines here and there. Lisa has a love interest with an ex, and there are noises being made about how she may try to ruin things. And it just goes on and on. Everything is pretty much addressed pages later and there's no real push/pull going on. I have to say that I was also disappointed that we hear about two potential love interests with regards to Kate, but we only find out who she is with when Kelley brings it up in the epilogue. I wish that we had seen the beginnings of that relationship in the next book. It was a bit jarring to go from hey we're just friends to all of a sudden they are in love.
  
  The flow was pretty good though I think that maybe Abby's subplot could have been in the next book. It really didn't add anything and there was already a lot going on with Kate, Kristen, and Lisa. We also get slight mentions of Chase here and there, and he occasionally shows up, but he is barely in this book which was odd. I assume that Kelley will have the follow-up books touch upon the siblings and Lisa, but I wish that Kelley had devoted each book to a separate person since it would have been nice to follow that character's arc and we could see more development. Since this one was only 248 pages there wasn't a lot of time to devote to everyone which was unfortunate.
  
  The setting of Nantucket sounds great. The description of the place and the festivals sound like a lot of fun.
  
  The ending is a HEA for at least two of the characters and then there are further signs that things are up in the air for three of the characters. I assume the next book will follow up on that.
• 
  Jennie Lanz

  So poorly written. The author never met a comma she didn't like. The characters were one-dimensional and boring. By the end of the book, all their problems disappeared because they all found a man!
• 
  Olivia

  Lisa Hodges, a middle-aged woman living on Nantucket, is running low on money because her dead husband had a secret gambling problem. She decides to open her home up to guests as a bed-and-breakfast. Meanwhile, her four adult children also live on Nantucket and also have lives and problems of their own- except her son Chase, who is in like one scene and then apparently busy for the rest of the book. Lisa’s oldest daughters, Kate and Kristen, are both very talented- Kate at writing and Kristen at art. But both are in relationships with men who aren’t quite good for them- perhaps some other prospects will come around. Meanwhile, Lisa’s youngest daughter Abby is having some trouble with her marriage, which has always felt rock-solid.
  
  Pros:
  •Uh…it was short? And pretty much nothing sad happens, so if you want a very light book, this one’s good.
  
  Cons:
  •Oh GOD, where do I start? This book was honestly terrible. The writing was horrendous, and showed clear signs of lack of editing- sometimes the wrong character name was written, there were spaces missing between words and Kristen’s name was sometimes Kirsten. Given the characters’ description of their own writing processes probably should have been a red flag- Kate figures out who the culprit is in her murder mystery halfway through writing it. Kate’s writing experience gives us another clue- she self-publishes her book, and I suspect this book was self-published as well.
  •This book reads like a person wrote up a description of what they wanted to happen in their book and then just published it. There is no descriptive imagery, just plain statements about what happened to characters and how they felt without fleshing anything out. The only real descriptions are descriptions of food…maybe she should have written a cookbook.
  •The characters LITERALLY have ZERO emotions, and it honestly made me angry. So many times throughout the story something happens that should make a character mad and/or upset, and they just move on “maturely”. Here are some: all the children glossing over the revelation that their dead father had a gambling addiction, walking in on your fiancé sleeping with someone else and getting over it in 1 hour, Lisa’s friend outing Abby as pregnant to her husband before Abby told her husband and Abby not being angry at Lisa for not keeping her secret, Kate’s ex showing up at Kristen’s art show as if he wouldn’t have recognized his ex’s twin sister’s name and knew she would be there. It’s like all of these things are used as plot devices and the characters don’t react to them at all.
  •This is miniscule, but everyone in the book thinks “The Beach Plum Cove Inn” is a great name but it does not roll off the tongue, and if it was such a great name, why is it not the title of the book?
  
  Recommendation: I am so confused as to how this book got so many good reviews, because I don’t think it had many redeeming qualities. I recommend if you are willing to sacrifice the quality of the writing, story, and characters, for a short book that’s not very emotional. Avoid if that’s not the case.
  
• 
  Katie T

  Cute and light hearted, while exceptionally mediocre. Painful in the way everyone gets a dream dude and dream job etc.
• 
  Mary Jackson _TheMaryReader

  I loved this first book in A Beach Plum Cove series. I can't wait to read the rest of the series. You are going to want to be friends with these characters and you are going to want to stay at this Bed and Breakfast. I HIGHLY recommend this book.
• 
  Angela P.

  This book was light and easy with nary a conflict that lasted longer than a paragraph and where every outcome was a pleasant one. Time had no meaning: if you want a BnB... it's there. If you want to write a book...blammmo. Book written and movie deal I the works. Do you like food? Lobster quiche is a secondary character that was more complex than the actual characters.
• 
  Debbie

  This was my first read by this author and it was great. I will never get to Nantucket, because it is way out of my pay grade, but I love to read books set there and I feel like I know the area. I have traveled there many times in books and this was a fun trip. I really enjoy family based stories and I'm looking forward to moving on with this family's life.
• 
  Debra

  Its not that this is a bad book, it's not. It's just that it's like looking in on a family with a bit of relationship drama going on every once in awhile. It's the first book in the series so, I will give the second book a try. I listened to the audio book, it was done well.
• 
  Cindy

  Quick, easy, predictable read. Amateurish writing but I liked the setting and the characters so I gave it 3 stars vs the 2 it probably deserves.
• 
  Carroto

  Είναι ένα βιβλίο στο οποίο δεν γίνεται τίποτα. Τρώνε, πίνουν, είναι αγαπημένες και όλα τα προβλήματα λύνονται από μόνα τους και στον υπερθετικό βαθμό. Δεν έχει δουλειά? Ένας φίλος σου δίνει μια ιδέα που σε κάνει πλούσιο. Δεν έχει άντρα? Αρχικά, κακώς... Θα πω μία ατάκα του στυλ "Δεν χρειάζομαι άντρα για να είναι ευτυχισμένη", ωστόσο στην επόμενη σκηνή θα το χτυπήσω το γκομενάκι (όλοι όμορφοι, ελεύθεροι και σε μία μικρή κοινωνία, ενός νησιού με ελάχιστους κατοίκους - και εμείς σε κοτζάμ πόλη δεν βρίσκουμε ούτε αρσενικό κουτάκι ξερωγω). Έχεις όνειρο να γράψεις ένα βιβλίο? Όχι μόνο θα γράψεις, θα το εκδόσεις μόνος σου και θα βγάλεις και λεφτά αμέσως (γιατί είναι τόσο απλό) και θα το διαβάσει και μία ηθοποιός (προφανώς στο μυαλό της είχε την Reese Witherspoon) που θα θέλει να το κάνει ταινία.
  Και δεν θα είχα θέμα γενικά με όλα αυτά, αλλά εγώ νόμιζα ότι διάβαζα conteporary και όχι fantasy.
  Τέλος, εμφανίζεται μία αντίζηλος αλλά Δόξα τω θεώ παναΐα μου :" Δεν είναι πιο αδύνατ�� από μένα" (Υποθέτω ότι αυτό σημαίνει πως το γκομενάκι θα διαλέξει την κεντρική ηρωίδα που είναι σιλφίς"
  ...
• 
  Margie Brown

  Quick, predictable, light hearted read. I loved the setting and the descriptions of food (only wish there were recipes included). Sometimes you just need a break from reality, sit back and read a book where all conflicts are easily resolved!
• 
  Amanda Hupe

  "This lovely story about the Hodges family feels like a vacation!"
  
  Check out my full review at InD'Tale Magazine:
  
  
  http://magazine.indtale.com/magazine/...
• 
  InD'tale Magazine

  This lovely story about the Hodges family feels like a vacation! The scenery description of Nantucket will make readers want to pack their bags immediately.
  
  Read full review in the
  2020 March issue of InD'tale Magazine.
• 
  Brooke Blogs

  I would say this one gets 3.5 stars from me (so I'm rounding up to 4 here). I am not sure if I have read a book that really touched on SO many different characters/points of view. I feel like this one was definitely a lot more background info and more of a women's fiction than a contemporary/romance story. I enjoyed it overall - I found myself very interested in Nantucket. I will read the next one in this series.
  
  This book was purchased on Amazon. My honest review is being shared voluntarily and is not influenced in any way.
• 
  Alaina

  The Nantucket Inn is the first installment of the Nantucket Beach Plum Cove series. Even though I went out of order, reading the third one first, I was still determined to dive into the first two of this series.
  
  In it, you will meet Lisa and her kids - Kate, Kristen, Chase, and Abby. You will also see that right now her life isn't too hot. She's low on money and it's all due to her dead husbands secret gambling problems. Now even though we know Lisa has four kids.. we don't necessarily see them all for the entire book. Which, kind of felt odd since they are basically all living within the same place.
  
  Other than that, not a lot actually happens in this book. Or I just wasn't fully invested with anything. In some ways, I'm glad I dove into the audiobook because I could just treat it like background noise once it got to the boring parts. I feel like if I was actually reading it... I would probably be drinking wine right now.
  
  In the end, it was an okay book and since I've already committed to diving into the sequel.. I feel like I should just do it. Wine is always an option when I get bored.. so that's a plus?
• 
  Laura Klowan

  I enjoyed this book. It was nice and light and an easy read. A great summer beach read. The characters were developed nicely and very likable. I’m glad there are more to the series to continue reading about these characters.
• 
  Laura

  Actual rating: 1.5⭐️💫. A half a star added because I did manage to finish it. I feel bad saying it, but this book was just awful. I felt it was plagued by poor writing, both grammatical, but also conceptually.
  
  I am no where near an editor nor do I have an English degree and my grammar skills are poor. So if I’m catching errors you know there’s a problem. The dialogue was unrealistic, especially toward the beginning. People just don’t talk to other people, especially close friends and family, in such a stiff manner. Not everything needs to be said out loud between two characters; the narrator can carry more of the story load.
  
  Character development was underwhelming. I don’t even understand why the Chase and Abby characters existed except maybe for the fact that the author was planning this to be a series so maybe she will give them more story later? I didn’t particularly find any of the characters stories all the interesting and definitely wasn’t invested in their relationships, past or present. Is Kate with Jack or Andrew? Which is which? Wait, who was Dylan? And why did he all of a sudden appear at an event in the last 40 pages? Again, the narrator could’ve just updated us with what became of him (not that we were worried or even cared) via ‘Kate heard from a friend or read on Facebook’. There is no need to have him pop back up in person for a few sentences and unexplainably link him to another character. It’s just odd. Sean🤷🏻‍♀️ Jeff🤷🏻‍♀️...I understand these characters exist to boost the story for our main Hodges, but I feel like they barely did that. Rhett was probably the only one I found somewhat interesting and was developed to an acceptable level.
  
  I didn’t even care much for Lisa. She’s a Mom who’s a good cook who somehow opens a shockingly successful Bed & Breakfast with no previous experience and an unimaginable amount of ease. Is it really that simple to do?! Why did literally nothing go wrong? Furnace break down in the winter? A patron slips on icy stairs? A bat in the attic? Not even a bad review on Airbnb?! Give her at least some hurdle to overcome here?! Starting your own business is suppose to be hard right?
  
  It seems so many of the higher reviews credit the setting and love for Nantucket? While I admit, I’ve never been there, however I think that’s exactly why I can say that I don’t think the setting was well established at all. I couldn’t really picture it (and I do live in a coastal New England town), but more specifically I didn’t FEEL it. I’ve read other books set on Nantucket that better convey the island, both visually and emotionally.
  
  I know this is a guilty pleasure beach read, but even in that context, this book gave me nothing. I didn’t enjoy it while I was reading and it’s story and characters will not stick with me afterwards. I found myself clawing my way to the end just so it would be over😬.
• 
  Yvonne

  Lisa Hodges has so much to deal with these days. She’s stunned when she learns her deceased husband had been a gambling addict and pretty much lost all their money. She is in her fifties and hasn’t worked in over 30 years. With no job experience to speak of, she’s finding it impossible to get any work.
  
  It’s not cheap to live in Nantucket. She’s slowly coming to the conclusion that she will need to leave the island, until her friends come up with a solution. Since her Nantucket home is huge, she could section part of it off and turn it into a Bed & Breakfast. Lisa isn’t sure she can do it, but with the encouragement of her grown children, she takes a chance.
  
  Lisa’s children have a few problems of their own…
  
  Her daughter, Kate, is a magazine writer having some employment problems of her own. Plus, her engagement isn’t exactly going in the direction she had hoped.
  
  Kristen is an artist involved with a man who is separated. He spends most of his free time with his soon-to-be-ex wife and their son. Kristen wonders if this relationship will ever amount to anything.
  
  Then there’s her daughter Abby. She and her husband are desperately trying to have a baby which is putting a strain on their marriage.
  
  There’s her son Chase. He’s into construction and helps Lisa set up her new Bread & Breakfast.
  
  I think of this story has a huge chunk of life. These are all realistic characters with real problems. They are genuine characters I really found myself caring about. I didn’t always agree with their decisions but they were all likeable.
  
  I would have liked to learn more about Chase, but hopefully that will be in a future book. This is a series and the first book. This book mainly featured Lisa and Kate, but you did get info on the other characters including a couple of Lisa’s close friends and a love interest.
  
  I had never read this author before, but I’m a fan now and will be on the lookout for more books by her, especially in this series.
  
  
• 
  Lynn

  I honestly don't understand all these 4 and 5 star reviews. This is sort of like an Elin Hilderbrand novel for the Dollar Tree reader. The story: a widow must turn the family home on Nantucket into a B&B to survive. Not much of anything happens. She has 4 grown children each with their own small problems, all of which are easily resolved. The son shows up for the renovations, because, handily enough, that's what he does for a living, and then drops out of sight for the rest of the book. The lack of an editor is glaring. Obviously, there is an audience for this series but I won't be part of it.
• 
  Gail

  Delightful
  
  Delightful easy reading for the Summer time or anytime. Based on Nantucket Island this book tells of a widow who wants to open a Bed and Breakfast to save her island home. Her four adult children are all interesting as are the first guests and other characters in the book.
• 
  Lisa Clarke

  A fun, quick Nantucket beach read. Glad it will be a series, I enjoyed all the characters!
• 
  paiges_prologue

  How gorgeous is this cover 😍 I just wana be sippin’ some white wine and talkin’ with my mama on that porch!!
  .
  Another feel good Nantucket beach read. This one centers on 50 something Lisa and her four adult children. Recently widowed Lisa is forced to either sell their beautiful home on Beach Plum Cove or turn it into an inn. The story follows her through the business’s first guests and the drama that creates. Each child is handling various forms of heartache and small island gossip. This is the first in the series.
  .
  This book was cute and will make you hungry with all the food descriptions 😋 The writing is very amateur with so many aspects of each characters story conveniently working in their favor with a tied bow on top. Not sure I’ll be continuing the series yet but I’m down to try lesser known writers who self publish.
• 
  Jodie (That Happy Reader)

  Lisa Hodges is a woman in her early 50’s who owns a large, waterfront home she can no longer afford. Following the death of her husband, she learned that the nest egg she believed to be there was gone: the consequence of her husband’s secret gambling addiction. Lisa has not worked in thirty years and is considered unemployable. When a friend gives her the idea of running a bed and breakfast in her home, she decides to pursue this as a way of staying in close proximity to her four grown children.
  Kate is Lisa’s eldest daughter, along with her twin Kristen. Kate is a writer for a fashion magazine in Boston engaged to a photographer. Her life is upended when the magazine is sold and she learns more about her fiancee. Kristen is a local Nantucket artist who is in a relationship with a man who claims to be estranged from his wife. Chase is Lisa’s only son and he owns and operates his own construction business. Anna is Lisa’s youngest and is married to Jeff, her high school sweetheart. The couple has experienced problems with infertility.
  
  The book also introduces the reader to several other business operators and friends, setting the stage for additional books in the series. At the time of writing, there are five books already published in the series, with a sixth book publishing later this month.
  I enjoyed this book and the cozy feeling I had while reading it. The characters are likeable and the story engaging. I appreciated getting to know Lisa’s family which focused more on the women in the story rather than Chase, whose character will likely be more developed in the further books in the series. I appreciate personal growth in characters and this book is full of it. I recommend this book for those that enjoy a sweet, and sometimes predictable, read. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
  
  I listened to the audiobook version of the book which was narrated by Karissa Vacker. I thoroughly enjoyed her performance which was articulate and expressive. She does a great job of providing believable male voices which is always appreciated. I am happy to see that she also narrated other books in the series. I listened to the book at my usual 1.25x speed, and this was comfortable. I have no problem recommending the audiobook version of this book for those who appreciate this format.
  
• 
  Brenda

  If you love Nantucket like I do you will enjoy this book! I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway and enjoyed it enough that I will continue on with the series. Having been to Nantucket a few times a lot of the descriptions and places the characters go were familiar to me and if you haven't been there this book will make you want to visit!