The Beach Club

A Novel

By: Elin Hilderbrand

Narrated by: Christina Delaine

Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

In The Beach Club, the juicy first novel by Elin Hilderbrand, a series of personal dramas are played out during one summer at a Nantucket Beach Club. It's about the love of summer, summer love, and the special feelings we all have for that special summer place—in this case, a hotel and an island.

Mack Petersen, manager of the hotel, has been working at The Beach Club for 12 summers. Only this summer is different. His boss, the owner of the hotel, Bill Elliot, shows up in the spring with a new set of demands. His girlfriend Maribel is pressing Mack to get married and Vance, the African-American bellman, who has hated Mack since the day Mack stole his job 12 years ago, threatens him in a deadly scene. Mack knows something's got to give.

Love O'Donnell, the new front desk person straight from the slopes of Aspen, is desperately searching for a stranger to father her child. The bellman, Jem Crandall, who posed as Mr. November in his college calendar, is on his way to LA to break into agenting, until he falls in love with Maribel. Emotions are at a peak when a hurricane threatens to wash away The Beach Club and all it stands for.

An engrossing, sexy novel that will sweep you away to the beach any time of the year.

©2000 Elin Hilderbrand (P)2013 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“A steamy tale.” —The Boston Herald

“A strong, emotional pull...readers will remain absorbed until the surprising denouement.” —Publishers Weekly

Narration of older characters is depressing

I’m over 70 and don’t sound as if I’m frail and fragile. Why stereotype an older persons voice so gratingly offensive? Too simplistic and when 3 older (not even elder!) people get together they all sound the same. Good grief, Bill and Teresa Elliott have an 18 year old daughter. They are barely out of their 50s!

Beach or no beach, an Excellent Listen!

This is the first of Hilderbrand's novels and it's easy to see why she became loved by many. Her books take place on the small island of Nantucket but each novel has its own plot, not an alteration of the same old story as is the case with some best-selling authors.

This story is based in a successful family-owned hotel/beach club and the dynamics of family, employees and guests are fun and intriguing. There are many characters in the story, each unique enough in their own relationships with one another to show different facets of their personalities. Very good book, glad I came across it!

Loved it!

Good narration , plot & characters in a lovely setting. Not your typical romance novel. Lots of twists and turns with a nice ending.

I hate the narrator!

The narrator had a voice that was annoying. I felt that way after listening to the blue bistro as well. Otherwise I enjoyed the story!

Wonderful Escape

I love Elin Hilderbrand's books! I get to listen to a lifestyle that is so different from mine and feel as if I am there.

Not For Me

I am having trouble following this storyline it is all over the place and I do not like the readers voice. I have loved this Authors books so far but not this one.

Wonderful

Loved it. Got me thru 2 long drives to and from a doctor's appointment beautifully., as well as worry over looming surgery. A lovely read. A great escape. Thank you Elin for keeping me entertained.

Good book

All good just not a fan of the narrators heavy ‘r’ pronunciation. Not s very Nantucket like accent.

Engaging Story. Complex characters.

Not sure when this was written originally. There were throwback references to VCRs and answering machines that made me wonder about the time period. I listened to this during the winter and it was a good escape. There were moments when any character could have been difficult to like as a real person, but maybe that's just more realistic? Overall, a good book to get lost in a different place and time and in other peoples' problems.

Great listen!

I liked the characters, the setting and that it was really hard to guess what was going to happen next most of the time.