Book Review, Blog Tour & Giveway: The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand |

In Nantucket, six couples are very close friends. They name their close little clique The Castaways. The vacation together, their children have been raised together. They share everything…and sometimes a little too much.

The story opens with the friends discovering that Greg and Tess have mysteriously drowned. They leave behind two small children and a lot of unanswered questions. They were out on a sailboat celebrating their anniversary when disaster hit. Greg and Tess had experienced marital problems in the past few months. Greg was accused of having a relationship with one of his high school students. He was aching for something more in his life. Tess had a secret of her own, a relationship with one of the other Castaways. So the other Castaways are left wondering what happened. Did Greg kill Tess, or was it truly an accident. Was killing Tess his way to get out of the life that was holding him back like an anchor?

The deaths of Greg and Tess isn’t the only mystery surrounding the Castaways. Each of the couples in the group seem to be experiencing some type of infidelity (both physical and emotional) or drama.

The Castaways is a stunning tale of passion, suspense and intrigue. Just how far can friendship be tested before it is destroyed?

I was immediately pulled in to the many mysteries this book held. Looking at the book, and reading the title, I automatically and mistakenly assumed this would be a light, easy beach read. It’s much much more than that. The characters are very developed, the reader learns intricate details of their life and relationships. The many characters at first was a bit difficult, at times it was difficult to keep them all straight. But once I got into the story each character had their own discernable characteristics. The story is told by each of the Castaways, so the reader gets to see all sides of the story. I have to say, it was difficult for me to like any of the Castaways. They each had their own faults and were downright annoying at times. The one redeeming character was the Chief. He seemed to be the only one with a level head. I felt sorry for him for being the one that had to deal with the brunt of the drama because he was the one everyone could count on.

Nevertheless, I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a “meaty” beach read. It will take a bit of concentration to get into the story and the characters at first, but it will be well worth it!

This blog tour will run all this week. Check out the other blogs participating in this tour:

To be entered, please answer the following question: What is your favorite beach read?
To get extra entries, blog or tweet about it. Please include a link to your post or tweet for the entry to count.
An email address must be included in every comment or that comment will be disqualified.
Contest ends Friday, July 17th. Winner will be announced Saturday the 18th.
Contest open to residents of US and Canada only.

Thank you, and good luck!

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