Review: Winter Stroll by Elin Hilderbrand

Title: Winter Stroll   

Author: Elin Hilderbrand     

Series: Winter #2      

Published: October 2015, Little Brown & Company  

Format: ARC Paperback, 272 pages   

Source: Publisher  

The Quinn family celebrates their most dramatic Christmas yet in this enchanting sequel to Elin Hilderbrand’s bestselling Winter Street. Christmas
on Nantucket finds Winter Street Inn owner Kelley Quinn and his family
busily preparing for the holiday season. Though the year has brought
tragedy, the Quinns have much to celebrate: Kelley has reunited with his
first wife Margaret, Kevin and Isabelle have a new baby; and Ava is
finally dating a nice guy. 

But when Kelley’s estranged wife Mitzi
shows up on the island, along with Kevin’s devious ex-wife Norah and a
dangerously irresistible old fling of Ava’s, the Inn is suddenly overrun
with romantic feuds, not to mention guests. With jealousy, passion, and
eggnog consumption at an all-time high, it’s going to take a whole lot
more than a Christmas miracle to get the Quinns–and the Inn–through
the holidays intact.

My thoughts: I really love Elin Hilderbrand’s books and was very excited that she has turned her first Christmas book, Winter Street, into a series. That book was left rather open-ended and so having another book follow up with these characters only makes sense.

What I love is that this book doesn’t pick up right after where the previous book left off, but rather a year later, right around Christmas time. This year, the time-frame is centered on Nantucket’s Christmas Stroll. Again, like in the last book, the whole story only takes place over the course of a few days, but we are filled in as to what has transpired over the year. The story again is told from all the characters’ points of view which really allows us to get inside each and every person’s head, really allowing us to feel as if we know everyone and really know their motivations.

This is a short book, but it is jammed-packed with things going on. Even though the holidays are supposed to be a time to come together with your loved ones, it doesn’t mean that all your problems will magically disappear and boy oh boy does each and every one of our beloved characters have problems or issues to deal with – some major and some minor – but to each of them, they are problems that seem like the end of the world to them. 

Once again, though, we are left with a rather abrupt ending, which leads me to believe that there has to be another book to this series. Will this be a trilogy or an ongoing series? That I don’t know, but I do know that it’s a fun, easy read that definitely will help you start to get in the mood for the holidays. I enjoyed my visit to Nantucket during the holiday season and really do hope that I get there one day – but now I’m not sure if I want to go during the summer or the holidays! Perhaps I’ll just have to be sure to make two trips!!!

Books in this series:

1. Winter Street
2. Winter Stroll