The beautiful setting of Nantucket brings to mind a perfect place, but the story line does a wonderful job of portraying a family that is far from perfect, but one we could all be a part of. Alison is excited to have an opportunity to get to know her fiance’s family and bring her daughters closer together. The angst between Jane and Felicity pales as they realize their married lives are not what they truly want. This is a well written story about real families who have problems we can all relate to.

Felicity and Jane are meeting their mother on Nantucket to help plan her wedding. After losing her second husband, Allison never thought that she would find love again, but then she met David. David, a wealthy businessman never thought that we would find love again after his wife died and then he met Allison. The two of them are excited for their children to meet and start to merge into one family. Felicity and Jane are both at crossroads in their marriages and are looking forward to the family time on the island. David's son, Ethan is a bit of a playboy and has his eye on Jane. And David's daughter, Polly, is in line to take over her father's business. She is tough and brash and a little bit afraid that her father's new marriage will jeopardize everything she has worked for her entire career. The two families don't have much in common, but they all are excited to be spending part of their summer on the island known for the best summers on the East Coast. Will the wedding be the thing that unites the two families or tear them apart?

It is hard for me to believe that it is already time for "Beach Reads," yet here it is. And of course, nothing signals the start of beach season like a Nancy Thayer novel. Even though the book was about Allison's wedding, the book primarily focused on Felicity and Jane. Their relationship with each other and their marriages. I thought both of the sisters were married to jerks, but for different reasons. For one of the sisters, their marriage will end by the conclusion of the book. It just wasn't the sister I thought it would be. I wasn't all that fond of David's children, either. Ethan gave that "playboy" vibe and Polly was not exactly welcoming. But despite my dislike of them, I could completely relate to Allison's efforts to unite them all. Blended families are tough, but Nancy Thayer does a great job of tackling such a sensitive topic. I really liked the way that the book ended, it was just so normal.

Bottom Line - Even though a huge chunk of the country is still dealing with winter-like weather, it *is* April and beach season is right around the corner. Nothing kicks off beach season like a "trip" to Nantucket with one of my favorite authors.

Details:
A Nantucket Wedding by Nancy Thayer
On Instagram
Pages: 303
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: April 3, 2018
Buy it Here!

This was not just a story about a wedding but rather about the blending of two families and all the heartaches and disappointments and challenges that it brings with it.

Alison and David are both moving on from the death of their spouses and have found love for the second time around. They are planning a lovely summer wedding in Nantucket but in the meantime they have to navigate the waters of blended families, sibling rivalry and possible extramarital affairs in the lives of their respective adult children.

I found this to be an enjoyable book and would recommend it. It would be a great one to take on vacation and read under a beach umbrella with a cool drink at hand.

This is a great story. The reader has to pay attention though because there is a lot of back and forth between characters but it's really enjoyable.

I really loved this book. This is the first book I have read from the author, and now I am hooked. Now to read more of her books!!

A perfect beach read for 2018. Put it in your bag....and enjoy it under the sun. You will be glad that you did!

What I’m Talking About:
A Nantucket Wedding is a story about the family drama that always surrounds large family events like a wedding. The wedding serves to focus a spotlight on the relationships of key characters.You’d think a book about a wedding would be a romance. It is romantic, but not a romance. Everyone in this story is already in an established relationship, some of them rocky. What this book is, is women’s fiction. I keep trying it and I continue to be disappointed. This one is better than some I’ve read, there isn’t as much whining and over-thinking every nuance of anything anyone ever said. Unfortunately, drama aside, there isn’t much in the way of plot. It’s slice of summer life.

Thayer specializes in the island of Nantucket. That part she does really well. I felt the sun on my face and the sand under my feet. I yearned to get in the car and spend the day at the beach. I was transported back to my summers of family reunions where we rented a house and everyone slept on every surface, we ate too much, played board games on rainy days, and performed ritual sunblock application. Little tip: Put a bucket of baby powder by the door to take the sand off feet before entering the house. It does a better job than water. Then you can rinse the powder. But I digress…

A Nantucket Wedding is billed as a stand-alone, but it didn’t leave me with a satisfying ending. A stand alone should wrap up all it’s threads in a nice bow. The resolution of at least one storyline wasn’t happily-for-now, it was just for-now. It was the storyline that probably had to most drama and feeling to it so to have it just sitting there largely unresolved at the end was awkward.

My Rating: B- Liked It, but I had a few small issues

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC e-book of this new "summer beach read" of Nancy Thayer. It was a very easy, light story to follow, typical of many beach reads. Allison is soon to be married again and is inviting her 2 grown daughters to her fiance's beach house estate to help her prepare for the wedding. Many events ensue with the sisters Allison and Felicity coming together for the first time in many years to share in David and Allison's future.
This book is a very typical chik-lit summer beach read, a bit repetitive of many others, but easy to stay with to the end.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
4.5 stars of shimmering lives and loves

This is a really easy book to read – in fact, at 2am this morning, I had to force myself to stop reading! But I finished it as soon as I woke up. Lovely, rambling, big family story, with lots of interesting couples and non-couples. Ms. Thayer uses a brilliant device to draw in all the soon-to-be-family and give us a peek into their world one summer. The highs, the lows, the dreams, and the reality. It is messy, beautiful, poignant, passionate, and intense. But most of all, it is about love in all its forms and how it starts with loving oneself.

David and Alison are the calm, rational, and clearly in love couple whose wedding plans bring their families together. Their unwavering, learned-over-time approach to life is such a perfect foil for the drama of the next generation. Alison segues into her new role in life with grace, determination, and plan for great family weekends with lots of food and laughter. David is straightforward, caring, and generous. I loved them!

Lots of lovely vignettes of modern life and the way we wrap ourselves in habits and rules, and how something as simple as the ocean can clear the mind and bring back some magic. I will definitely be looking out for more of Ms. Thayer's stories to bring a smile to my face in the future.

This book is not to be missed! It's a perfect read for anyone. I absolutely adored it. I read a book by this author a few years ago, and I see I'm going to have to catch up on what I missed! I can't wait to read her other books! It centers around a wedding, of course, but it is also a book about family and how a blended family learns to accept each other. It's the perfect beach read, but not mushy. I highly recommend it!
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. Thank you, Netgalley!

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed the author's last book, Secrets in Summer, last year and was looking forward to reading this book, her latest. Unfortunately this story did not live up to my expectations.

While the author does a fantastic job of describing Nantucket and the languid beach days the characters enjoy there, sadly I really disliked the characters themselves. I liked the character of the mother Allison who was getting married. Her mature outlook on life and the blending of two families was very refreshing to read. However, I thought her daughter Jane was childish and careless in the handling of her marriage. I also thought her other daughter Felicity was naïve and emotionally abused in her marriage. Her daughter in law to be Poppy was just a bully.

A light, easy summer read just not my favorite book from this author.

When older couple (Alison and David) decide to marry, how will their grown children (Jane, Felicity, Ethan, and Poppy) react?

After losing her beloved husband, Mark, a few years ago, Alison was surprised to have found love again with David. When they decide to marry, how will their grown children react to the news? Will the wedding celebration bring the whole family together, or tear them apart?

Alison's daughters:
* Jane - husband Scott, both lawyers focused on their careers, but Jane is harboring a secret that could tear her marriage apart
* Felicity - husband Noah, mother of 7 yo Alice and 5 yo Luke, stay at home mom

David's children:
* Ethan - ex-wife Esmeralda who lives in Peru, 9 yo daughter Canny/Cantuta
* Poppy - husband Patrick, 8 yo daughter Daphne and 6 yo son Hunter, set to inherit English Garden Creams, her family's skin-care company

This was a fun, lighthearted read, perfect for a day at the beach! In addition, I would also recommend one of my favorite books from this author, Secrets in Summer (4 stars), about a librarian who lives on Nantucket Island and whose life was changed forever after she befriended a few of the summer visitors.

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for a free advance copy of this book! All opinions are my own.

Locations: Nantucket MA, Boston MA, and New York City

This is the perfect warm weather read, as it is fast! It is much more than a romance, as it focuses on the relationships between the main female characters as well.

In September Alison and David are going to start the rest of their life together by getting married on Nantucket but first they must get their respective grown kids and their families together. Alison plans on doing this by inviting all the families to David's Nantucket house every weekend over the summer.

Alison has two daughters. Her oldest is Jane who has always been her rule following, corporate world daughter who is married with no children. Her other daughter Felicity has always marched to her own drummer and is married with two kids of her own. By visiting the island of Nantucket the girls have found a friendship in each other that they didn't know was there but is everything as it seems in their married lives?

David has a son and daughter. His oldest is his daughter, Poppy. She is married with two kids and one on the way. Her goal is to take over the family business as soon as she can and it doesn't matter who or what is in her way she will succeed. His youngest is Ethan. Ethan is happy living on his farm in Vermont growing flowers for this business and living life how he wants even though he has a daughter who lives with him except for summer break. Are they ready to share their dad, the business and their lives with new family?

I needed a pick-me-up book and this fit the bill. You have romance, family, and beautiful scenery. I would not classify this as a romance book but as a fiction book that anyone, male or female, would be interested to read. Thayer focus' more on how families meld as older generations marry. You have plenty of generations covered from babies to what I call mid-life 50s and 60s. Thayer takes the time to develop each of life her characters are in and lets is follow them as they develop into the next of stage of life.

The scenery of Nantucket is breathtaking and inspiring. You can understand why Alison chose the Nantucket beach house as the place to bring the families together.

It is that time of year to start sitting outside in your favorite rocker with a glass of sweet tea and losing yourself in the world of books and this is the perfect start to spring/summer reading.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Random House Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A Nantucket Wedding is the story of the wedding of Alison and David, which includes entwining their grown children and grandchildren into one big happy family. Alison, mother to Jane & Scott and Felicity & Noah, grandmother to Luke and Alice, spends her summer before her September wedding doing her best to make their home on Nantucket Island a gathering spot for her new family to enjoy and get to know each other. Her children and David's children Poppy & Patrick, and Ethan, and grandchildren Canny, Daphne and Hunter, aren't step siblings being that they are grown, but she would like them to be friends at least. Of course, things don't always go as planned when it comes to family.

A beautiful, sweet, easy-to-read novel, set in my favorite location, Nantucket, this is perfect for a spring break beach read. Her descriptions of Nantucket Island made me feel like I was listening to the waves roll in and laying on the beach. The lovable and relatable characters made this one book I did not want to stop reading. It ending made me sad. I would love to read more about this family.

I received an advanced copy for my honest opinion.

Title: A Nantucket Wedding
Author: Nancy Thayer
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Review:

"A Nantucket Wedding by Nancy Thayer

My Thoughts...

I love the trip that this author took the reader...to Nantucket to "A Nantucket Wedding." This will definitely be a good story of a union to two families coming together and oh my god what all else they will bring [some of it a little predictable! I loved how there would be 'compromises to make things work.' I also liked the story of two widowers, Alison and David add their children and families along with all the twist and turns dilemmas that could be had as the wedding day approaches and you will have a heck of a good read as in a 'family symphony.' I will say that I thought some of the children got on my nerves with all of the stuff that was going on in their own life's. One can definitely sense from the read that the 'talk of the wedding made them question their own marriage and love.'


The scenes of Nantucket were absolutely beautifully described making you think you are there in the midst of it all. Be ready for a fast paced read where the story will touch of a little of it all from 'relationships, parents, siblings, spouses and step parents. By the end 'while everyone who had experienced their own up and downs, all will be nicely resolved and we get a wonderful Nantucket Wedding!' To get all of how it gets to this point you will just have to pick up "A Nantucket Wedding" to see how this author creates another fabulous read for the reader.

This was my second book by this author. Again, entertaining and a great beach read. Nothing that really blew me away, but I do have a couple of comments on some of the annoying characters.

Poppy - What a beatch!
Alison - Please, please, please take a chill pill. Her whining was really starting to irk me.
Ingrid - Sorry, but what a BORING name especially for someone who seems to be the "bad girl" at first.

As I said, a decent read. Not as good as the first one I read, but still good.

Thanks to Random House/Ballantine and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

A Nantucket Wedding by Nancy Thayer is an entertaining novel with intriguing themes. Alison and David are getting married and they want their adult children to unite in a familial bond. Alison longs for her two daughter to become closer. To facilitate these connections they encourage their children to spend time at David's luxurious Nantucket home during the summer prior to the wedding. Thayer's characters are complex. Each of the four children and their spouses have problems they need to resolve. Most alarming is a passionate connection between Alison's married daughter Jane and David's flirtatious son Ethan. David is the man of Alison's dreams-kind, sexy and very wealthy. Thayer skillfully combines this fantasy with the reality of life and its problems. Alison is a strong women, and a loving mother. She understands that she is not responsible for everyone's happiness, but she wants to help as much as possible. This is a perfect novel to ward off April showers.

This is a great summer read of family, bonding, blending and love. I enjoy Nancy Thayer's writing style and she is definitely one of the authors I look forward to for a summer read and this story doesn't disappoint. Set on Nantucket, as Alison finds love again after the loss of her beloved husband, she and her fiance try to bring their families together. All of their children have things going on in their personal lives which are making the coming together a bit more difficult than their parents initially thought. Full of good characters and interesting insight on relationships/marriage, this was a good read. Thank you netgalley for this arc.