Abandoned by Booklikes

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.