Hilderbrand is best known for her summer beach reads set on Nantucket. However, she wrote a Christmas trilogy based on the Quinn family who run a small inn on the island. Kelly, his second wife, three children from his first marriage, their mother and his son from his second marriage as well as various significant and insignificant others star in these books. While I did not enjoy them as much as the summer books, apparently after the third was finished Hilderbrand's editor pushed for a fourth to wrap up the Quinn's story a little more neatly. Personally I didn't think the fourth book was necessary, but if she was inspired to write it, I really liked that she also made it a sequel to one of her summer books, The Rumor.
The problem for me was The Rumor was one of my least favourite of her books - the characters just didn't grab me so I didn't feel wildly curious to hear more of their story. So, in some ways, this book just felt a bit forced for me - an author trying to weave together more of a story for a bunch of characters whose stories had already been told.
So, I didn't end up loving this book - it was fine, just not particularly compelling. While on social media many say they couldn't put it down and they cried through it, I just wasn't moved in the same way. The outcomes for the characters seemed a bit too predictable - as if the author just wanted to please her fans. Which is an admirable goal, good to keep your fans happy, it just didn't work for me.
Unless you were a particularly big fan of the Winter Street trilogy or The Rumor and you really want to spend more time with these characters, I wouldn't bother with this book.
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