Review: The Island House by Nancy Thayer

The Island House by Nancy Thayer

Published: May 31, 2016

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Format: via publisher

Rating: 3/5

Synopsis

The charms of Nantucket tempt a woman to leave her established life in Kansas City—but with a piece of her heart, and a love interest, in each world, she discovers she must look within to choose the right path.

Every summer since college, twenty-nine-year-old Courtney has traded the familiarity of the Midwest for the allure of Nantucket. Now an established university professor in Kansas City, she finds herself caught between two lifestyles and two very different men. She chooses Nantucket and the glamorous life she associates with it, unaware that the summer will take an unexpected turn, and she will have to let her heart decide what it truly wants.

My Thoughts

In the Island House, we meet Courtney who gets swept up in the Nantucket life when her college roommate invites her to spend the summers with her and her family. She falls in love with the town and the family who takes her in as their own and soon she falls for their son. Summers come and go but Courtney never reveals her true feelings scared that she will lose her “summer family” if it doesn’t work out. We follow Courtney as she grows from a young girl to a woman and also see a glimpse of her life back home in Kansas with her friend Monty who has always been in love with her.

The novel mainly focuses on her recent summer in Nantucket when she is determined to find out where exactly her relationship stands…if there is anything there at all. We also meet her “Nantucket family” and while they seem perfect from the outside there are troubles they are trying to overcome. They are dealing with their oldest son’s manic depression and the toll it takes everyone. While I liked when they focused on the romance part I don’t get the whole bringing in Monty part. I mean there isn’t a real look on them as anything more than friends, so trying to make it seem as if he has a chance to steal her away is something I don’t buy. You don’t feel compelled to root for them as a couple.

All in all even though it’s a lot going on and tons of characters what I really enjoyed was when Courtney decided to go for broke. She took things by the horns and made her voice be heard. She knew what she wanted and went for it. Her doing that just showed how much she evolved and make me really root for her. While there are parts I felt dragged there all others that shined and that’s what makes this read enjoyable.