The Sixth Wedding: A 28 Summers Story – Elin Hilderbrand
100-Word (or Less) Synopsis: Cooper wants a re-do to his first bachelor party (the why is covered in “28 Summers”) to reset his cursed love life. So, Labor Day 2023 he, Jake, Leland and Fray gather once again at Mallory’s cottage on Nantucket to relive the past.
Expectation: “28 Summers, Part II,” also known as a quick cash grab by Hilderbrand.
Reality: An effective and rewarding mini sequel that honors the original while giving the reader closure to the rushed ending of “Summers.”
Recommended For: Anyone who enjoyed “Summers”
Why I Read It: Despite wanting to hate it, I was charmed by “Summers” and curious to see where some of these characters ended up.
My Take:
If you would’ve told me at the start of 2021 that some of my favorite reads would fall in the women’s fiction category (aka chick lit/romance/beach reads) I would’ve called you a dirty liar.
But, here we are, halfway through the year and I’ve now devoured — and thoroughly enjoyed — two books by the reigning queen of romance novels, so it’s time for me to drop my genre bias and give credit where credit is due.
“The Sixth Wedding” picks up three years after “28 Summers” and it gives each character — with one major and obvious exception — a post-script. How you feel about each chapter largely depends on how you feel about the character.
Hilderbrand isn’t rocking the boat here in terms of character growth or original plot but that doesn’t mean “Wedding” isn’t a satisfying way to spend a few hours. I felt the ending to “Summers” was a little rushed, so it was nice to have this continuation and closure.
My only real complaint is that I wanted more Ursula. She was a crucial character in “Summers” and only gets a single chapter here.
However, I did enjoy the developments with Link (Mallory’s and Fray’s son) and Bess (Ursula’s and Jake’s daughter) — two very secondary characters in the original — even though their story was a little predictable and possibly used as a ploy to set up a future story.
Narrated once again by Erin Bennett, her delivery felt more relaxed and unique to each character than it did in “Summers,” but I maintain this is still probably best enjoyed in a place where water lapping on the shore is your background noise.
With this being my second prequel/sequel novella this year (the other being Karin Slaughter’s “Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes”), I think most authors should take the novella approach to popular novels instead of tarnishing the reputation of the source material with a full-length sequel that doesn’t hold-up (exhibits A and B: Fredrik Backman’s “Us Against You” and Suzanne Collins’ “A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”).
Rating (story): 4/5 stars
Rating (narration): 3/5
Formats: Audiobook (library loan)
Dates read: July 14 - 18, 2021
Multi-tasking: Good to go. Each chapter is short and you’re (likely) already familiar with the characters and their backstory.
