Book Log 2022 #34: The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand

One of the challenges of doing a reading challenge is when you get a category that falls into a topic or genre you don't really like. This kind of happened to me with this book, which I read to satisfy a requirement for a "beach read." And while the person running the challenges was very flexible about the category, I felt like I had to respect the spirit of the thing and go with a summery romance-type novel.

The set up here is that a writer is blocked, and with bills looming is desperate for inspiration. She finds it when her best friend decides to revamp her garden, and hires a "ruggedly handsome" landscape architect to get the work done. While the friend seems attracted to the architect, the writer works this into the sort of "woman hires gardener to trim her hedges, if you know what I mean" story you'd expect, and both have to work to counter a rumor mill that already has the friend and her lawn guy laying sod together. If you know what I mean.

Without any real background in the genre it's hard for me to say if this is a good representation. Objectively, it's not a book I would recommend. Ever. One thing it did do for me was confirm my prejudices against Nantucket, which were developed early on thanks to an unlikely football rivalry. So if you're looking to find something to justify thinking that people from Nantucket are jerks, this may fit the bill.