I loved this!
Quirky, humorous and touching, the plot was well thought out and executed. It had me gripped from beginning to end. Delightfully different, it made for a light and refreshing read.
The characters were captivating and easy to engage with.
Not my usual kind of read, but I thoroughly enjoyed every page!

I always look forward to an Elin book and this didn't dissapoint made for a lovely Summer read.Enjoyed that one of main characters was an author and based around her life and family.

“The Golden Girl” was okay!!!!! I didn’t even mind being bored—it’s not a horrible thing to ‘be bored’….but I struggled with the voice narrator.
She just wasn’t good.and this was not my style for the moment.

This is the first book by this author that I have read and I really enjoyed it. The characters and their stories were interesting and well-written. After finishing the book, I want to pack up and go live on an island!

A strong 4 stars.

Golden Girl is an entertaining and well written book. This book’s has a well crafted plot with good character dynamics. I recommend.

I love an Elin Hilderbrand book in the summer and Golden Girl did not disappoint. A tale of family, loss, sadness, new love and life to be lived. I like Vivi didn’t want to leave Nantucket at the end of summer. A must read!

Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand is one to add to your TBR immediately. For me, it just wouldn't be summer without a Hilderbrand-led visit to Nantucket and, as expected, it is a journey that you will not soon forget.

Vivi Howe, successful novelist and mother of three, is killed in a hit and run accident. Upon reaching the Great Beyond, she meets her 'Person', someone with the power to grant Vivi three 'nudges' over the course of the summer, as her sudden death has been deemed unfair. As Vivi witnesses the struggles of her children, the investigation into her accident, and the materialization of a significant someone from her past, she must determine how best to utilize her limited powers of manipulation.

This novel explores a new direction for Ms Hilderbrand, while at the same maintaining all of the elements of a Nantucket summer in which loyal readers come to revel. As with any of the author's previous novels, this one is highly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC.

Vivi, recently divorced from her cheating husband, has just about managed to build a new life for her and her three grown up family. This period of comparative calm in her life has been cut-off unexpectedly, but she gets an opportunity to view this life from a distance, and a chance to intervene if she feels the need.
Vivi can now share the secrets of Willa, married to her childhood sweetheart and desperately trying to take a pregnancy to full term, Carson, getting her kicks from substances and having an affair with a married man and Leo, with an obsessive girlfriend and troubled by the betrayal of his friend.
Meanwhile Willa is discovering things her mum kept secret from them.
Golden Girl is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Set as always, it appears, in Nantucket summer time, it’s a fresh, open story about secrets and relationships. Nothing too deep here, just a lovely page turner about troubled but fairly decent people, where everything turns out for the best in the end.
I’m glad to hav read this, and would even go back for more.
With thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.5 stars.

It was a bit disappointing given the author’s previous books but a few positives - I really liked most of the characters (except JP & Savannah) and Carson deserves a book in her own right!

Vivi and Martha were so engaging and I really enjoyed the angle - watched from heaven.

However I did guess who hit Vivi pretty early on which spoiled it a bit.

Overall, easy to read but not the best.

A great holiday read, and captured the magic of island living. I wasn't sure at the beginning when it was being told from being viewed from the after life but it flowed and worked really well. The characters were great and although I had guessed who 'did it' the other threads of the different people's 'lives kept me reading.

So here’s an author who attracts plenty of controversy and whom, it seems, people love to hate, for various reasons.

Personally, I hadn’t read any of Elin Hilderbrand’s books until a year ago, when 28 Summers was everywhere. I managed to get a copy via NetGalley but was a bit underwhelmed. As much as I loved the setting, the story just seemed too far out there for me. I mean, why couldn’t they just be together? It made no sense.

When Hodder & Stoughton offered me a free ebook of Golden Girl, which came out just last week here in the UK, I of course said yes, unaware of the brewing controversy around THAT Anne Frank quote.

Let’s just say, I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did.

Yes, that Anne Frank quote (which Elin has asked her publisher to remove from all future editions) is tasteless and should have never found its way into the pages of any book. No doubt about that.

I also found the endless numbing through drugs and alcohol a bit jarring, not unlike watching a TV show where everyone smokes like a chimney, but other than that the story was engaging and that twist in the end, well, I never saw it coming.

What the author seems to do so well, based on the two books that I’ve read now, is to create imperfect, highly flawed humans that you can’t help but root for anyways — because aren’t we all?

And also go to Nantucket for a vacation.

Will she go down in the annals of my favourite authors, unlikely, would I read her again for some light, summery escapism? Sure, why not.

This one’s for you to make up your own mind.

I loved the premise of this book. Whilst out running Vivi is hit by a car and left dying by the side of the road. Because of her sudden death she moves to the Beyond, a place where she can watch her loved ones for 75 days, and is given 3 nudges to influence the outcome of events.

She observes her three grown up children as they struggle to come to terms with her death. Carson, Willa and Leo are all struggling in different ways.

The police have no definite leads on who the hit and run driver is and suspicion falls on Cruz, Leo's best friend. Although it appears increasingly as though someone is trying to frame him. But who, and why?

Vivi was an author and her final book is published posthumously. But when her childhood sweetheart, Brett, hears of her death, and reads her book, he realises she was keeping a dark secret from him for all these years.

An enjoyable read full of family secrets and revelations.

Heartbreakingly beautiful story, Vivi is such a geat character and her loss is devastating to more than just her family. Predictable as to who the culprit was but didn't detract from the beautiful story.

Vivi is a successful novelist living on Nantucket Island. This book paints a vivid picture of summer life for the privileged summer set on the island where she and her husband have brought up their 3 children. Then Vivi is killed in a hit and run. I loved the quirk in the story that she is allowed to watch what happened to her family next (wouldn't we all want that!) it's a great summer story. The only thing that niggled was the constant product naming, it irritated a bit.

I love these novels set in beautiful Nantucket. Golden Girl is a wonderful, heartwarming read and I enjoyed every page. Vivi, a successful author, is killed in a hit and run accident and she watches her family from above and is allowed three ‘nudges’ to help them progress in their lives before she has to finally leave them. It’s an interesting and original idea, and held my attention throughout. I love Elin Hilderbrand’s light and easy style of writing and her memorable characters. The fabulous descriptions of the setting and the food made me feel as though I was on holiday in Nantucket. A perfect summer read!

I adore Elin Hilderbrand's Nantucket set novels and when I started Golden Girl I'd just finished reading three others consecutively. I discovered Hilderbrand last summer after reading a recommendation from Marian Keyes and find them so deliciously escapist and moreish. I love family sagas set by the sea and so Hilderbrand's novels tick all the boxes for me. They are not just light beach reads however as Hilderbrand writes well , the characterisation is excellent and she is so good at conveying a sense of time and place. I wasn't initially drawn to the plot synopsis of Golden Girl, however once I started reading it I went along with the fact that the main character is watching the lives of her family play out after her death. Golden Girl does not quite match up to Hilderbrand's previous two novels- 28 Summers and Summer of 69 - which I absolutely adored but nonetheless it is an excellent read that I would highly recommend.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

A very clever book, which gives readers the summer story they are expecting while playing with the conventions of a 'family saga'. HIlderbrand has the gift of creating characters you really want to know more about although I found Vivi a bit flippant for someone in her situation. But an absorbing read nonetheless

A story with a difference.

Vivi is killed in a hit and run and is allowed to watch what happens. A little like the idea of the lovely bones but so different also.
I really enjoyed this book. I would love to to be able to fo this too if it happened to me.

Enjoyable read

This was my first read from this author and I was full of anticipation. The synopsis caught my attention and I didn't know what to expect. I liked the idea of Vivian Howe, author of thirteen novels and mother of three grown-up children, having the ability to spend the summer after she passes to view her family and friends lives. Vivian is killed in a hit-and-run that has all of Nantucket speculating. The idea of having three "nudges" or chances to be able to maybe alter life outcomes for those who were close to her, including her children, was something I couldn't wait to see played out.

I loved that this took place in a small town East coast setting. The tale was told from a variety of viewpoints, from most of the key players in the past and present, and it was certainly unique. I found writing eloquent and overall, I enjoyed Golden Girl a great deal. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to anyone looking for a fabulous summer read.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley and this review is my unbiased opinion.

Vivi is killed in a hit and run accident. She is allowed to watch her family and friends for a while and is given 3 "nudges" to help them in their future lives. In the summer before she went to uni, she fell in love and the golden girl song was written for her. Her many novels all include people from her life and her final novel "Golden girl" tells of that time, revealing a life that none of her family were aware. I really enjoyed this novel with its different theme.