SILVER GIRL By Elin Hilderbrand

Start with Bernie Madoff type scandal, toss in a backdrop of Nantucket, mix an old friendship turned bad, add a sprinkle of love story with a hint of mystery and you have Silver Girl. Meredith Martin Delinn is living a dream life with her financial wizard of a husband Freddy. Only he ends up being a liar who is running a huge ponzi scheme. After Freddy ends up in jail, Meredith finds herself and her son under Federal investigation. Meredith finds herself completely alone (even her hairstylist won’t do business with her). She makes a desperate phone call to her high school best friend, Connie Flute. Connie dealing with her own share of tragedy agrees to take Meredith with her to her summer home in Nantucket to escape the media frenzy.

The book goes back and forth between Connie and Meredith, but it doesn’t stop there. Both ladies take us back in time to get back story. We know from the beginning there is tension between them, but there are also a number of other relationships clouded with questions. The story for Meredith seems to go from bad to worse, finding no peace and no escape in Nantucket from the scandal surrounding her. Meredith needs to decide who she is and who is she going to be.

If you have read Elin Hildrebrand books before, you will notice straight away this is different than her other novels. I have to be honest I’m a huge fan of hers, but when I first started reading I wasn’t excited about the book. I felt like I was so suppose to feel bad for Meredith, who had it all and because she kept her head in the clouds during her marriage she was sideswiped by her husband’s misdeeds. Even the shocking revelation that comes later in the story I picked up on right away (though I believe Hilderbrand expects the reader to, but also to show us how clueless Meredith was when it came to Freddy).

On the other hand, I really liked Connie. Wish I had a Connie in my life. Not only does she have her own issues she is dealing with, but she comes in and saves Meredith. Then I like her even more when I learned the back story between the two women. It really showed her character. As the story progresses over the summer, we do see Meredith slowly evolve then she seems to go backwards a bit than grows again and by the end of the book I really liked her.

I found this to be a great book of how friendship can carry us and help us to be our best. I would recommend this book.

http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/authors_Elin-Hilderbrand-(1079401).htm