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    The Islanders: A Novel
    The Islanders: A Novel
    The Islanders: A Novel
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Islanders: A Novel

    Written by Meg Mitchell Moore

    Narrated by Courtney Patterson

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    J. Courtney Sullivan’s Maine meets the works of Elin Hilderbrand in this delicious summer read involving three strangers, one island, and a season packed with unexpected romance, well-meaning lies, and damaging secrets.

    Anthony Puckett was a rising literary star. The son of an uber-famous thriller writer, Anthony’s debut novel spent two years on the bestseller list and won the adoration of critics. But something went very wrong with his second work. Now Anthony’s borrowing an old college’s friend’s crumbling beach house on Block Island in the hopes that solitude will help him get back to the person he used to be.

    Joy Sousa owns and runs Block Island’s beloved whoopie pie café. She came to this quiet space eleven years ago, newly divorced and with a young daughter, and built a life for them here. To her customers and friends, Joy is a model of independence, hard-working and happy. And mostly she is. But this summer she’s thrown off balance. A food truck from a famous New York City brand is roving around the island, selling goodies—and threatening her business.

    Lu Trusdale is spending the summer on her in-laws’ dime, living on Block Island with her two young sons while her surgeon husband commutes to the mainland hospital. When Lu’s second son was born, she and her husband made a deal: he’d work and she’d quit her corporate law job to stay home with the boys. But a few years ago, Lu quietly began working on a private project that has becoming increasingly demanding on her time. Torn between her work and home, she’s beginning to question that deal she made.

    Over the twelve short weeks of summer, these three strangers will meet and grow close, will share secrets and bury lies. And as the promise of June turns into the chilly nights of August, the truth will come out, forcing each of them to decide what they value most, and what they are willing to give up to keep it.

    This audiobook includes an episode of the Book Club Girl Podcast, featuring an interview with Meg Mitchell Moore about The Islanders.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJun 11, 2019
    ISBN9780062933348
    Author

    Meg Mitchell Moore

    Meg Mitchell Moore worked for several years as a journalist for a variety of publications before turning to fiction. She lives in the beautiful coastal town of Newburyport, Mass., with her husband and their three daughters. Summer Stage is her eighth novel.

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    Reviews for The Islanders

    4/5

    112 ratings25 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This was Wonderful ! A great beach read!
    • 5/5
      The story, the writing, the narration was great! I love Block Island and thought the setting was great. It took me back to being there. Loved every single character and was happy how all was resolved. Definitely read this book!
    • 5/5
      Wonderful book!! Enjoyed it so much. Hated it to end.
    • 4/5
      Anthony is an author who is having a life crisis so he comes to Block Island to stay at a friend’s relative’s beach house – a house sitter is needed and Anthony needs a cheap place to stay. Free is about as cheap as it gets so being a housesitter is a perfect option for him just now. All he wants to do is retreat from the world and wallow in his sorrow.Joy is the owner of a bakery that makes mini whoopie pies. She is a divorced, single mother and she is a little worried about her daughter Maggie getting older and the new food truck that is coming from NY that will be selling macarons. Her rent is going up and she is worried that she won’t be able to save for her daughter’s college.Lu is a stay at home mom who left a high powered job as a corporate lawyer. She’s married to a man who is a doctor in residency. They are staying on Block Island for the summer in his parent’s house. Lu is finding it a little hard to just be mommy, she needs a little bit more in her life so she has been keeping a big secret from her husband and her friends.These three people (and Maggie) will form a circle of friendship that will help heal Anthony, teach Joy about the abundance of love and show Lulu how to find her true self.I moved to a barrier island off of the coast of New Jersey when I was 12 so I fully understand the ebb and and flow of a place like Block Island. A small place goes from the smallish local population to the massive summer crowds. It’s pure craziness for 12 weeks and a few weekends on either side of Memorial and Labor Days.Each character had a fully realized and unique story arc and they all intersected with each other. Ms. Mitchell Moore has created a insular world that is hardly touched by outside forces until Anthony’s publicist arrives looking for him then his mother arrives with his son, his father comes to the Island for a book reading and his wife arrives looking for their son. It’s like an invasion of reality followed by a freak storm that wreaks havoc on the island.I enjoyed this foray onto Block Island and it’s summer denizens. They are just people living their lives and trying to get through each day. Anthony is the exception since he comes from a celebrated family but he is still just trying to get through each day. He makes a stupid a mistake but his mistake is compounded by a father’s ego.Another great book to add to this season’s list of beach reads. It flows along in a an easy fashion being told in the various voices of the women and men on the story. A visit to Block Island and its Islanders are just what any reader should enjoy this summer.
    • 4/5
      Not a bad romance. Liked Joy, Anthony and Lu
    • 3/5
      Entertaining Beach read
    • 4/5
      This book reads like a very good Hallmark Channel movie script. The story revolves around a man (writer) who goes to Block Island to find himself. The other two characters are a divorced woman who runs a catering business and a married woman whose husband is gone a lot as he practices medicine on the mainland. This woman has a secret food blog unknown to her husband. There are many other characters needed to move the plot. If troubled romances are your thing, you will eat this up.
    • 4/5
      The Islanders: A Novel by Meg Mitchell Moore

      June 11, 2019
      Kindle edition
      William Morrow
      432 pages
      Rating: 4/5

      I received this digital Kindle copy from GoodReads Giveaway and William Murrow Publishing in exchange for an unbiased review.

      The lives of three people converge one summer to form an unexpected circle of support and friendship in the small community on Block Island.

      The story alternates between the main characters: Anthony Puckett, Joy Sousa and Lu Trusdale and their lives living on touristy Block Island.

      Anthony Puckett is a disgraced author looking for refuge from the publicity following accusations of plagiarism. He offers to house sit for his friend Ryan Fitzsimmons who needs someone to care for his elderly uncle’s house while he is away. Anthony hopes that distance from his estranged wife, Cassie, who he discovers is involved with her art dealer, Glenn Manning. He regrets his actions which have ousted him from the literary community. His only request is for contact with his son, Max, who Cassie uses as a pawn to manipulate him.

      Anthony receives support and encouragement from his mother Dorothy who makes excuses for his father’s disappointment in him. Anthony followed his father’s footsteps in becoming an author. Leonard Puckett is a widely known author and is embarrassed by his son’s failing career. Meanwhile, Shelly Salazar, his publicist, continually calls to encourage him to continue writing.

      Joy Sousa is a single mother to Maggie, a 13 year old with a blossoming desire for independence. He ex husband Dustin has since remarried to Sandy and have a 2 yo named Tiki. Maggie alternates spending time at home with her mother and visiting her father when she isn’t working for her mother or babysitting for Lu. Joy is proud that she was able to recover and now thrive post her divorce. She owns and runs Joy Bomb which specializes in whoopie pies. She is looking forward to a productive summer season until a traveling French patisserie settles nearby. She finds consolation with her best friend Holly Baxter and trying new recipes she discovers on dinnerbydad blog written by a stay at home dad, Leo.

      Lu Trusdale is presently a stay at home mother of 2 sons, Chase and Sebastian. She worked as a trial attorney before she and Jeremy, an oncologist, had children. Jeremy is heavily influenced by his mother, Nancy, who enjoys showing up unexpectedly for a visit. She feels entitled the liberty since she encourages them to spend the summer in the family home. Lu has been feeling constrained and bored of being a stay at home mom now that her boys are in school. Spending the summer at her in-laws home is more stifling than she prefers. It’s difficult for her to express her desire to feel productive as Jeremy is often away for several days working at a hospital off the island. She has found solace in blogging under the alias of dinnerbydad, pretending to be Leo, a faithful stay at home husband who always makes time to serve fresh delicious meals for his family. She is grateful for her new summer neighbor, Anthony, who saves her son from drowning. Lu eventually hires Maggie to babysit for her while she concentrated on her blog which has a mass following and paid sponsors. She discovers a confidante is Anthony the unassuming neighbor and shares her new recipes with him.

      Over the course of the summer, each finds their purpose and happiness by taking risks. The story is one of strangers who become friends and learn the valuable meaning of family, friendship and forgiveness and seconds chances.
    • 3/5
      The Islanders by Meg Mitchell Moore. I can’t read enough beachy books in the summer. Three strangers who are spending the summer as islanders on Block Island become friends. Each one of them have a problem or secret that needs to be addressed.Joy Sousa owns a bakery called Joy Bombs. She is a single mother of a daughter that is going through her teenaged years and she is struggling with being a good mother. She is also having financial issues and struggling to save her business.Anthony Puckett is a troubled writer in hiding. He is separated from his wife and missing his son. He is also somewhat estranged from his father. Anthony finds solace and comfort and maybe even love on Block Island. “He’d begun the long process of clawing himself back into humanity.”Lu Trusdale is a stay at home mom of two young boys. Her husband is a doctor and isn’t home very much so she is left to handle everything on her own. She has a secret job that she is hiding from her husband. Will she work up the courage to tell him and if she does, will she have to give it up?The book ends with a hurricane and everyone’s problems blow up as they all are forced to decide what and who is most important to them. “If you want something badly enough, sometimes you just have to take a chance.”“We’re none of us exactly who we say we are.” This author reminds me of a mix of between Debbie Macomber and Elin Hilderbrand. Not quite as mushy as Debbie Macomber, but not quite as good as Elin Hilderbrand.
    • 4/5
      The Islanders by Meg Mitchell Moore is an charming novel which takes place on Block Island.

      Author Anthony Puckett's first novel was a bestseller, but writing his next novel? Requires a herculean effort that is virtually impossible now he is married with a young son. Under immense pressure by his agent, Anthony takes a huge advance on his sophomore novel, but he is finding it difficult to put words to the pages of his work. Drinking heavily, Anthony's makes a massive error in judgment that leaves his career and marriage in tatters. After his wife kicks him out, Anthony lucks into staying rent free on Block Island.

      Anthony's next door neighbor for the summer is Lu Trusdale whose husband Jeremy is a busy surgical oncologist. After giving birth to their twosons, she agrees to give up her law career in order to stay home with their children. Lu is very unhappy with their arrangement  but she finds it impossible to discuss her feelings with Jeremy. She has instead undertaken a secret career that has slowly taken up much of her free time. With her resentment towards Jeremy and her sons growing, Lu has to make a choice about whether to come clean about her project and her feelings about her marriage.

      Block Island resident Joy Sousa is a single mom to thirteen year old Maggie. She is also a successful business owner who relies on summer tourists to keep her afloat all year. This summer is particularly stressful since she now has unexpected competition and her once close relationship with Maggie is in peril.  Joy realizes she has taken her eye off the ball when she learns startling information about her daughter that leaves her doubting herself as a mother.

      Anthony's, Lu's and Joy's lives intertwine in unexpected ways over the course of the summer. Anthony and Lu form an unlikely friendship and at a crucial point in her unanticipated career, he becomes an unanticipated voice of her reason about an upcoming decision. Lu hires Maggie to help her with her sons and Joy feels threatened when her daughter and Lu become close. Joy and Anthony embark on a romance that comes to a screeching halt once she discovers the important secrets he has been keeping from her. With a summer full of changes, will Lu, Anthony and Joy embrace these unforeseen opportunities that could positively alter their lives?

      The Islanders is an even-paced, engaging novel with an interesting but difficult to like cast of characters. The storyline is well-written with realistic issues for Joy, Anthony and Lu to overcome. The setting is quite idyllic and springs vibrantly to life as Joy and Maggie introduce Anthony to their favorite places on Block Island. With a bit of convenient timing and a well-placed storm, Meg Mitchell Moore wraps up the various story arcs in a very satisfying manner. Readers who do not mind a bit of drama with their beach reads are sure to enjoy this delightful novel.
    • 5/5
      I have to say I really enjoyed this book and I'm a little surprised because I know I've owned books by this author before but surprised I've never READ any yet? The characters were really likable, right or wrong, and I loved the setting of the small Block Island versus the bigger more known islands I read about all the time.I will definitely look for more by this author now. It was a good read!
    • 4/5
      Anthony Puckett had it all. A wife, a son, and a successful writing career despite the fact that his father, an even more successful writer, never really supported or encouraged him. Anthony was trying to write his second novel, but buckled under the pressure. What if it isn't as good as his first? Can he meet the rigorous deadlines? He ended making a very poor decision and one that ultimately ended his career. Then his wife separates from him and takes his son. Anthony needs some time to get his act together, so he borrows a friend's house on Block Island. Anthony's next door neighbor is a young mother, Lu, who is an attorney turned stay-at-home mother to two young sons. She is spending the summer on Block Island, thanks to her in-laws. Meanwhile her husband, a successful doctor, spends weekends there. Although this schedule is hard for Lu, she has learned to deal with it as her husband is never around. It gives her a lot of time to work on her successful blog Dinner by Dad where she pretends to be a stay-at-home dad and shares antidotes, recipes, etc. Much to her surprise, the blog has taken off and she is making a decent income, but it's hard to balance that with watching the kids all day. Plus, there's the huge problem of what will happen when her controlling husband finds out about her blog. Then there's Joy, a Block Island fill-time resident, who owns a whoopie-pie bakery and is also a fan of Lu's blog. Joy is a single mom raising a teenager and trying to do it all. She unexpectedly hits it off with Anthony, but there's so much baggage they are both bringing to the relationship. Can it actually work out? Joy doesn't even know about Anthony's past, his child, or his real last name. Slowly Anthony, Lu, and Joy's stories intertwine and make for a delightful beach read; fans of Elin Hildebrand will enjoy The Islanders by Meg Mitchell Moore.When a writer has three main characters and breaks up the chapters with their narratives, it can either be a good thing or it can be really, really annoying. In the case of The Islanders, it worked for me, because I actually cared about Anthony, Joy, and Lu. It was interesting to read their different point of view regarding a shared event. I really felt for Anthony in The Islanders and although he made very stupid decisions (plagiarizing!), you could tell he really wanted to start over and fix his mistakes. I just wish he would have been more upfront with Joy from the beginning, but that wouldn't make for a good story would it? I also was interested in his relationship with his father, a James Patterson-esque sort of prolific writer that puts out bestseller after bestseller. Their dynamic was not only strained, but also competitive, so when readers find out a few family secrets, it gets even more dramatic.I really liked the character of single mom, Joy, and loved her dedication to her bakery. Her relationship with her teenage daughter was realistic and when her daughter gets a job nannying for Lu, all of the characters' stories become a little more interwoven. Her relationship with Anthony was definitely great despite the secrets. Nonetheless, I was rooting for Joy in The Islanders, especially when her bakery gets some big time competition from a food truck.Lu was also a character that I enjoyed and could relate to as she is a mother of boys. I felt like Moore portrayed the highs and lows of being a stay-at-home mother very realistically. Lu's relationship with her husband was cringe worthy though. I did not enjoy him in the least bit and felt he was extremely controlling. I mean she has to hide her successful blog from him, because god forbid she has something for herself? He was a straight up misogynistic creep. I was definitely invested in Lu's story and was hoping things would end up ok for her in The Islanders.This is my first novel by Meg Mitchell Moore and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised. I loved how she intertwined all of the characters' stories while making it a light, but engaging beach read. The setting of Block Island was fantastic and memorable. My only issue was the ending in The Islanders. It was a bit over-the-top and dramatic, but overall, it didn't bother me tremendously. If you love beach reads, give The Islanders a try this summer. It has something for everyone: romance, mystery, relationship drama, family secrets, a gorgeous setting, and more.
    • 5/5
      The IslandersByMeg Mitchell MooreWhat it's all about...Life on Block Island! How wondrous can that be? However most of the characters in this book are either miserable, hiding or semi miserable! This makes for a yummy summer beach book. My thoughts after reading this book...Anthony is hiding from a scandal...not even revealing his real name to people. Lu is hiding something else...from her husband and the entire blogging world. Joy...well...she is trying to keep her business, maintain a relationship and understand her 13 year old daughter and her secrets. And with all of these issues...literally...a Storm is about to rage on Block Island. What I loved best...I loved best all of the characters and their stories which are much more involved than I have described to you. I can’t spoil this wonderful book, it’s great writing and the way it grew on me with each chapter was terrific. I hope that you will have that same experience! What potential readers might want to know...Readers who yearn for a deep summery beach book should throughly enjoy this one. It’s filled with whoopsie pies and macaroons...good for you whoopie pies! I received this book from the publisher through Edelweiss. It was my choice to read and review it.
    • 4/5
      Anthony is an author who is having a life crisis so he comes to Block Island to stay at a friend’s relative’s beach house – a house sitter is needed and Anthony needs a cheap place to stay. Free is about as cheap as it gets so being a housesitter is a perfect option for him just now. All he wants to do is retreat from the world and wallow in his sorrow.Joy is the owner of a bakery that makes mini whoopie pies. She is a divorced, single mother and she is a little worried about her daughter Maggie getting older and the new food truck that is coming from NY that will be selling macarons. Her rent is going up and she is worried that she won’t be able to save for her daughter’s college.Lu is a stay at home mom who left a high powered job as a corporate lawyer. She’s married to a man who is a doctor in residency. They are staying on Block Island for the summer in his parent’s house. Lu is finding it a little hard to just be mommy, she needs a little bit more in her life so she has been keeping a big secret from her husband and her friends.These three people (and Maggie) will form a circle of friendship that will help heal Anthony, teach Joy about the abundance of love and show Lulu how to find her true self.I moved to a barrier island off of the coast of New Jersey when I was 12 so I fully understand the ebb and and flow of a place like Block Island. A small place goes from the smallish local population to the massive summer crowds. It’s pure craziness for 12 weeks and a few weekends on either side of Memorial and Labor Days.Each character had a fully realized and unique story arc and they all intersected with each other. Ms. Mitchell Moore has created a insular world that is hardly touched by outside forces until Anthony’s publicist arrives looking for him then his mother arrives with his son, his father comes to the Island for a book reading and his wife arrives looking for their son. It’s like an invasion of reality followed by a freak storm that wreaks havoc on the island.I enjoyed this foray onto Block Island and it’s summer denizens. They are just people living their lives and trying to get through each day. Anthony is the exception since he comes from a celebrated family but he is still just trying to get through each day. He makes a stupid a mistake but his mistake is compounded by a father’s ego.Another great book to add to this season’s list of beach reads. It flows along in a an easy fashion being told in the various voices of the women and men on the story. A visit to Block Island and its Islanders are just what any reader should enjoy this summer.
    • 4/5
      Now that summer is here I find myself enjoying light beach reads. If it's about the beach, I want to give it a try. The Islanders fit my summer reading requirements perfectly. There are three main interesting characters, some mystery, some romance and lots of sand and water! Perfect!The three main characters are all very different and don't know each other. As we were learning their stories, I wasn't sure how the author was going to connect them because they were strangers but she did a great job by the end.-Anthony is the son of a famous author had to prove his literary skills to his father. His first book was very well received and on the charts forever. He ran into trouble with his second book and made a big mistake and now he is hiding out on Block Island - hiding out from his agent, his publisher, his parents and his friends.-Joy is a baker and runs a very popular cafe on the island. She is divorced and lives with her teenage daughter. She's a hard worker trying to make ends meet but it all becomes more difficult when a new food truck comes to the island as her competition.-Lu is a stay at home mom. She and her husband are living on the island for the summer. He commutes to his medical duties and is often away for days. Lu had been a lawyer before she got married but her husband decided that she should stay at home with their kids. She has a secret job that could cause big problems in their marriage.Over the twelve weeks of the summer, these three people interconnect in many ways and are a great help to each other.This is a very well written and interesting story about three strangers who become friends. My main problem with the book is that I didn't connect with one of the characters and had a hard time seeing his point of view. There were other times that I wanted to just shake the other two characters and get them to grow up. But this is a beach read and you just want a light story with an interesting plot and this one fits the bill.
    • 4/5
      The Islanders is a novel that, for me, is a good summer staycation read. Meaning, if I can't vacation on an island I'd like to read about people who can!Meg Mitchell Moore's characters are people who have their reasons for being on Block Island. Joy, a divorced mom of a young teen, is a year-round resident whose business is going through a rough patch. On top of that, her daughter who used to be so easy going is now acting like a normal, emotional teen who doesn't want to tell her mother everything.Anthony is hiding out on the island hoping not to be recognized after a very public controversy that cost him his marriage, changed his relationship with his parents, and he hasn't seen his young son in weeks.Lu and her family are spending the summer in a rented house (courtesy of her in-laws). Her husband is a physician who is at the hospital more than he's with his family. That leaves Lu as full time parent to two young sons while dealing with her judgmental mother-in-law.Personal conflicts for all abound as they deal with family dynamics, secrets, and the truth.  I enjoyed my trip to the island. The epilogue wrapped things up nicely. 3.5 stars, rounded up.
    • 4/5
      "If once you have slept on an island / You'll never be quite the same" (Rachel Field, "If Once You Have Slept on an Island"). People head to islands for many reasons: a place to vacation, a chance to slow down and figure things out, a place to heal, a place to live. Islands are different places from the mainland somehow, even if people are just going about their lives, especially if the island is one dependent on summer tourism. Meg Mitchell Moore has captured some of the unique summer magic of an island and the people on it in her charming latest novel, The Islanders.Anthony Puckett, the son of a famed thriller writer, is an author himself who had a much feted first novel. His second novel turned into a huge literary scandal. He started drinking and his wife kicked him out, withholding their young son from him. He's on Block Island house-sitting a friend's uncle's place while trying to come to terms with what he did to his life. Depressed and ashamed, he just wants to fade into the background and disappear. Joy is a year-round islander who owns and runs the island bakery. Joy Bombs is famous for its reinvented whoopie pies but this summer Joy is struggling both financially and personally. Her rent has increased and a French food truck that sells macarons is giving her stiff competition. Her 13 year old daughter is heading into the tough teen years, making Joy, a single parent, feel abandoned and as if she's failing as a mom. That her ex-husband has gotten his life together with a second wife and cute younger daughter doesn't help her feelings of inadequacy. Lu is a stay at home mom to two young boys. Her husband is a surgeon and she used to be a lawyer but she quit her career to stay home with their children. Their family has moved out to Block Island for the summer, compliments of her in-laws' (unasked for) generosity. Four years into this life of domesticity, Lu is unhappy and unfulfilled. She feels trapped. She's lost her sense of self but she's starting to secretly reclaim it, working on something that gives her great joy, something that has the potential to turn into a job that completes her, if only she can find the courage to tell her husband her needs and wants have changed. The summer proves one of great change for all three of them.Each of the three main characters here are floundering, facing changes, and trying to see what the future holds for them. As their lives intertwine and their secrets and fears come out, they each find a way forward towards the life that will fulfill them. They learn more about themselves and learn to accept themselves, warts and all, as the summer unfolds. The novel rotates through each of the three main characters, opening their lives, decisions, and motivations up to the reader. If the characters start by seeming unconnected, they eventually come together in ways that are both expected and realistic. There are no big explosive secrets to reveal, just interesting personal dramas in characters living and making a life on the same island. Anthony, Joy, and Lu are not always sympathetic, making poor decisions, hiding things that shouldn't be hidden, but ultimately they are honest with themselves and about their needs. This is an engaging summer novel about people trying to get it right, trying to find themselves, trying to take the scary next step, personally and professionally. The ending comes a little quickly, like a sudden summer storm, and I for one, would have liked more time with these three flawed, human characters getting to that end but overall, the novel was a very satisfying way to spend a few hours.
    • 4/5
      This is the perfect beach read - fans of Elin Hilderbrand will definitely enjoy this book. The three main characters - disgraced writer Anthony, single mother and owner of the local bakery, Joy and frustrated stay at home mom, Lu - are all well written and likeable characters. My only gripe is my ARC didn't incluce Joy's whoopie pie recipe - I will definitely be checking out the finished book so I can try the recipe! I won an ARC of this book from LibraryThing.
    • 5/5
      I loved the character development and interplay of each throughout the book. I felt like these were very human, fallable characters that could be your next door neighbor. Anthony - used to be a rising literary star until he sabotaged himself. He is spending the summer hoping to get back to the person he used to be. Joy - owns and runs the whoopie pie cafe. A New York food truck has come to the island to provide competition to her bakery and this throws her life off balance along with some other circumstances out of her control.Lu - secretly working after making a deal with her husband to stay home with the kids. Each character is forced to choose what they value and the author does an excellent job of outlining the struggles of each. Throughout the book, the author slowly unveils the personality and struggles of each of these characters making them become very real. I loved cheering them on as well as booing a few times when they were not making the best decisions. Fun beach read!Reader received a complimentary copy from Library Thing Early Reviewers.
    • 4/5
      On one hand I did enjoy the stories of the main characters and how their lives intertwined during one summer on Block Island. An the other hand, I really didn't "like" any of them. They were all just self-centered enough to be off-putting, making it difficult to really be sympathetic with any of them. Haven't read books by this author before, so I don't know how this one compares, but the ending seemed really rushed...boom--the end...deadline looming perhaps.I received an advance readers copy in return for an honest review.
    • 3/5
      Anthony, Joy and Lu all find themselves on Block Island for different reasons, Joy as the only full-time resident of the perspectives offered, each within different key intersections of their lives. Dubbed for fans of Elin Hilderbrand or J. Courtney Sullivan, The Islanders offers a slower paced summer getaway. The back-cover description seems to offer the promise of a juicy death and unraveling secrets, but in reality the outcome is far less juicy and far more abrupt. There were certainly tones of Elin Hilderbrand's writing style, but with far less enjoyable characters and a far duller island scene, but the good vibes and relatability are still there. *Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by the publisher; all opinions are my own.
    • 4/5
      If you enjoy Elin Hilderbrand and her novels set on Nantucket, you'll enjoy this light "beach read" with well-developed characters from Meg Mitchell Moore. It's set on Block Island during the summer season. The three main characters are:1. Anthony, a summer renter, whose first novel is a blockbuster but he has been disgraced by plagiarizing in his second novel. His father is a famous author and is angry with his son for what he did.2. Lu, a summer renter, is an unhappy stay-at-home mom who feels a loss of her identity and has started a secret blog.3. Joy, a year-round resident who owns a bakery, has financial problems, and is raising a daughter, now a teenager.These characters interact and each chapter has one of their points-of-view. There are secrets aplenty and some twists that help to keep the story interesting. I liked that the author gave closure to all of the main characters and didn't leave readers wondering.I thought the story was well-plotted with good pacing. Most of the characters were likable. This is my first novel by Moore and since I enjoyed it, I may try to read some of her other novels.Thanks to the publisher, William Morrow, via LibraryThing, for sending me this ARC to read and review in exchange for my honest opinion.
    • 4/5
      This was the story of three people on Block Island one summer: Anthony, a disgraced, almost-divorced dad; Lu, a stay-at-home mom who is secretly growing a blog, while posing as a dad online; and Joy, a tough, single mom running a whoopie pie business. Sometimes the book seemed glib, and other times it had insights that I agreed with. It wasn't quite as good as an Elin Hilderbrand Nantucket novel, but it was enjoyable.
    • 3/5
      I was excited to receive The Islanders from Library Thing Early Reviewers. The Admissions by this author is a book that I have recommended to others, and I was eager for a new novel by Meg Mitchell Moore. The Islanders did not disappoint. This could be described as a page turner for me. I was interested in the three main characters and their intertwined story lines. The Islanders is set on Block Island, a somewhat isolated locale that requires a ferry ride and covers one summer on the island. Three main characters, Joy, Anthony and Lu, meet and interact during this summer. Each has challenges and secrets. Joy is the only year-round Block Island resident. She is a single mom who is struggling with 13-year old daughter Maggie and running her own bakery. She meets Anthony, who has fled to the island to hide from a professional and personal catastrophe. Romance blooms but Anthony's secrets interfere with happiness. Lu, who is on the island for the summer, is Anthony's neighbor. Her husband comes and goes from the island to work as an oncologist several days in a row. Lu is a reluctant stay-at-home mother to two little boys and is keeping a huge secret from him and her in-laws, who are also staying on the island for the summer. As these three characters get to know each other, the reader gets to know their private struggles and fears. I enjoyed this book and didn't want to put it down. I just had to know what happened to each of the characters and their back stories. I did, however, have a hard time with Lu, who could not be fulfilled by being with her children. While I was eager to know what happened with the characters, I have not continued to think about them after finishing the book. It did not emotionally reach me to that point. This book has more meat than an easy beach read but it does not pack the emotional punch that The Admissions did for me. I would recommend this book but not as must-read. 3.5 stars
    • 4/5
      The star of this novel is Block Island, which is located off the coast of Rhode Island. Ms. Moore has done her research on the history of the island and its geography, the reader can easily visualize the beaches and back roads of this idyllic island. The three protagonists in this story are all lonely and in need of a change in life. Joy is a single Mother of a teenage girl, Lu is a married mother of two who has come to the island for the summer and Anthony, who is a man running away for a life gone wrong. Joy is hanging on to her life by a shoestring; her business has heavy competition and a large raise of rent plus her teenage daughter is rebelling. Lu is hiding a secret that could destroy her marriage. Anthony is renting the cottage next door to Lu's rental and he is running for a bad marriage and scandal. The three characters become friends and help each found the way to their individual happiness.This book should become a best seller for a summer beach read. The book has heart, secrets and twists all elements for a popular read