The Blue Bistro

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English

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Elin Hilderbrand, author of the enchanting Summer People and The Beach Club, invites you to experience the perfect getaway with her sparkling new novel.Adrienne Dealey has spent the past six years working for hotels in exotic resort towns. This summer she has decided to make Nantucket home. Left flat broke by her ex-boyfriend, she is desperate to earn some fast money. When the desirable Thatcher Smith, owner of Nantucket's hottest restaurant, is the only one to offer her a job, she wonders if she can get by with no restaurant experience. Thatcher gives Adrienne a crash course in the business...and they share an instant attraction. But there is a mystery about their situation: what is it about Fiona, the Blue Bistro's chef, that captures Thatcher's attention again and again? And why does such a successful restaurant seem to be in its final season before closing its doors for good? Despite her uncertainty, Adrienne must decide whether to open her heart for the first time, or move on, as she always does.Infused with intimate Nantucket detail and filled with the warmth of passion and the breeze of doubt, The Blue Bistro is perfect summer reading.

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ISBN
9780312628260
9781429905497
9781427222695

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The last time I saw Paris - Adler, Elizabeth
Both romances focus on women trying to move out of troubled relationships into a more hopeful future. Though the novels focus on the relationships among characters, the plots flow smoothly and are fun, quick reads. -- Lauren Havens

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Elin Hilderbrand and Nancy Thayer both write novels that feature characters dealing with the issues that face every woman; love, death, family and friendship. Both authors write novels that are character-driven and set on the island of Nantucket. -- Nanci Milone Hill
Both authors focus on women's lives and relationships in character-driven novels. Their leisurely-paced writing is emotional and sometimes bittersweet as characters' pasts are explored and secrets unearthed. The realistic complexities of the characters' lives and problems makes them easy to relate to regardless of the novels' settings. -- Lauren Havens
Both Elin Hilderbrand and Emily Giffin write emotionally engaging stories about relatable women navigating the complexities of their lives and relationships. Though the characters face serious situations, the books never become maudlin and always end on a hopeful and heartwarming note. -- Halle Carlson
Readers who delight in engaging, female-centered stories that tackle the complexities of personal, familial, and marital relationships should check out the novels of Marissa Stapley and Elin Hilderbrand. Whether writing emotionally resonant beach reads or suspenseful mysteries, both authors typically choose to set their page-turning novels in appealing locales. -- Catherine Coles
Though Jean Kwok's catalog includes some thrillers and Elin Hilderbrand's is exclusively relationship fiction, both are known for character-driven stories about the ways people interact that are equal parts moving and high-drama. -- Stephen Ashley
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Fans of drama-filled relationship fiction that is propelled by complex characters and is ultimately moving should explore the catalogs of both Mary Monroe and Elin Hilderbrand. Monroe's work sometimes has Christian themes, while Hilderbrand's is more secular. -- Stephen Ashley
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Published Reviews

Booklist Review

Hilderbrand sets her sophisticated romance novel against the glamorous backdrop of Nantucket Island, as she has done in previous novels ( Nantucket Nights, 2002; Summer People, 2003). Adrienne Dealey is anxious to put Aspen behind her, for it was the scene of her latest disastrous romance with a man of dubious character. Her previous stint as a concierge lands her a job as hostess at an upscale oceanfront restaurant. Charming, boyish owner Thatcher Smith has put the multimillion-dollar property up for sale and intends to close the Blue Bistro for good by summer's end. Other restaurant workers include a handsome, flirtatious bartender; his jealous, hardworking girlfriend; and a publicity-seeking pastry chef. As the romance between Thatcher and Adrienne heats up, his close, secretive relationship with reclusive, enormously talented chef Fiona Kemp, with whom he eats dinner every night, becomes a problem. Hilderbrand keeps things moving briskly in between sumptuous descriptions of food, drink, and tableware, throwing in an in-depth lesson on the restaurant business for good measure. Fun, stylish, and absorbing vacation reading. --Joanne Wilkinson Copyright 2005 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

The pricey, popular bistro of the title is the real star of Hilderbrand's fourth novel set on Nantucket. After years of hotel employ, peripatetic Adrienne Dealey, 28, lands her first restaurant job within hours of disembarking on the bucolic Massachusetts island. She's got a lot of learning to do as assistant to co-owner Thatcher Smith. Adrienne's soon attracted to the handsome Thatcher, and he seems to return her feelings. But just what is his relationship with his partner, the famous, utterly reclusive chef Fiona "Fee" Kemp? And why will no one talk about her? Hilderbrand specializes in beach reading (Summer People; The Beach Club); the plot doesn't go too far beyond standard romance and the characters don't reach beyond the conventional (though Adrienne does drink a bit more than the average heroine). But the complexities of running a bustling, ambitious restaurant in a summer hotspot are absorbing, and as Adrienne develops survival techniques with the customers and staff, readers follow her progress with genuine interest. Though the romance is a bit tepid and a subplot involving Adrienne's father's new girlfriend doesn't add much excitement, this is still a perfectly enjoyable beach book. Agent, Michael Carlisle. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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Kirkus Book Review

Another Nantucket beach read from Hildebrand (Nantucket Nights, 2001), this one set in a fabulous ocean-side restaurant where the heroine's frothy romance competes with the specter of cystic fibrosis. Adrienne Dealey arrives in Nantucket from Aspen, having drifted from one resort hotel job to another for the last eight years. Despite a complete lack of restaurant experience, debonair Thatcher Smith immediately hires her as his assistant manager at the eponymous Blue Bistro, which he owns with chef Fiona Kemp and which will shut its doors for good after this final summer season. Adrienne moves in with a friendly waitress, buys some new hostess outfits and proves a fast learner of the ins and outs of the restaurant business, her success aided by her natural good looks. Hildebrand introduces lots of mouthwatering food and keeps the champagne flowing for the not terribly colorful cast of customers and staff--the unhappy married couple, the studly bartender, the lonely rich guy, the ambitious pastry chef. The inevitable romance between Adrienne and Thatch is complicated by Thatch's devotion to Fiona, with whom he eats dinner every night after the restaurant closes. And, frankly, in a charisma contest, Fiona in her apron would win over Adrienne in her designer frocks hands down. A graduate of the Culinary Institute, petite, fierce-eyed Fiona is a brilliant chef who could be a star on the Cooking Channel, but she avoids all publicity and never leaves her kitchen. Gradually, Adrienne realizes that Fiona is sick, a secret that must be kept so that diners aren't frightened away. As the summer winds down, Adrienne and Thatch find themselves deeply in love, but Thatch's devotion to the devoutly Catholic Fiona, who has her own married lover, never waivers, and he marries her in a hospital ceremony just before her death. Not to worry: now he's an available widower. Uneasy mix of escapism and medical soap opera. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Booklist Reviews

Hilderbrand sets her sophisticated romance novel against the glamorous backdrop of Nantucket Island, as she has done in previous novels (Nantucket Nights, 2002; Summer People, 2003). Adrienne Dealey is anxious to put Aspen behind her, for it was the scene of her latest disastrous romance with a man of dubious character. Her previous stint as a concierge lands her a job as hostess at an upscale oceanfront restaurant. Charming, boyish owner Thatcher Smith has put the multimillion-dollar property up for sale and intends to close the Blue Bistro for good by summer's end. Other restaurant workers include a handsome, flirtatious bartender; his jealous, hardworking girlfriend; and a publicity-seeking pastry chef. As the romance between Thatcher and Adrienne heats up, his close, secretive relationship with reclusive, enormously talented chef Fiona Kemp, with whom he eats dinner every night, becomes a problem. Hilderbrand keeps things moving briskly in between sumptuous descriptions of food, drink, and tableware, throwing in an in-depth lesson on the restaurant business for good measure. Fun, stylish, and absorbing vacation reading. ((Reviewed May 15, 2005)) Copyright 2005 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2005 Booklist Reviews.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

The pricey, popular bistro of the title is the real star of Hilderbrand's fourth novel set on Nantucket. After years of hotel employ, peripatetic Adrienne Dealey, 28, lands her first restaurant job within hours of disembarking on the bucolic Massachusetts island. She's got a lot of learning to do as assistant to co-owner Thatcher Smith. Adrienne's soon attracted to the handsome Thatcher, and he seems to return her feelings. But just what is his relationship with his partner, the famous, utterly reclusive chef Fiona "Fee" Kemp? And why will no one talk about her? Hilderbrand specializes in beach reading (Summer People; The Beach Club); the plot doesn't go too far beyond standard romance and the characters don't reach beyond the conventional (though Adrienne does drink a bit more than the average heroine). But the complexities of running a bustling, ambitious restaurant in a summer hotspot are absorbing, and as Adrienne develops survival techniques with the customers and staff, readers follow her progress with genuine interest. Though the romance is a bit tepid and a subplot involving Adrienne's father's new girlfriend doesn't add much excitement, this is still a perfectly enjoyable beach book. Agent, Michael Carlisle. (June)Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
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