In 2020, Mallory Blessing is dying, and she asks her son to call Jake McCloud, husband of Ursula DeGournsey, who may well become the next president of the United States. Flashback to 1993, when Mallory inherits a Nantucket beach house, and Jake attends her brother 's bachelor party. Jake and Mallory have a weekend fling that ends with them watching the movie, Same Time, Next Year. They decide to recreate the story: every Labor Day weekend, Jake will come to Nantucket, no matter what. So begins a long-term secret affair that continues "through the good, the bad, and the ugly." The novel's chapters cover each year, and each begins with a reminder of the hot topics of the time. Readers follow these characters not only while they are together, but also during their larger lives, including their jobs, friendships, marriages, children, and politics. This propulsive, if a tad long-winded, love story is filled with empathetically portrayed flawed characters. Prolific Hilderbrand (What Happens in Paradise, 2019) has crafted another endearing work of women's fiction sure to be a summer hit.

A Nantucket-ization of the world's most romantic adultery story. Inspired by the 1978 movie Same Time, Next Year, Hilderbrand creates her own pair of annual secret lovers--Mallory Blessing and Jake McCloud. Mallory is a Baltimore girl, born and raised in Anne Tyler territory, who inherits a Nantucket beach cottage from her gay aunt. Jake is her brother Cooper's best friend from his college days at Johns Hopkins. They first cross paths in 1993, when Mallory hosts Cooper's bachelor party over Labor Day weekend…and the book's title gives you a pretty good idea of the rest. When they meet, Jake is already the property of a glamorous but coldhearted powerhouse named Ursula DeGournsey--the two grew up together in South Bend, Indiana--who by the end of the book is a U.S. senator running for president. To get to 2020, Hilderbrand paves a lush path of nostalgia, introducing each year with a rundown of headlines, song lyrics, and pop-culture memories, and also slips in an astute commentary on marriage, showcasing various good ones and bad ones along the way. Come for the sailing, the sunsets, and the sweet romance, stay for the cold gin and tonics, the lobster dinners, and truly unparalleled picnics: "rare roast beef, Boursin, and arugula pinwheel sandwiches, chicken and potato sandwiches with celery and chives; a marinated cucumber salad from the Baltimore Junior League cookbook, and lemon bars with a coconut shortbread crust." In her 25th novel, Hilderbrand gets everything right and leaves her ardent fans hungry for No. 26. Oh for the days when life was a picnic on the beach: Hilderbrand sets the gold standard in escapist fiction. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Jake has spent 28 Labor Day weekends with Mallory at her home in Nantucket, starting in the early 1990s when they were in their 20s. Taking inspiration from the movie Same Time, Next Year, and because Jake is committed to someone else, they decide to indulge their romantic attraction one weekend a year, which they agree to keep secret from family and friends. Despite their deceitful actions, Jake, a charity spokesperson, and Mallory, a teacher, are portrayed as selfless, good-hearted people who just can't deny their love. Navigating a large cast and long time line, Hilderbrand (The Perfect Couple) steers this tightly written novel with ease and skill, introducing each chapter with the year's current topics. The stakes are raised when Jake's wife becomes a political figure; how long will they be able to keep their secret? VERDICT Because Jake and Mallory meet only one weekend a year, their relationship is rendered, a perpetual holiday. Less a story about a secretive affair and more a tale of sweet nostalgia and fate, this title will be popular with a wide audience. [See Prepub Alert, 12/9/19.]--Sonia Reppe, Stickney-Forest View P.L., IL