In this novel we get to know the complicated Quinn family. Kelley, the father of the group, has just discovered his second wife Mitzi has been cheating on him for twelve years, and is leaving him. Kelley is left running their business, The Winter Street Inn, and the Christmas Eve party for the island, but business has not been good lately and he is going to have to sell it. He also struggles with lingering feelings for his first wife, Margaret, the mother of three of his four children. Kelley is not sure how he will survive this Christmas.

Patrick is the eldest child and has always been the golden boy. But this Christmas his world is falling down as he is embroiled in an insider trading case, and his wife has taken their three boys away to figure it all out. So he finds himself back home in the inn, terrified that he has lost the most important people in his life.

Next in line is Kevin. Kevin has had his share of heartbreak, getting married at a young age to someone who never truly loved him, and subsequently divorced. Kevin manages the local bar on the island and is viewed as the ultimate bachelor by his family. But Kevin has a secret - he has found real love but is he brave enough to grab it with both hands?

Ava is the only daughter of the family. Teaching music in the local school, she wants what a lot of girls want - to be loved, to get married and to have a family of her own. As she tries to be the perfect girlfriend to Nathaniel, she always feels that he treats her more like a comfortable pair of shoes, rather than the woman he adores. When Nathaniel ups and leaves town without telling Ava before Christmas,to spend it with his folks back home and his ex-girlfriend, Ava finds herself assessing what she wants for her life. And what will she do when sparks begin to fly between her and her best friend Scott?

Bart is the baby of the group, and the only child fathered by Kelley and Mitzi. Having been a spoiled trouble maker growing up, at nineteen, Bart has joined the Marines and has been deployed to Afghanistan.

Finally there is Margaret, Kelley's first wife. A high flying news anchor, Margaret plans to spend her Christmas vacation in Maui with a sexy doctor, relaxing and having fun. But when her family begins to fall apart piece by piece, and she gets some information that could devastate everyone she cares about, Margaret finds herself at the Winter Street Inn. Will the Quinn family be able to weather the storm that is on its way?

WINTER STREET by Elin Hilderbrand is everything I look for in a novel. The story flows naturally, the characters are intriguing and loveable, the twists and turns held my attention throughout, and the book left me wanting more! I love that each chapter is specific to a character, and that even though they all have upheaval in their lives in some shape or form, they still blend well together as a family when they are reunited.

WINTER STREET ends on a cliffhanger and I will be the first one in line to get the next installment. WINTER STREET by Elin Hilderbrand is an utterly compelling story about making mistakes, real love and the meaning of family.

Book Summary

In bestseller Elin Hilderbrand's first Christmas novel, a family gathers on Nantucket for a holiday filled with surprises.

Kelley Quinn is the owner of Nantucket's Winter Street Inn and the proud father of four, all of them grown and living in varying states of disarray. Patrick, the eldest, is a hedge fund manager with a guilty conscience. Kevin, a bartender, is secretly sleeping with a French housekeeper named Isabelle. Ava, a school teacher, is finally dating the perfect guy but can't get him to commit. And Bart, the youngest and only child of Kelley's second marriage to Mitzi, has recently shocked everyone by joining the Marines.

As Christmas approaches, Kelley is looking forward to getting the family together for some quality time at the inn. But when he walks in on Mitzi kissing Santa Claus (or the guy who's playing Santa at the inn's annual party), utter chaos descends. With the three older children each reeling in their own dramas and Bart unreachable in Afghanistan, it might be up to Kelley's ex-wife, nightly news anchor Margaret Quinn, to save Christmas at the Winter Street Inn.

Before the mulled cider is gone, the delightfully dysfunctional Quinn family will survive a love triangle, an unplanned pregnancy, a federal crime, a small house fire, many shots of whiskey, and endless rounds of Christmas caroling, in this heart-warming novel about coming home for the holidays.