You either love it, or you hate it. Requiring patience and critical thinking, there are visible mixed opinions on reading as technology increases and the schedules of societies are growing at a steadfast pace.

Criticized as tedious and boring, the appreciation for reading, especially between millennials, constantly faces a downward spiral as the defiant norm is to watch the latest movie or reality television show.

However, even as a college student, I couldn’t disagree more with the criticism reading faces. Personally, reading has been my cure to every boredom I’ve ever had, as well as the hero of my free time. Titling myself as a “book nerd,” I frequently free up a portion of my day to read the latest novel I’ve come across instead of turning on the television, and I am not embarrassed to admit it.

As entertaining as I find reading to be, I’ve always admired the power the hobby has on increasing one’s intellect beyond an educational level. Meaning, a novel can teach one life lessons without actually going through the actual experience. You don’t need to read profound literature to increase your knowledge of life; solely reading the genre you like and relating to characters is a catalyst to listening to the message a story is giving.

Luckily, this fall I came across two modernized novels I equally enjoyed and highly recommend to anyone (especially females). Both are written by Elin Hilderbrand, the commendable author who writes brilliant stories taken place in the elegant island of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Whether you love to read or a member society deviated from the hobby, the spontaneity and the humor of these two novels are enough to captivate anyone. Here are two brief summaries without giving too many details away:

1. The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand

I’ve (sadly) never have visited Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard before, but Hilderbrand’s latest novel The Identicals sure has made me feel like I’ve had. Taken place on these two upscale islands, Hilderbrand takes us directly into the worlds of a pair of dysfunctional identical twins who have not spoken to each other in years. Contrasting on every personality and lifestyle trait, Tabitha and Harper Frost each moved to separate islands to avoid conflict and communication from their fellow look alike. However, after an uncontrollable family crisis forces the twins to reunite, we readers are left with a modern-day version of the “Parent Trap” to captivate us all to understand the true value of family, even if you do have to burn some bridges along the day.

2. Silver Girl by Elin Hilderbrand

“Bernie Madoff.” A name so familiar as if you knew him personally. The man who made anyone without a hint knowledge of the economics world understand what a Ponzi Scheme is and how he was responsible for creating the most detrimental case of fraud documented in U.S history to this day.

We watched on the news and read in the newspapers how Madoff earned his immense wealth through ripping off investors and being named king of keeping his antics a secret. How he earned his immense wealthy by ripping off investors and being the king of keeping his antics a secret. His court case, his criminal charges, and even the mystery of whether or not his two sons were in on the scheme were the most popular discussed topics.

But how much of this attention was directed towards his glamorous wife, Ruth? The answer is: the very minimal.

Thanks to Hilderbrand, Silver Girl gives us all an entertaining glimpse of what we would hope and dream Ruth’s life to be. Basing the story on her own idealism, rather than the actual factual events, Hilderbrand creates a fictional character by the name of Meredith Martin Delinn to represent Ruth. Similar to Ruth, Meredith’s world is turned upside down after her husband is caught and thrown into jail for cheating off investors to gain his own wealth for his family.

Stripped off her riches and left homeless, Meredith seeks out an old friendship in Nantucket in order to hide from the press who are accusing her of lying about being oblivious to her husband’s actions prior to his arrest.

A huge point I want to make is this novel has very minimal talk of economics; you do not have to even be familiar with the original Madoff story to understand this novel. Instead, this novel stresses the importance of forgiveness, the power of friendship, and understanding there are multiple truths and lies to every story.