This list of authors like Elin Hilderbrand is perfect for fans of the Nantucket “Queen of the Beach Reads” herself. Many of these writers’ works are also based in Nantucket and/or explore similar themes of messy family and love situations of modern female characters in charming settings.
As a big fan of Elin Hilderbrand’s books, like The Hotel Nantucket, I have ventured into these read-a-likes and came up with my best recommendations for those who want to read from authors similar to Elin Hilderbrand.
Once you finish learning about these famous authors and their works, you will want to stock your shelf with dozens of their books to show off and discuss with all your favorite coastal grandmothers at book club!
Below are the best authors whose books are like the best Elin Hilderbrand books, including what they generally write about and one particular book I recommend by each one.
Read More: Elin Hilderbrand Books in Order
Authors Like Elin Hilderbrand
Read the novels of the following modern female authors if you like Elin Hilderbrand’s good beach reads:
Mary Kay Andrews
Dorothea Benton Frank
Kristy Woodson Harvey
Pamela Kelley
Brenda Novak
Nancy Thayer
Jennifer Weiner
Mary Kay Andrews
Mary Kay Andrews is the New York Times bestselling author of over two dozen novels. Her books feel like true escape reads to me — generally as light and charming as a Hallmark movie, even if there’s a mystery or two at the heart of them.
I’m highlighting her most recent holiday book, The Santa Suit, which felt like Christmas in Stars Hollow (the fictional Connecticut town in Gilmore Girls) to me.
Dorothea Benton Frank
Dorothea Benton Frank, an author of over 20 bestselling novels, is known to be one of Elin Hilderbrand’s own favorite novelists. She is to Southern beach reads what Elin is to New England’s best beach reads. Her novels feature strong Southern women who can be both witty and/or spitfires. Their stories always leave your heart bursting with so much feeling.
I’m highlighting Queen Bee, which is a captivating story of Southern charm and bees, with a mother and her two adult daughters at the core. It’s a really light page-turner that always makes me smile when I think about it.
Kristy Woodson Harvey
Kristy Woodson Harvey is the New York Times, USA Today and Publisherโs Weekly bestselling author of several novels, and she is most known for modern, female-based stories set in the South, often dealing with emotional journeys in their family and love lives.
I’m highlighting the bestseller Feels Like Falling, set on the North Carolina coast, as two women down on their luck become acquainted by chance and embark on journeys of starting over and discovering what’s right for them.
Pamela Kelley
Pamela Kelley is the Cape Cod-based USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of womenโs fiction, family sagas, and light mysteries, often set in Nantucket, which feel just like Elin Hilderbrand’s novels.
Nantucket White Christmas was a standout for me that hooked me onto her writing. It centers on an unlucky, unemployed maid, who starts over in Nantucket at Christmastime, where she begins to find the meaning of home.
Brenda Novak
Brenda Novak is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling, award-author of over 50 contemporary romance and romantic suspense novels, popular in Elin Hilderbrand’s home base of Nantucket (though often set in California).
I’m highlighting the recent Summer on the Island, which is a story of friendship, healing, and love, as a woman travels to a Florida island after the death of her U.S. Senator father and learns his secrets.
Nancy Thayer
Like Elin Hilderbrand, Nancy Thayer is New York Times bestselling Nantucket-based author. She has written over 30 fictional mysteries and romance books about family and love, often set in Nantucket.
I’m highlighting Summer Love, in which a group of old friends gathers on Nantucket on Summer, stirring up old secrets, jealousies, and betrayals, as their twentysomething children embark on new adventures of their own.
Jennifer Weiner
Jennifer Weiner is a #1 New York Times bestselling Philly-based author (where Hilderbrand grew up) who sets a lot of her novels in both Philly and Massachusetts, just like most of Elin Hilderbrand’s novels. They are often Cape Cod-based books set in Summer and feature modern, female-centric stories with a lot of emotional pushes and pulls. They can be “heavier” in content than an Elin Hilderbrand novel, but they are as sharply written.
I’m highlighting That Summer, which deals with the decades-long effects of sexual assault and was one of my favorite, most memorable novels in the year it was published.
Conclusion
Now you know all the best authors like Elin Hilderbrand to read next:
- Mary Kay Andrews
- Dorothea Benton Frank
- Kristy Woodson Harvey
- Pamela Kelley
- Brenda Novak
- Nancy Thayer
- Jennifer Weiner
If you can’t decide which author similar to Elin Hilderbrand to read first, I recommend Dorothea Benton Frank, who is known to be one of Elin Hilderbrand’s own favorite novelists, and whom I personally recommend as well.
Thank you so much. This article helps me to choose and add books to my TBR.
Great! That’s exactly what it’s supposed to do. ๐