7 Authors Like Elin Hilderbrand for Epic Beach Reads

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 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 Publisher’s 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 women’s 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.