"If you have found yourself (like me) strictly wearing loose linen sets, obsessing over cozy interiors, and watching It’s Complicated before going to bed by 9 p.m., odds are you’ve been exposed to one of the internet’s favorite summer aesthetics. In case you don’t already know her by name, this lifestyle trend is our beloved coastal grandma—the girl who (grandma or not) is all about romanticizing her life and enjoying the little things—with a glass of chilled wine in hand, of course.
It’s easy to feel smothered by many of the trends that find their way onto my feed, but I will admit, this one has a quaintness about it that’s easy to love. And unless you’re Nancy Meyers herself, there’s no better way to gallop across charming lakehouses and seaside cottages than between book pages. So, if you want your next read to feel like sitting in the Something’s Gotta Give beach house, our team has compiled the best coastal grandma reads, perfect for tossing in your very coastal-coded L.L.Bean tote.
Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer there at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life. Years later, when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in Barry’s Bay. But as soon as they settle in, their peace is disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat, and the man driving it.
After thirty-five years serving as the Chief of Police on the island of Nantucket, Ed Kapenash’s heart can no longer take the stress. But his plans to retire are thwarted when, with only three days left to serve, he receives a phone call. A 22-million-dollar summer home, recently purchased by the flashy new couple in town, the Richardsons, has burned to the ground and their most essential employee gone missing. With the town up in arms, the Chief has no choice but to postpone his retirement and take on the double case.
When the Butler sisters learn they’ve inherited their beloved grandma Betty’s beach house in South Carolina, they have mixed emotions. To put it mildly. For Lana, there’s no other option but to sell the beach house. Overburdened Yvonne already has priorities being her mother’s sole caretaker. Her advice: put it on the market and move on. Then there’s Tami. She can’t let her sisters just unload their past without at least one last trip to the Sea Islands. Ultimately, they don’t have a choice. If they’re to collect, they must reunite and renovate their grandma’s bequest.
When Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn—she’s mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years with her husband, only now she’s here alone, and determined to have one last splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and possible disaster except for, well, Phoebe. Which makes it that much more surprising when the two can’t stop confiding in each other.
As New York City’s fashion it-girl, Lola has been living her dream. But when her career comes to a screeching halt after a very public snafu, everything Lola has worked for starts to go up in flames. And when notorious culture critic Aly Ray Carter writes a scathing exposé, it feels like Lola has lost everything. Fleeing to the Hamptons to escape her mistakes, she expects to spend her summer carefully rebuilding both her confidence and her brand. Instead, she looks over the trimmed hedges to see none other than her rival and newest neighbor: Aly Ray Carter.
It’s 1980s California and the Merrick siblings travel up and down the coast with their parents in a van year-round, surfing and swimming their days away. But when a photographer secretly snaps a stunning photo of the family lined up with their boards in the sand, the only life they’ve ever known is put at risk. Decades after, the now-distant siblings gather to honor their late father. But their reunion is complicated when a journalist discovers their identity and tracks them down. Together, they’ll have to decide if telling their story might just be the way to recapture the family magic.
Traci Eddings is the widowed owner of the St. Cecelia hotel, determined to see it return to its glory days, even as staff shortages and financial troubles threaten to ruin it. Traci has one summer season to turn it around, but new information about a long-ago drowning at the hotel threatens to come to light, and the tragic death of one of their own brings Traci to the brink of despair. Traci has her back against the pink-painted wall of this beloved institution and it will take all the wits and guts she has to see wrongs put to right, and maybe even to find a new romance along the way.
In the summer of 1977, Victoria’s world changes forever when Caitlin Somers chooses her as a friend. Caitlin welcomes Vix into the heart of her family, opening doors to a world of unimaginable privilege, sweeping her away to vacations on Martha’s Vineyard, where the two friends become “summer sisters.” Now years later, Vix is working in New York. Caitlin is getting married on the Vineyard. And the early magic of their friendship has faded. But when Caitlin begs Vix to be in her wedding, Vix agrees because she wants to know what happened that last summer.
Thirty, flirty, and asexual Joy is secretly in love with her best friend Malcolm, but she’s never been brave enough to say so. When he unexpectedly announces that he’s met the love of his life—and no, it’s not Joy—she’s heartbroken. Malcolm invites her on a weekend getaway, and Joy decides it’s her last chance to show him exactly what he’s overlooking. But maybe Joy is the one missing something…or someone else…
Winn Van Meter is heading for his family’s retreat on the pristine New England island of Waskeke. Normally a haven of calm, for the next three days this sanctuary will be overrun by tipsy revelers as Winn prepares for the marriage of his daughter Daphne to the affable young scion Greyson Duff. Winn’s wife, Biddy, has planned the wedding with military precision, but arrangements are side-swept by a storm of salacious misbehavior and intractable lust.
Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years. Daughter of one of the most storied families of the 20th Century, Margaret Ives invites them to compete to tell her story. But she is only giving each of them pieces of it. Pieces they can’t put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.
Blythe Benedict is content. Her life didn’t end when her marriage did. In fact, she’s more than happy living in her comfortable house in Boston, working as a middle school teacher, and raising four wonderful children. But no amount of that drama could change the family’s beloved annual summer trip to Nantucket. Blythe has always treasured the months spent at her island home-away-from-home, and has fond memories of her children growing up there. But this summer’s getaway proves to be much more than she bargained for.
Summer is coming to a close on the East End of Long Island, and Alex is no longer welcome. A misstep at a dinner party, and the older man she’s been staying with dismisses her with a ride to the train station and a ticket back to the city. With few resources and a waterlogged phone, but gifted with an ability to navigate the desires of others, Alex stays on Long Island and drifts like a ghost through a rarified world that is, at first, closed to her. Propelled by desperation, she moves from one place to the next, a cipher leaving destruction in her wake.
Ellery Wainwright and her husband, Luke, were supposed to spend their twentieth wedding anniversary together at the luxurious Resort at Broken Point in Big Sur, California. But now she’s traveling solo. To add insult to injury, there’s a wedding at Broken Point scheduled during her stay. When Ellery discovers the dead groom, she realizes that she is not the only one whose future is no longer guaranteed. Everyone at Broken Point has a secret. And everyone has a shadow. Including Ellery.
Highland Beach, the oldest historically Black beach community in America, was founded in the late 1800s by the son of Frederick Douglass. Inside this community is Olivia Jones’s legacy. But Olivia’s legacy comes with thorns—intertwined are secrets of her aunt’s death; a controlling grandmother; and a father who wants to rebuild the family he rejected decades ago. In the midst of tense family drama, Olivia must decide if she wants to return to the beautiful life she’s created in Sag Harbor—or achieve her dream of having a family and home to call hers in Highland Beach.
Madigan Will, Assistant Editor
As an Assistant Editor for The Everygirl, Madigan writes and edits content for every topic under the digital media sun. As the oldest of four siblings, she enjoys utilizing her big sister persona to connect and inspire readers—helping them discover new ways to maximize their everyday.