You know the feeling. It’s early June, the air finally smells like salt and sunscreen, and you’re standing in the airport bookstore staring at a wall of blue-hued covers. You need an Elin Hilderbrand fix. But then you realize there are over 30 of them. Panic sets in. Do you start with the one where someone dies in a car crash, or the one where everyone is eating lobster rolls and hiding a secret pregnancy? Honestly, keeping hilderbrand books in order is a full-time job.
Elin Hilderbrand has spent decades as the undisputed "Queen of the Beach Read." Her books are basically a vacation in a 400-page package. But here is the thing most people get wrong: she didn't just write one long story about Nantucket. She’s built a sprawling, messy, beautiful universe where characters from a book written in 2005 might suddenly pop up in a 2024 finale.
If you read them out of sequence, you won’t be "lost," but you’ll definitely miss the "Aha!" moments when a familiar name walks into a bar.
The Big Shift: Why 2024 Changed Everything
For years, Elin fans followed a ritual. One summer book in June. One winter book in October. It was like clockwork. Then came Swan Song in 2024.
She called it her "retirement" from Nantucket summer novels. People freaked out. It felt like the end of an era, but as we’ve seen through 2025 and into 2026, she wasn't actually putting down the pen. She was just switching lanes. She moved from the sand dunes of Massachusetts to the boarding school drama of Rhode Island with her daughter, Shelby Cunningham.
If you want to read her work the right way, you have to look at it in clusters. Here is how the timeline actually breaks down for the obsessive reader.
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The Standalone Era (2000–2014)
Most of her early work consists of standalone stories. You can pick up The Blue Bistro (which is basically the "Godfather" of restaurant novels) and never touch another book and be perfectly happy. But even here, there’s a subtle flow.
- The Beach Club (2000) – The debut. It’s grittier than you’d expect.
- Nantucket Nights (2002) – Night swims and secrets.
- Summer People (2003) – A grieving family and the Newton house.
- The Blue Bistro (2005) – If you only read one, make it this one. The food descriptions are legendary.
- The Love Season (2006) – A chef, a daughter, and one very long day.
- Barefoot (2007) – Three women, one island, lots of baggage.
- The Island (2010) – Family drama on Tuckernuck.
- Silver Girl (2011) – Inspired by the Madoff scandal. It’s about the fall from grace.
- Summerland (2012) – A tragic accident and the fallout.
- Beautiful Day (2013) – A wedding planned by a dead mother's notebook.
- The Matchmaker (2014) – This one will make you sob. Don't say I didn't warn you.
The Nantucket Series (Hidden in Plain Sight)
Wait, I thought they were standalones? Sorta. But Elin eventually grouped four specific books into a loose "Nantucket" series. You should definitely read these in order because they share a soul and a specific vibe.
- A Summer Affair (2008)
- The Castaways (2009)
- The Perfect Couple (2018)
- Swan Song (2024)
If you watched the Netflix adaptation of The Perfect Couple, you might be confused. The book is much more focused on the internal lives of the characters than the "whodunnit" TV show vibe.
The Binge-Worthy Trilogies
This is where the hilderbrand books in order conversation gets serious. If you mix these up, you are going to spoil massive plot points for yourself.
The Winter Street Series (The Quinn Family)
This is her Christmas series. It’s cozy, it’s chaotic, and it’s set at the Winter Street Inn.
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- Winter Street (2014)
- Winter Stroll (2015)
- Winter Storms (2016)
- Winter Solstice (2017)
You have to read these back-to-back. It’s like a four-part miniseries. If you jump straight to Winter Solstice, you won't understand why everyone is stressed about Bart or why the family dynamic is so fractured.
The Paradise Trilogy (St. John)
Elin took a break from Nantucket for a minute and went to the US Virgin Islands. These books follow Irene Steele after her husband dies in a helicopter crash—only for her to find out he had a whole secret life (and family) in St. John.
- Winter in Paradise (2018)
- What Happens in Paradise (2019)
- Troubles in Paradise (2020)
The "Modern Masterpiece" Era (2019–2023)
In the late 2010s, Elin started experimenting with historical fiction and more complex structures. These are arguably her best books.
Summer of '69 (2019) was her first real foray into the past. It follows the Levin family during the summer of the moon landing and Ted Kennedy’s Chappaquiddick incident. It’s brilliant.
Then came 28 Summers (2020). It’s based on the movie Same Time, Next Year. It’s a story of a decades-long affair that happens for one weekend every year. It’s heartbreaking. It also has a "sequel" of sorts in the short story The Sixth Wedding.
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Then we had the "End of the Summer" run:
- Golden Girl (2021) – A novelist watches her family from the "Beyond" after a hit-and-run.
- The Hotel Nantucket (2022) – A haunted hotel gets a makeover.
- The Five-Star Weekend (2023) – A widow invites childhood, college, and "work" friends to a blowout weekend.
The New Direction: The Academy Series
As of late 2025 and heading into 2026, the game has changed. Elin is now co-writing with her daughter, Shelby. They’ve moved away from the beach and into the halls of Tiffin Academy.
The Academy (2025) introduced us to a world of "ZipZap" apps and boarding school scandals. It’s faster-paced and feels "younger," but that Hilderbrand DNA—the secrets, the prestige, the complex relationships—is still there.
The sequel, The Thoroughbreds, is slated for September 2026. This will follow the characters through their senior year. If you’re a completionist, you need to grab The Academy now so you’re ready for the 2026 release.
Final Advice for Your Reading List
If you are a total newbie, don't start at the very beginning in 2000. The writing has evolved so much since then.
Start with Summer of '69 to see what she can do with history, or The Blue Bistro for the classic Nantucket vibe. If you want a binge, go for the Paradise trilogy. Just remember: once you start seeing the crossover characters, you’ll be hooked. It’s a world you won’t want to leave.
Your Next Steps:
- Grab a copy of The Academy to get current with her 2025/2026 boarding school era.
- If you want the classic "retirement" finale, read Swan Song to see how she closed the Nantucket chapter.
- Keep an eye out for The Thoroughbreds arriving in September 2026 to finish the Tiffin Academy story.