What goes into a good beach read?

Writers stick to standards when it comes to page-turners

NEW YORK — For author Elin Hilderbrand, the art of the beach novel is very much a matter of location. Starting with where she writes. “I write my books in longhand, so I actually work on them at the beach,” Hilderbrand, who sets her best-sellers at home on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, told The Associated Press during a recent telephone interview.

“And all those elements that make for an authentic summer experience, the fetishes that go with summertime — love of that special summer place and the distinction between summer and the rest of the year — these are what I try to depict in my novels.”

The “beach read” is shorthand for disposable page-turners, but Hilderbrand and others who write them have long-held rules and standards: strong characters and narratives, and settings that are compelling and accurate. Mary Alice Monroe, whose “Beach House for Rent” comes out in June, sets her work along the South Carolina coast and calls it a “personal pet peeve” when she reads a beach story and finds mistakes in the description of the landscape.

Monroe believes the “beach read” can be more than an escape. She likes to combine stories of family, friendship or romance with her advocacy for environmentalism. “Beach House for Rent” tells of two women unexpectedly sharing a summer home and the plight of shorebirds that helps unite them.

“What encourages me to keep working is that I know I am making a difference through my books,” Monroe says.

Hilderbrand’s novels include “Beautiful Day,” ”Here’s To Us” and “The Matchmaker.” Her next book, scheduled for June, is called “The Identicals” and uses the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard for a family drama about identical twins who are perhaps more alike than they want to acknowledge.