The May House by Jillian Cantor
Looking for new summer romance books to read? The May House by Jillian Cantor follows three sisters and their lives and loves in a family vacation home in Coronado.
Review of The May House by Jillian Cantor
I really enjoy both sister stories and stories set in family vacation homes, so of course I had to give The May House a try!
The three May sisters (Julia, Emily, and Nora) grew up spending a magical week in Coronado every summer. (I am an east coaster, so I had to look this up, and realized oops, I have been there on a trip to San Diego in the early 2000s).
The May sisters loved their time there, and the time they spent with the boy next door, Nate. When their grandmother died, she left them the house with the understanding that they’d continue to spend time together each summer, no matter what.
But one year the ever-dependable Julia doesn’t show up. Where is she? In trying to find her, the sisters open a whole Pandora’s Box of family secrets!
The May House has a narrative structure that involves a lot of switching back and forth in time, with the past timeline slowly progressing forward. If you are not a fan of a lot of timeline switches, you may struggle a little. I had to make a list of the sister’s birthdays (Julia: 1973, Emily: 1976; Nora: 1979), if that helps.
The benefit of this structure is that it gave a fantastic overview into all the characters ups and downs from their teens through their forties. Julia tackles marriage and motherhood, Emily struggles to find herself and explores her sexual orientation, Emily follows her dream of being a Broadway star. And Nate’s life is interwoven with theirs as well, giving this a little bit of a The Summer I Turned Pretty feel.
The May House had
- A decades-spanning timeline
- A sister story
- Three women’s ups and downs with career and relationships
- Closed door romance
- Publication date: May 12 2026 by Atria Books. Thanks so much to them for the advance review copy.
The May House is Perfect For:
- Fans of romance that borders on women’s fiction
- Readers who prefer books with a sweeping feel and some reflection about love, life, and family
Quizzes and Summer Romance Reading Guide!
- My Master Summer Romance 2026 Post – all the summer books in one place!
- Grab My Summer Romance Reading Guide with a checklist of ALL the summer romances I could find, plus a bingo card, a coloring reading tracker and more!
- Since The May House felt more like women’s fiction, I didn’t include it, but there are great titles on it!
I also have two summer quizzes for you to take, my Find Your Perfect Summer Trope Quiz and my Choose Your Summer Romance Adventure Quiz. Take them both and get book recommendations based on your answers!
