Cups & Curiosity

A Simple Summer Comfort Read

There’s something about a Pamela Kelley novel that feels like coming home—if home were a sunny island breeze, the clink of silverware in a seaside café, and the soft hum of conversations between people who know each other deeply. The Nantucket Restaurant gave me that exact feeling, and I loved every page of it.

This story revolves around three sisters who inherit their late grandmother’s restaurant on Nantucket. Each of them is at a different stage in life, with different priorities and problems, but they’re suddenly pulled back together—not just by grief, but by this place that holds so many memories. And now, they have to figure out what to do with it. Do they sell? Keep it going? Rebuild it into something new?

As someone who’s close with my own sibling, I found the dynamics between the sisters incredibly relatable. There’s love, of course—a strong bond that no amount of distance could ever break. Kelley doesn’t make their relationships overly dramatic or heavy, which I appreciated. Instead, she lets the story unfold in a way that feels natural—like real people figuring things out one day at a time.

What really stood out to me was how the novel balances heart and ease. It touches on themes of loss, reinvention, and starting over, but never in a way that weighs you down. It’s gentle. Comforting. Like the literary version of a warm bowl of chowder on a cool summer night. There were moments that made me smile, a few that made me pause, and plenty that made me want to book a trip to Nantucket immediately. (Seriously—the food descriptions alone had me craving lobster and short ribs.)

This isn’t a book filled with jaw-dropping twists or edge-of-your-seat suspense. And that’s what makes it so perfect for summer. It’s soft. Steady. You can pick it up and put it down without losing the thread, but I found myself breezing through it in just a couple of days because I genuinely wanted to see how things would work out for each of the sisters.

If you’ve been looking for a simple summer read that brings comfort without being boring, The Nantucket Restaurant delivers. It’s about family, change, and the quiet power of coming back to where you started—not because you failed, but because maybe that place still has something to teach you.

For me, this book felt like sitting on a porch with an iced tea, listening to the ocean, and remembering that sometimes, the best stories are the ones that remind us who we are.

So if you’re in the mood for something light but heartfelt, give this one a try. It’s a lovely way to spend a summer afternoon—and it just might leave you thinking about the places and people that have shaped your own story.