Low Country Summer Books In Order

Publication Order of Lowcountry Summer Books

Low Country Summer Series
Low Country Summer is a series of books by a New York Times bestselling author of romance, fiction and contemporary books, Mary Alice Monroe. Monroe is also the author of Beach House series, which features two women bound together by a beautiful beach house.

An active conservationist, Monroe began writing environmental fiction after relocating to coastal South Carolina. Already a prolific author, she was motivated by the fragility and the beauty of her new home. Her new experiences living in an environment that was fast changing captivated and gave her a strong focus on her books.

Monroe began her Lowcountry Summer series in 2013 when The Summer Girls was published. The series follows three sisters (Dora, Harper, and Carson) and their grandmother as they find a way to figure out their lives and move on. Each of the three sisters is so different from the other; he or she have distinct mothers but the same dad and live with his or her grandmother in Sea Breeze his or her childhood summer home.

The Summer Girls

When you see a title by Mary Monroe, you know you’re going to get a worthy read plus a few lessons regarding environmental protection. In her Lowcountry Summer series debut novel, The Summer Girls, the author tells the story of three sisters and an attentive dolphin. As the story picks up, so does more information on how we should treat dolphins and also how they should be protected. Hence the first book in the Lowcountry Summer series makes for an enjoyable read that’s both absorbing and genuinely informative.

The summer girls, in this case, are Carson, Harper and Dora Muir. The girls have different mothers, but they share the same father named Parker Muir. Parker was brought up well by his parents. He wanted to be a writer but never polished his skills with hard work. Even though Parker meant well by his family, he was a hopeless drunkard who married three women divorcing one after the other, but with each union producing a daughter.

During their childhood years, the three sisters spent their summers at Sea Breeze, a home of their grandmother Mamaw located outside of Charleston, low country. Now that Mamaw is getting old fast, she wants to get the three young women together one more time and she believes having them back at Sea Breeze will make them close again.

Carson is the main focus of the first book in the series. She has lived in California with her dad and took care of him until his death. She is a skilled photographer and has also experienced in the entertainment industry. However, lately, it seems that she is having a hard time being employed, perhaps is because of her alcohol intake just like her dad.

When she arrives at Sea Breeze, she is unemployed and more than willing to grab her grandmother’s offer of spending her summer there. While at Sea Breeze she gets a job as a waitress-part time- and spends most of her time in waters. It is during her adventures in and out of the water that she meets a dolphin named Delphine. The two have an instant mystical bond, and Carson assumes the dolphin to be a pet.

The Summer Girls contains humor, drama, and romance with a message about how we should take care of the dolphins. Monroe has written with a deep understanding of the longing for family acceptance and emotions of love in a flawed setting. Each of the family members is flawed and not perfect and must come to terms to the consequences of their serious decisions. The family dynamic is characterized by troubles- growing with a drunkard father. Over the course of their growing up, the three girls deal with misunderstood actions, fragile feelings, and a genetic factor that’s bound to affect each of them.

Their grandmother, Mamaw wants their sisterhood bond between them strengthened. She also has some skeletons in her closets which must be let out and confronted. As the story progresses, you’ll find yourself drawn deeply to the emerging strengths of Carson, Dora, and Harper. The story also addresses the results of our action and how mammals should be protected.

The Summer Wind

It is midsummer and Dora is spending her summer at Sea Breeze- her family’s home. For years, she has been a good wife and a mother in what seemed to be a loveless union. Her husband demands a divorce, her house is on sale, and her baby is foud to have autism.

Dora’s strong foundation comes crumbling down under the weight of her grief as she suffers from broken heart syndrome and her sisters and grandmother rally around her to help her heal. Dora spends most of her time stalking the beach and unraveling the secrets of the island as well as that of her heart.
Carson returns to Sea Breeze to face a tough decision, Harper’s reconsiders her life directions, and Lucille confronts an unexpected visitor and health scare. This is a summer of self-discovery for the three sisters.

When the storms batter the small island, the three sisters must come together and counter the storm outside their house and the storm within each of them. They must learn what it means to be a sister, and it’s upon their grandmother, Mamaw to keep the light shining and guide the girls through the threats, lies and the challenges each of the girl’s faces.

While The Summer Wind gives insight to each of the sister’s lives- it focuses mainly on Dora. We also get some information about Harper’s childhood, but Carson remains an essential character to the story. With Dora the main character of this book, you already know that it’ll lack the spark of the debut book, The Summer Girls, something that Dora acknowledges. Additionally, a lot is going on in the story; it is a lovely and sweet book and a good summer reading.
Mary Alice Monroe for years has mastered the art of skillfully weaving into her fiction stories critical environmental topics and blending them into the lives of her flawed characters as they mature and heals from their problems and experiences of life.