Ashley- Protagonist of The List who is 24 and is very adventurous, straight forward, and extremely stubborn. She has two married sisters named Leila and Juliana and one little brother. Those two girls plus her mother all want her to get married right away. But she has a plan to complete all the items she put on a list before she gets married and is very determined to. She feels that if she were to settle down and get married it would stop her from living her life to her fullest and that's what the list is for. But when she meets Matt, everything falls apart and she has to figure out what to do.
Matt- He is Ashley's summer fling, it's an item from the List, and even though she plans to break up with him when summer ends, he falls in love with her. He spends all his summer with Ashley and teaches her to surf. But near the end of the summer he tries to convince her to let them try being together after summer. He takes it slow and works hard to get her to agree with being with her.
Ryder- He is guy that Ashley is talking to on a dating website because it is on the List. They talk for awhile and she tells him everything, how she feels about Matt, about the list, everything. And when the two decide to meet up, Ashley finds out that he is Matt and now he has a lot to explain.
Celia- She is Ashley's cousin/best friend and is younger than Ashley. She shared a room with Ashley over the summer and doesn't understand any of Ashley's logic. She believes that Ashley could easily complete the list if she were married, but doesn't push to hard. She got Ashley a summer job at Hannigan's and she works there as well.
Dave- He is Ashley's cousin and Celia's brother. He is Ashley's first surf coach, but stopped when Ashley had Matt start coaching her. Near the middle of the summer, he falls in love with Laurel and at the end of the summer they get engaged. He learns a lot of new things, considering Laurel's deaf, so he has to adapt.
Laurel- She is friends with Megan, Megan and Ashley very much dislike each other, and Laurel is deaf. She is a very sweet and kind girl and falls in love with Dave after Ashley introduces him to her. Her and Dave spend all summer to together and learn to adapt to each other's different ways of living. She and Dave then get engaged at the end of the summer.
Derek- Derek is Matt's best friend and the first person Ashley talked to when she was at her cousin's house. He lives with Matt and unlike Matt he is a flirt.
Ashley's Mom- All she wants is for Ashley to get married, but when Ashley refused, she was heartbroken.
Leila- She is just like her mom, she got married and now all she focuses on is being the perfect wife and mother. She doesn't really do anything for fun and is just super stressed all the time. She married young and is one of the older two sisters, her and Juliana.
Juliana- She is one of Ashley's older sisters and she also married young and has kids. But she isn't like her mom, she isn't like her mom, she handles her business and moves on. She paces herself so she only gets wound up in big crises, Ashley's like her.
Megan- She is mean and doesn't like Ashley one bit because Ashley is dating Matt, but Megan wants Matt to herself. Matt doesn't like Megan, he is just nice to her. Megan is also Laurel's friend, but she is nice to Laurel, she treats her right most of the time.
Aunt Trudy- She is Celia's and Dave's mom and she is into painting and crafts. She has her own craft room and does crafts very often.
Louisa- She is Matt's older sister and she helped Matt plan many activities that would allow Ashley to cross off her list. She and Ashley are friends and Louisa thinks that Ashley should stay with Matt.